The Duke Blue Devils will face off against the Kentucky Wildcats in the first half of the Champions Classic on Tuesday night. Both teams come in with a 2-0 record but Kentucky is ranked second in the nation while Duke is ranked fifth.
Both of these teams are coming off a couple of easy wins against extremely inferior opponents so this will be an extremely good measuring stick game for both coaches to see there their young teams are early in the season. Of course college basketball fans were deprived of seeing this matchup in the National Championship game last season after Wisconsin eliminated Kentucky in the Final Four but Duke went on to win the National Championship and return a few key players.
Grayson Allen has gotten off to a tremendous start to the season as he looks extremely confident and has scored at will in the first two games. Allen was a huge reason Duke is the defending champions and he is now playing a primary role for the Blue Devils as a sophomore. Allen scored 26 points in the season opening game and followed that up by scoring 28 in the second game.
Another player to watch in this one for Mike Krzyzewski's team is freshman forward Brandon Ingram. Ingram was one of the top recruits in the 2015 class and is considered a big-time NBA prospect. Ingram did not shoot it well in his college debut as he was 5-16 from the floor but he rebounded by shooting 7-11 in the second game. Ingram has a very diverse offensive game and is great at running the floor so look for Duke to try and push tempo.
Kentucky is led by three players who are on the Wooden Award watch list and the biggest name of the three is Skal Labissiere. Labissiere, like Ingram, is considered a big-time NBA prospect as he is long and can do a lot of things on the court. Through two games he is averaging 17.5 points on 77 percent from the field but this game will present a whole new challenge for him as Duke will be throwing some very good defenders at him. Marshall Plumlee may start out guarding him and he is very physical down low. Amile Jefferson may get a shot at him too and he played a big part in shutting down Frank Kaminsky in the title game last season.
John Calipari's squad also boasts Jamal Murray who is considered one of the best perimeter threats on offense and Tyler Ulis who many think is one of the best point guards in the country. All in all this game is filled with a bunch of players that are extremely talented and at the very least this should be extremely exciting to watch.
Duke has actually won three consecutive meetings against Kentucky although the last time they met was back in the 2012 -2013 season.
The game tips off at 7:30 Eastern Time and to watch the live broadcast please go here. To listen to the Duke Radio broadcast go here and to listen to the Kentucky Radio broadcast go here.
