Starting Five: Florida-Tennessee, Duke-North Carolina lead college basketball games to watch

[ad_1]

We begin this edition of the Starting Five with a disclaimer. We are not the NCAA. As such, we do not have to go through umpteen committees to change/invoke a rule.

We’re therefore going to utilize a ‘one game per conference’ policy in this week’s preview of the top five games to watch in men’s college basketball. No, we’re not doing this to hate on the SEC, which has three top-25 matchups on Saturday by itself. But we do want to highlight other leagues with all time zones represented.

In addition, we’re going to bring in a sixth game off the bench as a bonus offering for this weekend when the sport truly takes center stage. With all that out of the way then, here are our picks for the six best games to watch on the first day of February.

No. 6 Florida at No. 8 Tennessee

Time/TV: Saturday, noon ET, ESPN

As mentioned above, there are a couple of other games of significance around the SEC – specifically in the Magnolia State. But we’ll highlight this top-10 clash. Things have not gone swimmingly for Tennessee since being knocked off the No. 1 perch, but the Volunteers’ previous encounter with Florida earlier this month was the only one of their four losses in which they were blown out. They’ll hope the rematch in their own building will go much better, but the Gators have won three in a row and five of their last six in conference play. Tennessee’s stout defense keeps it in most contests, that off day in Gainesville notwithstanding. The issue for the Volunteers is they can struggle to get buckets when they absolutely need them, especially when facing opponents with equally strong interior defense – which describes nearly everyone in the SEC. Things get easier for the Vols when their treys are falling, but the Gators are holding opponents to just 27.9% from the arc while hitting 34.3% themselves. Florida enjoys a rebounding margin of nearly 10 on average while also recording 8.4 steals and just under five blocks per game as a team.

Florida forward Thomas…

[ad_2]
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/starting-five-florida-tennessee-duke-110916652.html

Author : USA TODAY Sports

Publish date : 2025-01-31 11:09:00

Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.