College basketball gave us some absolutely superb games during feast week. We got some upsets, some great games in general, and now we come back down to earth in week four as teams return to campus and play some cupcake match-ups. We are getting some crossover games between Power 5 conferences so we should see some intriguing match-ups.
College Basketball Games
UNC vs Alabama: Nov. 27, 3:30 PM ET
Duke vs Purdue: Nov. 27, 3:30 PM ET
Iowa State vs UConn: Nov. 27, 10:00 PM ET
Ohio State vs Duke: Nov. 30, 7:15 PM ET
Creighton vs Texas: Dec. 1, 7:00 PM ET
Baylor vs Gonzaga: Dec. 2, 8:00 PM ET
Illinois Vs Maryland: Dec 2, 9:00 PM ET
How To Watch These College Basketball Games
UNC vs. Alabama
- When: Sunday, November 27, 2022
- Start Time: 3:30 PM ET
- Location: Veterans Memorial Coliseum – Portland, Oregon
- How to watch: ESPN
UNC vs Alabama Preview
The North Carolina Tar Heels fell to Iowa State in the Phil Knight Invitational and will now face Alabama who lost to UConn in the semifinals. Neither of these teams want to finish the tournament on a loss, especially because neither played particularly well in their respective losses. North Carolina has not looked like it has deserved its top ranking all season and that came to fruition against Iowa State. Alabama couldn’t match the shooting of UConn and Jordan Hawkins, and that’s they ended up in the third place game.
Armando Bacot will have to play much better against the likes of Charles Bediako and Noah Clowney. The Tar Heels will have to deal with the likes of freshman college basketball sensation Brandon Miller as well, but they have the experience in their guard play to make this a good game.
Duke vs. Purdue
- When: Sunday, November 27, 2022
- Start Time: 3:30 PM ET
- Location: Moda Center – Portland, Oregon
- How to watch: ABC
Duke vs Purdue Preview
The Blue Devils made it to the Phil Knight Legacy championship by beating Oregon State and then Xavier while the Boilermakers beat West Virginia and Gonzaga to get there. Both teams have looked solid in recent weeks and Purdue might have been underrated to start the season thanks to some poor shooting showings.
Duke will have to match up with 7-foot-4 center Zach Edey and this game should be the one to tell us what Duke centers Dereck Lively and Kyle Filipowski are made of as they will need to show up with some extra toughness. Purdue is also an excellent three-point shooting team (outside of one game), which helps give Edey 1-on-1 opportunities to help him to his average of 21.5 points per game. Guard Jeremy Roach for the Blue Devils might need another 20-point game if he wants his team to win as they are still working on chemistry with so many transfers and freshmen.
Iowa State vs. UConn
- When: Sunday, November 27, 2022
- Start Time: 10:00 PM ET
- Location: Moda Center – Portland, Oregon
- How to watch: ESPN
Iowa State vs UConn Preview
This is the championship game of the Phil Knight Invitational between two teams most people thought might not get there. The Cyclones beat Villanova and top-ranked UNC to get to this game while the Huskies beat Oregon and Alabama to get there. Both teams won games by getting stops and rebounding the ball well. ISU allows under 56 points a game and UConn is allowing less than 59 points a game. Both teams are averaging 38 rebounds or better so far this season.
The Cyclones got a phenomenal game from guard Caleb Grill who had a career-high 31 points and was making difficult shots from everywhere. Meanwhile, ISU will have to deal with big man Adama Sanogo who has been excellent to start this season. Jordan Hawkins has been making tough shots for the Huskies as well while Jaren Holmes has been the leading scorer for the Cyclones and is no slouch himself.
Ohio State vs. Duke
- When: Wednesday, November 30, 2022
- Start Time: 7:15 PM ET
- Location: Cameron Indoor Stadium – Durham, North Carolina
- How to watch: ESPN
Ohio State vs Duke Preview
The Buckeyes took a hard fought loss to San Diego State — one of the best defensive teams in the country right now — but have beaten quality competition in Texas Tech and Cincinnati since then. Duke will be coming off a game against another Big Ten opponent in Purdue. However, the styles of play are going to be a bit different as Ohio State doesn’t have quite as large a lineup as Purdue.
Ohio State freshman Brice Sensabaugh has been sensational to start the season along with senior transfer Justice Sueing and junior big man Zed Key. However, the Buckeyes will have to figure out how to contend with the Duke bigs as they are both legitimate 7-footers who do very different things. Lively is the more athletic rim runner while Filipowski is a bit more skilled and can step outside to shoot.
Creighton vs. Texas
- When: Thursday, December 1, 2022
- Start Time: 7:00 PM ET
- Location: Moody Center – Austin, Texas
- How to watch: ESPN
Creighton vs Texas Preview
Texas has really only played in one competitive game, which was against Gonzaga. It was not a particularly close game as they won by 19 and looked excellent throughout it. They will get to host their second good team of the season as the Bluejays come to town. Creighton is coming off a tough loss to Arizona in the Maui Jim Maui Invitational Championship game where they scored 87 and still somehow lost.
Creighton loves to shoot the three and does at a 38% clip. Texas shoots it under 30% themselves so if the Longhorns can’t contain Creighton’s perimeter shooting, it could be in for a long night. Texas should have the better athletes, but Creighton big man Ryan Kalkbrenner could be a load to handle for the likes of Dylan Disu and Dillon Mitchell as he is quite skilled and is a great passer out of the post.
Baylor vs. Gonzaga
- When: Friday, December 2, 2022
- Start Time: 8:00 PM ET
- Location: Sanford Pentagon – Sioux Falls, South Dakota
- How to watch: Peacock
Baylor vs Gonzaga Preview
This game is being played at a neutral site in South Dakota so it should give us a great idea of how good this Baylor team can be this season. Gonzaga has played unevenly so far this season with wins over Michigan State (64-63) and Kentucky (88-72), but losses to Texas (93-74) and Purdue (84-66). The Bulldogs can’t be accused of scheduling soft, but the tougher competition this year has not always led to wins. Meanwhile, Baylor has challenged itself with games against Virginia (an 86-79 loss) and UCLA (an 80-75 win).
Baylor will have to contend with big man Drew Timme, but should be able to double down on him if the Gonzaga guard play continues to struggle. Meanwhile, Baylor’s guard play is its strength with a more-than-capable backcourt of Keyonte George, LJ Cryer, and Adam Flagler. If Timme can get enough clean looks and take advantage of them, this game could be a nice Player of the Year moment for him.
Illinois vs. Maryland
- When: Friday, December 2, 2022
- Start Time: 9:00 PM ET
- Location: XFINITY Center – College Park, Maryland
- How to watch: BTN
Illinois vs Maryland Preview
This should be a game between two top-25 college basketball teams and is a nice early conference game for both of them in the Big Ten. It will be Maryland’s first true test of the season as the Terrapins have played a pretty soft schedule in coach Kevin Willard’s first season. Illinois has already played the likes of Virginia (a 9-point loss) and UCLA (a 9-point win) before heading into this game.
Illinois is without Kofi Cockburn and Trent Frazier this year, but have gotten great play from transfer Terrence Shannon. There has also been the emergence of sophomore big man Dain Dainja in Cockburn’s absence. Meanwhile, Maryland has been a balanced team with four players averaging over 13 points a game. You never know where the scoring could come from and that might be the key to confusing the Illinois defense in this one.
