Men’s college basketball will be back this week for another slate of great games including three games between two ranked opponents. Last week, we saw Chicago State upset No. 25 Northwestern, UNLV upset No. 8 Creighton, No. 5 UConn beat No. 10 Gonzaga, No. 14 Kentucky beat No. 9 North Carolina, Michigan State upset No. 6 Baylor, Memphis upset No. 13 Clemson, and No. 3 Purdue upset No. 1 Arizona. What will this week hold? Here are the top five games in the next seven days.
No. 22 Virginia at Memphis
Virginia bounced back into the top 25 after winning five straight games after their loss to ranked Wisconsin. Though Wisconsin was unranked when it beat Virginia, it is not ranked which makes that loss less relevant for the Cavaliers. Memphis is one of those teams that has been on the outside looking in most of the season despite being ranked in the top 35. A win here should propel Memphis to a top 25 spot.
St. John’s at No. 5 UConn
St. John’s is one of those programs that I thought would be sneaky good at the beginning of the season. The Red Storm have since lost to Michigan, Dayton, and Boston College — all games they should have won. This UConn team has been nothing short of dynamic beating Gonzaga and North Carolina and coming close to beating Kansas in the last two weeks. A win for unranked St. John’s could propel it on the path to being ranked.
No. 6 Baylor at No. 21 Duke
The first of three ranked games this season between two big teams, Baylor will head to one of the most hostile road courts in the nation. Duke has lost three games this year to Arizona, Arkansas, and Georgia Tech. They have bounced back with a couple of easy wins against Hofstra and Charlotte, but this could be just the game that proves this program belongs higher. Baylor, on the other hand, dropped a big loss to Michigan State in its last game losing 88-64. This game will be a big pick-me-up after that defeat. Freshman Ja’Kobe Walter has been stellar this year and should continue to be.
No. 9 North Carolina at No. 11 Oklahoma
North Carolina suffered its third loss of the season last Saturday against top-ten-ranked Kentucky. That makes two losses in a row against top-ten ranked teams losing to UConn the game before that, almost two weeks ago. RJ Davis continues to shine for the Baby Blue, but they will need to put together a complete performance to get another quad-one win under their belt. Oklahoma is undefeated this season, although they haven’t taken on a top-20-ranked opponent yet. This will be its first test of the season.
No. 1 Arizona vs No. 15 Florida Atlantic
In the best game of the week, two top seeds in Arizona and Florida Atlantic will face off at the Desert Holiday Classic at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Wildcats jolted to the No. 1 spot after losses from Kansas, Purdue, and Marquette while they knocked off Duke, Wisconsin, and Michigan State. However, they suffered their first loss against Purdue and will be trying to bounce back. Florida Atlantic is a two-loss team getting beat by unranked Bryant and Illinois. This would be their biggest win of the season.
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