What to watch in college basketball this week: SEC, ACC and Big East, Big 12 showdowns

The week ahead should be fantastic for college basketball regulars.

Conference showdowns begin on Tuesday and continue Wednesday with four games between top-25 teams.

Saturday has two potential bangers: No.

11 Wisconsin vs.

No.

5 Marquette, and No.

4 Kentucky vs.

No.

7 Gonzaga.

First, lets spotlight the ACC-SEC Challenge and the Big 12-Big East Battle.

Auburns offense vs.

Dukes defense should be wildly exciting, while Alabama and UNC are facing off with early-season urgency.

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ACC-SEC Challenge How many readers are old enough to remember the ACC-Big Ten and SEC-Big 12 series? The Times They Are A-Changin, in perpetuity for this modern college basketball landscape.

The second installment of the new ACC-SEC conference clash starts Tuesday night.

Last years inaugural run ended with each conference winning seven games.

Advertisement The first slate begins with 7 p.m.

ET tips South Carolina (-4.5) at Boston College, Notre Dame at Georgia (-8.5), Cal at Missouri (-10.5) and Arkansas (-4.5) at Miami.

The SEC plays Goliath in Tuesdays games.

Tennessee is spotting 21.5 points to Syracuse.

Oklahoma is laying 11.5 against Georgia Tech, and Texas A&M is an 8.5-point favorite over Wake Forest.

Louisville is the ACCs only favorite from Tuesdays 10 games.

Tuesdays closest spread, and perhaps the most compelling matchup, is 7-1 Clemson vs.

undefeated Kentucky (-1.5).

Mark Popes Wildcats lead the country in points per game, and they are seventh in offensive rating.

Six of Kentuckys seven wins have been blowouts, but its November thriller against Duke was one of the first statement games of the season.

Koby Brea is shooting 61 percent from behind the arc on about six tries per game.

Hes one of six Wildcats averaging double-figure scoring so far.

This is Kentuckys first road game of the year.

But as the spread reflects, Clemson can hang.

Chase Hunter is off to a torrid start, with 51/46/81 shooting splits so far.

Ian Schieffelin leads the conference in rebounds per game.

The Tigers are 25th in KenPom rating and 24th in adjusted defensive efficiency.

Brad Brownell has coached Clemson since 2010, and while the Tigers have only earned four NCAA Tournament berths, last years trip to the Elite Eight was their second-ever.

A signature performance on Tuesday would put the Tigers firmly on the national radar.

7:15 p.m.

ET Wednesday on ESPN Alabama and UNC know how to make a classic.

They met in the Sweet 16 last year, with the Crimson Tide finishing on a furious 7-2 run in the final 80 seconds to knock out the top-seeded Tar Heels.

In 2022, Alabama stunned No.

1 UNC in a quadruple-overtime smash .

The Smith Center should be appropriately raucous on Wednesday.

Advertisement RJ Davis will be in pursuit of redemption.

He earned all-conference and All-American honors last season but wrapped his decorated campaign up with a snivel shooting 4-of-20 and missing all nine of his 3-point tries against Alabama.

North Carolinas offense rolls through a triumvirate of Davis (18.4 points per game), Seth Trimble (16.1) and Elliot Cadeau (14.4).

UNC looks to shake off back-to-back losses at the Maui Invitational.

Theres certainly no shame in losing to Auburn, who looks like a world-beater right now, but an overtime loss to Michigan State definitely stings.

Alabama is coming off a disconcerting loss of its own, falling two points short of Oregon in Las Vegas.

Its first loss came earlier in November at Purdue.

Again, no shame in losing to dignified opponents during the nonconference stretch both Oregon and Purdue are top-20 in offensive rating.

But either way, one of these prestigious programs will walk away Wednesday on a losing streak.

Like Davis, the Tides Mark Sears is putting up points (16 per game) on deeply underwhelming splits (35.1 percent from the floor).

Fifth-year guys Grant Nelson and Latrell Wrightsell Jr.

had been compensating with efficient starts, but Wrightsells season-ending Achilles injury is a heartbreaker.

The Tide will have to respond on the fly, and Aden Holloway will have a chance to prove himself after transferring from Auburn.

Meanwhile, freshman Labaron Philon is already climbing up NBA Draft boards .

Both teams should be applauded for their ambitious early schedules.

Nate Oats squad has wins over Illinois, Houston and Rutgers.

And Hubert Davis team took top-ranked Kansas to the brink.

The Tar Heels were up 20 in a buzzing Allen Fieldhouse but wound up losing by three.

9:15 p.m.

ET Wednesday on ESPN By KenPom rating, Auburn has the best offense in the sport, and Duke has the nations top defense.

We cant ask for much better in the first week of December.

Historically, Duke is menacing in this spot.

It is 37-15 when hosting top-10 opponents and 4-0 all-time against this particular opponent.

But Auburn is downright terrifying this season, and Bruce Pearls team has secured two wins against top-five opponents in the last month.

Advertisement Johni Broome is hellacious.

Hes averaging 20.7 points (on a 64 percent effective field goal percentage) while leading the SEC in blocks per game (3.1) and leading all of Division I in rebounds per game (12.9).

Broome is absolutely balling.

But Auburn is far from a one-man show.

Chad Baker-Mazara and Miles Kelly are both shooting above 40 percent on the 3-ball, and Tahaad Pettiford is a fearless freshman with a penchant for icy shots down the stretch.

This scoring attack has already proven itself against Houstons whirring chaos of a defense, but going up against Dukes defense is its own unique, arduous assignment.

Opponents are converting just 40.3 percent of their 2-pointers so far, and theyre shooting under 28 percent on 3-pointers.

Five regulars average at least one steal, and Cooper Flagg and Khaman Maluach are averaging more than a block per game.

All-conference defender Maliq Brown enters Wednesday with a team-best 74.4 defensive rating, and he puts up a silly 6.9 steals per 100 possessions.

Neither team is one-dimensional, of course.

Auburns defense is switchable around the perimeter and tough to beat in the paint largely thanks to Broome.

Dukes offense is headlined by Flagg and Kon Knueppel, but Tyrese Proctor is the most dangerous from deep at 46.9 percent on seven tries a game.

Big 12-Big East Battle Not to be outdone by the aforementioned interconference clash, the Big 12-Big East action is headlined by some rather cool games.

This series has been going on since 2019.

Safe to say, Dan Hurley did not have a relaxing Hawaii holiday.

Connecticut is back home and will look to stop its sudden slide by hosting Scott Drews formidable Baylor team on Wednesday.

Elsewhere, Greg McDermott and Creighton are big underdogs against Kansas, while undefeated DePaul looks to assert its legitimacy in a trip to Texas Tech.

In the earliest games, Cincinnati (-3.5) is a slight road favorite over Villanova, and BYU is spotting 5.5 points at Providence.

The Big 12 is loaded this year, with five teams in the top 17 AP poll spots.

The Big East boasts two ranked teams, UConn and Marquette.

8 p.m.

ET Wednesday on ESPN+ The Cyclones took an excruciating L to Auburn at the buzzer last week, but with the bags unpacked from Maui, this team should be well-rested and highly-motivated at home.

Marquette is another brutal nonconference challenge.

Shaka Smarts Golden Eagles are one of 10 undefeated teams in the power conferences so far.

This should be fun.

Advertisement Iowa State is 50.9 percent from the field this year.

Keshon Gilbert leads the way at 16.5 points per game, and Curtis Jones and Milan Momcilovic are both shooting 40 percent or better from 3-point range.

Momcilovic is coming off a career-best 24 points in a dominant win over Colorado; he shot 56.3 percent from behind the arc in Maui.

T.J.

Otzelbergers group is balanced, disciplined and experienced.

They rank fourth in the country in adjusted offensive rating, and are 12th in adjusted defense.

Meanwhile, Marquette is a headache on defense.

The Golden Eagles are sixth in adjusted rating and lead all of college basketball in steals per game.

Stevie Mitchell and Chase Ross each average almost three swipes per outing.

In Novembers monumental 18-point win over Purdue, the Golden Eagles smothered the Boilermakers into unsightly offense 40 percent from the field, and 16 assists to 13 turnovers.

Kam Jones makes for a sensational watch.

He has increased his scoring output and field goal percentage in each of his four collegiate seasons.

Hes averaging almost 20 points on 72.2 effective shooting.

The starting lineup of Mitchell, Jones, Ross, David Joplin and Ben Gold have all been at Marquette for at least three seasons.

That level of continuity is almost unheard of in 2024.

Marquette is off to its best start in more than a decade.

Smart won in this building twice when he was with Texas.

This team should come boosted with confidence on Wednesday.

(Photo of Johni Broome: Mitchell Layton / Getty Images).

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