Few things can make the weekend before Christmas feel like March better than an interesting tripleheader on CBS.
That's what we have on this Saturday.
Check the schedule:
12:30 ET: Mississippi State at Memphis
3:00: UCLA vs. North Carolina
5:30: Kentucky vs. Ohio State
That's three games featuring four teams that are represented in Saturday morning's updated CBS Sports Top 25 And 1 daily college basketball rankings — specifically No. 4 Kentucy, No. 12 UCLA, No. 17 Mississippi State and No. 19 Memphis. What that suggests is that the first game of the tripleheader could be the most interesting, especially considering Penny Hardaway's Tigers will be trying to add a Quadrant 1 victory that would double as their seventh win inside of the first two quadrants. Right now, nobody else has more than five wins inside of the first two quadrants. So Memphis is already leading in the category and could extend the lead before the sun sets, which is a testament to the non-league schedule Hardaway created and the way his new-look team has performed against it.
The tripleheader will wrap with Kentucky vs. Ohio State. As I wrote after spending some time with UK coach Mark Pope here in New York on Friday, his Wildcats are the best story in college basketball and really just a couple of made shots or stops in a game at Clemson earlier this month from being undefeated and (probably) ranked No. 1 in the Associated Press Top 25 poll. In the span of a year, Kentucky fans have gone from rooting for a team featuring multiple top-10 NBA Draft picks that didn't really play or look like a team to rooting for a team with zero projected first-round NBA Draft picks that plays and looks like one of the best teams in the nation.
Needless to say, Big Blue Nation is enjoying it.
Kentucky is 10-1 and one of 10 SEC schools in the Top 25 And 1. The conference is 43-2 over the past 14 days with wins over Kansas, Gonzaga, Purdue, Illinois, North Carolina, Clemson, Ohio State, Louisville, Creighton, Arizona State and Michigan (twice). On Saturday, theoretically, the SEC could add seven more victories -- among them wins over Memphis, Purdue and Ohio State. For what it's worth, all seven SEC schools playing Saturday are favorites in their games.
Top 25 And 1 rankings
| Rk | Teams | Chg | Rcrd |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | -- | 11-0 | |
Chaz Lanier finished with 19 points and seven rebounds in Tuesday's 84-36 win over Western Carolina. The Vols' next game is Monday against Middle Tennessee.
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| 2 | -- | 10-1 | |
Chaney Johnson finished with 26 points and eight rebounds in Tuesday's 100-59 win over Georgia State. The Tigers' next game is Saturday against Purdue.
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| 3 | -- | 9-1 | |
Keshon Gilbert finished with 16 points and four assists in Sunday's 83-51 win over Omaha. The Cyclones' next game is Sunday against Morgan State.
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| 4 | -- | 10-1 | |
Lamont Butler finished with 33 points and six assists in Saturday's 93-85 win over Louisville. The Wildcats' next game is Saturday against Ohio State.
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| 5 | -- | 10-2 | |
Cooper Flagg finished with 24 points and nine rebounds in Tuesday's 68-47 win over George Mason. The Blue Devils' next game is Saturday against Georgia Tech.
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| 6 | -- | 9-2 | |
Mark Sears finished with 23 points and five assists in Wednesday's 97-90 win at North Dakota. The Crimson Tide's next game is Sunday against Kent State.
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| 7 | -- | 8-2 | |
Hunter Dickinson finished with 21 points and 14 rebounds in Saturday's 75-60 win over NC State. The Jayhawks' next game is Sunday against Brown.
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| 8 | -- | 12-0 | |
Will Richard finished with 22 points and six rebounds in Tuesday's 90-84 win over North Carolina. The Gators' next game is Saturday against North Florida.
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| 9 | -- | 11-2 | |
Kam Jones finished with 23 points and seven rebounds in Wednesday's 80-70 win over Butler. The Golden Eagles' next game is Saturday at Xavier.
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| 10 | -- | 10-2 | |
Xavier Booker finished with 18 points and six rebounds in Tuesday's 77-58 win over Oakland. The Spartans' next game is Saturday against Florida Atlantic.
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| 11 | -- | 10-1 | |
Jaylen Murray finished with 18 points and five assists in Tuesday's 74-61 win over Southern. The Rebels' next game is Saturday against Queens.
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| 12 | -- | 10-2 | |
Dylan Andrews finished with 21 points and six assists in Tuesday's 111-75 win over Prairie View. The Bruins' next game is Saturday against North Carolina.
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| 13 | -- | 10-1 | |
Brandon Angel finished with 15 points and six rebounds in Sunday's 79-61 win over Stephen F. Austin. The Ducks' next game is Saturday against Stanford.
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| 14 | -- | 10-2 | |
Hayden Hefner finished with 19 points and two steals in Friday's 77-45 win over Houston Christian. The Aggies' next game is Dec. 28 against Abilene Christian.
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| 15 | -- | 8-3 | |
Braden Smith had six turnovers in Saturday's 70-66 loss to Texas A&M. The Boilermakers' next game is Saturday against Auburn.
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| 16 | -- | 10-2 | |
Selton Miguel finished with 24 points and four assists in Tuesday's 111-57 win over St. Francis (PA). The Terrapins' next game is Saturday against Syracuse.
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| 17 | -- | 11-1 | |
Claudell Harris Jr. finished with 19 points and four rebounds in Tuesday's 83-59 win over Central Michigan. The Bulldogs' next game is Saturday at Memphis.
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| 18 | 1 | 7-3 | |
Kasparas Jakucionis was 5 of 15 from the field in Saturday's 66-64 loss to Tennessee. The Illini's next game is Sunday against Missouri.
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| 19 | 1 | 9-3 | |
PJ Haggerty finished with 27 points and five assists in Wednesday's 64-62 win at Virginia. The Tigers' next game is Saturday against Mississippi State.
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| 20 | 1 | 10-3 | |
Solo Ball finished with 22 points and four steals in Wednesday's 94-89 overtime win over Xavier. The Huskies' next game is Saturday at Butler.
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| 21 | 1 | 8-3 | |
Braden Huff finished with 25 points and six rebounds in Wednesday's 102-72 win over Nichols. The Zags' next game is Saturday against Bucknell.
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| 22 | 1 | 7-2 | |
Miles Byrd finished with 19 points and two assists in Wednesday's 81-75 win over Cal Baptist. The Aztecs' next game is Saturday against Cal.
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| 23 | 1 | 8-3 | |
Terrence Arceneaux finished with 16 points and nine rebounds in Wednesday's 78-49 win over Toledo. The Cougars' next game is Saturday against Texas A&M Corpus Christi.
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| 24 | 1 | 11-0 | |
Jeremiah Fears finished with 30 points and four assists in Wednesday's 87-86 win over Michigan. The Sooners' next game is Sunday against Central Arkansas.
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| 25 | 1 | 10-1 | |
Asa Newell finished with 16 points and six rebounds in Thursday's 100-49 win over Buffalo. The Bulldogs' next game is Sunday against Charleston Southern.
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| 26 | NR | 7-3 | |
Norchad Omier finished with 19 points and seven rebounds in Wednesday's 94-69 win over Norfolk State. The Bears' next game is Friday against Arlington Baptist.
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