Don’t burn yourself out early on Maine Black Bear basketball, we’re wrapping up with a good one.
College basketball schedule: Kentucky-Baylor showdown highlights Friday night
Four ranked teams will take the floor on Friday night, two of them together inside AT&T Stadium.
Andy Lyons
Arizona State at DePaul (7 p.m. ET, Fox Sports 1)
DePaul actually went out West and won this game convincingly a season ago ... and then proceeded to finish last in the Big East for a 52nd straight year. The big story here is the availability of Sun Devil star Jahii Carson, which remains unknown as the star point guard continues to deal with a sprained ankle. Obviously, his presence is a huge deal for an ASU squad that could use a victory after being humbled a little bit last week at the Wooden Legacy.
Maine at No. 12 Connecticut (7 p.m. ET, SNY/ESPN3)
UConn looks to move to 9-0 against a Maine team that is not very good at playing basketball. The Black Bears are just 1-6, with that lone victory coming against NAIA Fisher College. They also lost to Quinnipiac by 41. I’m talking about Maine, not Fisher College.
Loyola Marymount at Pittsburgh (7 p.m. ET, ESPN3)
As always, I must note that ESPN3 isn’t actually television, but it’s a Friday night and we’re shorthanded so let’s go ahead and give this one some attention. Pittsburgh is still undefeated after a gritty win over Penn State at the beginning of this week, and Loyola Marymount is 6-2 and has Anthony Ireland. That pretty much sums it up.
Fairfield at Quinnipiac (8:30 p.m. ET, ESPN3)
Quinnipiac beat Maine by 41 last month.
South Carolina at No. 9 Oklahoma State (9:30 p.m. ET, ESPNU)
State looks to rebound from its first loss of the season by handling Frank Martin’s Gamecocks in the Big 12/SEC Challenge, which is an actual event. They have a logo and everything. I’m assuming. Carolina has played just four games through the first four weeks of the season, and has lost both of its previous road efforts -- to Baylor and Clemson, respectively. Marcus Smart will perform impressive basketball feats.
No. 3 Kentucky vs. No. 20 Baylor (10 p.m. ET, ESPN)
This top-20 showdown from the inside of Jerry World was already going to be tonight’s main attraction, but Baylor’s Isaiah Austin decided to go ahead and sweeten the pot anyway. The big man was a five-star prospect coming out of high school whose recruitment came down to the Bears and Kentucky, a phenomenon he decided to discuss earlier this week.
“Coming out of high school, everyone wants to go with the hype,” he said earlier this week. “Kentucky was the hype. I made the best decision for me coming here. Coach [Scott] Drew is just as great a coach as coach [John] Calipari. We have just as great as faculty and staff. Kentucky is not better than us in any way, shape or form.”
Well all right, young man. Those are words that demand some backing up, so let’s see it.
Kentucky is a 4.5-point favorite.
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