Kansas vs. Kentucky Preview; How to watch, prediction, best bet

The No. 1 ranked Kansas Jayhawks take on the No. 17 ranked Kentucky Wildcats in a matchup of unbeaten teams to close out the Champions Classic on Tuesday.

Neither of these squads has been tested yet this season, creating extra intrigue ahead of this matchup of perennial powerhouses.

Kansas opens up as a heavy 7-point favorite, but could this game be closer than the oddsmakers expect?

Read down below for our full guide and preview ahead of this SEC/Big 12 showdown.

How to watch

The entire Champions Classic is exclusively on ESPN and the ESPN App. Kansas vs. Kentucky tips off at 9:30 PM Eastern time. Dan Schulman and Jay Bilas have the play-by-play duties, while Holly Rowe provides reports from the sideline.

Kentucky Wildcats team preview

Let me know if you’ve heard this before… The Kentucky Wildcats are a very talented but very young team that can beat anybody, but can also lose to anybody.

John Calipari’s roster has just two upperclassmen on it this season, but both of those upperclassmen are going to play major roles.

Senior guard Antonio Reeves leads the Wildcats in scoring through two games and it’s probably going to stay that way. The Illinois State transfer returns to the state he played home games in for the first three years of his career tonight. He’ll need to be great if Kentucky hopes get a huge win.

Senior forward Tre Mitchell is the only other “old head” on the Kentucky roster, and he should play an important role up front for the Wildcats in a physical SEC conference.

Beyond those two, it’s hard to tell what we are going to get out of Kentucky.

If Kentucky is going to make a run at the Final Four, freshmen guards Rob Dillingham and Justin Edwards need to have big first seasons in Lexington.

Keep an eye on both of them tonight in their first collegiate game against good competition.

Kansas Jayhawks team preview

The Kansas Jayhawks are absolutely loaded.

Bill Self’s offense has scored 99 points in both games so far this season. The Jayhawks defense has held opponents to under 60 points per game.

Senior transfer Hunter Dickinson leads the Kansas attack. The former Michigan Wolverine is stuffing the stat sheet, averaging 19.5 points, 8 rebounds, 3.5 assists, 1.5 blocks, and 1 steal in 2 games.

The Kansas backcourt has also been great, as senior guard Kevin McCullar Jr. is averaging 18.5/6.5/4.5 while junior Dajaun Harris is dishing out 7.5 assists per game.

Senior Parker Braun, junior K.J Adams Jr., and freshman Johnny Furphy are also all averaging over 10 points per game, showing anyone on this Jayhawks team can carry the offensive load any given night.

This is the deepest and most talented team head coach Bill Self has ever had. It makes complete sense why they are favored by a touchdown tonight.

Best bet.

This one is so tough to predict. Kansas is the more experienced team, but the talent gap isn’t that far off.

I lean towards this game being closer than the 7-point spread, but I’m most confident in Kansas scoring over 77.5 points. Kentucky does not have an answer for Hunter Dickinson inside. That mismatch is going to create a lot of issues for a young Kentucky team.

Prediction

Refer to the first sentence of my “best bet” slide.

This one is going to stay close for the first 30 minutes before Kansas takes over on the defensive end.

Jayhawks stay undefeated and take down Kentucky, 79-72.