We have reached the latter part of the college basketball season and tomorrow will be host to a whopping 150 games. Four of those 150 games feature ranked vs ranked matchups, including a top-10 showdown in the Big 12 between Baylor and Kansas. Coach K will make his final trip to Chapel Hill in a renewal of the biggest rivalry in the sport, and a big matchup out west between USC and Arizona could shake up the top of the Pac-12.
A Top-10 Showdown in the Big 12
Two of the best teams in a loaded Big 12 will meet tomorrow afternoon at Phog Allen Fieldhouse, as Kansas hosts Baylor in a top-10 showdown. Both teams are coming off losses in the Big 12/SEC challenge on Saturday but were able to bounce back in conference play earlier in the week.
Kansas is nearly unbeatable at home, but they suffered a loss last Saturday at the hands of Kentucky on their home floor. The Jayhawks will look to get back to protecting their homecourt against the defending champs and will be doing so with Ochai Agbaji, their best player and Wooden Award hopeful, coming back from the COVID-19 list. Kansas was able to win on Tuesday night in Ames against Iowa State without Agbaji, and they will be getting him back right on time to face Baylor. Agbaji leads the Big 12 in scoring with 20.9 points per game.
Baylor has dealt with injury issues of their own as they are unsure if LJ Cryer and Adam Flagler, two of their top three leading scorers, will be able to play tomorrow as they are listed as game time decisions. They both missed Monday’s matchup against West Virginia, a game the Bears won 81-77. The defending champs got off to a 15-0 start but have since gone 3-3. The status of Cryer and Flagler will have a huge impact for Baylor especially on the road, so keep an eye out for that before tip-off.
Whoever wins this game will have the inside track to win the conference and will be able to line up for a possible 1-seed. These two teams will meet again at the end of the month in Waco, right before the Big 12 tournament.
Coach K Makes His Last Trip to Chapel Hill
The greatest rivalry in college basketball will add another chapter to its book on Saturday night, and for the final time it will be Coach K leading his Duke Blue Devils into the Dean Dome to take on their archrivals, the North Carolina Tar Heels.
Duke is the only ACC team ranked inside the top-25 in what has been a down year for the conference. They have a projected top-3 pick leading the way in Paolo Banchero who is averaging 17.8 points, 8.3 rebounds, and 2.6 assists per game. The Blue Devils have leaned on Banchero all season, especially in close games, and that should be no different tomorrow in a hostile environment on the road.
North Carolina has struggled at times this season under first year head coach Hubert Davis but only sit half a game back of Duke in the ACC standings at 8-3. The Tar Heels have relied on Armando Bacot all season, who is averaging a double-double with 16.5 points and 12.5 rebounds per game. North Carolina is not very deep, and they rely on their starters to provide most of their production game in and game out, a big reason as to why they sit close to the bubble and as a 10-seed, according to ESPN’s Joe Lunardi. They will need production out of their bench tomorrow night if they want to keep up with Banchero and Duke.
This would be a huge win for North Carolina’s resume if they can pull it out, as it would take them off the bubble and firmly in the tournament with a little over a month to go before Selection Sunday. The crowd should be fired up like they always are when these two teams meet, but maybe a little extra juice will be in the tank with it being Coach K’s last game as the visiting coach.
Big Battle in the Desert
Arizona will host USC after avenging their loss from nine days ago to UCLA last night, beating the Bruins 76-66 on their home floor. USC on the other hand has struggled in recent weeks after starting the season 13-0, going 6-3 over their last nine games. They will head into tomorrow’s contest coming off a close win at Arizona State.
The Wildcats are one of the best teams in the country and they looked the part yesterday against UCLA. Arizona went into yesterday’s game shooting just 31.3% from the field in their previous two games, but they found their stroke and shot 48% in yesterday’s win. Their second leading scorer Azuolas Tubelis finally looked healthy after having a couple of off games with a sprained ankle, scoring 14 points. The Wildcats will rely on both Tubelis and Bennedict Mathurin to extend their win streak to three games.
USC has not looked like the same team over the last few weeks compared to their performance at the beginning of the season. Even in the games they have been winning, they look slower and have not been as efficient on either side of the floor. USC has been able to get away with sloppy play against teams like ASU, Cal, and Utah but they will not be able to do so tomorrow afternoon against the seventh ranked Wildcats. The Trojans offense runs through forward Isaiah Mobley, who has amassed 13-plus points just once in the last five games. Mobley, along with guards Boogie Ellis and Drew Peterson will have to show up and have big games if the Trojans have any chance to pull off an upset.
An Arizona win can get them back into the discussion of being a 1-seed, while a USC win can get them back into the 5-seed range. This will be the only meeting between these two teams, but they could definitely meet again in the later rounds of the Pac-12 tournament in Las Vegas.
It is a monstrous day for college basketball, and it should be filled with a lot of games certain to shakeup the NCAA tournament.
