Risers and fallers after an eye-opening Champions Classic

The Champions Classic is designed to expose flaws early, and Tuesday night delivered. Michigan State stunned No. 2 Duke 79-73, while Kentucky spent the entire first half digging a massive hole against Kansas, one they just couldn’t climb out of. In fact, it only got worse, and they lost 89-69.

With the Wildcats and Jayhawks still battling, here are the biggest risers and fallers after a great night of college basketball.

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Fallers

Mark Fox and the Kentucky defense

Kentucky did what you cannot let Kansas do: they messed around and let the Jayhawks get hot. The foul situation hurt, but the defense looked lost while giving up far too many backdoor cuts. Mark Fox coaches the Cats’ defense, making him a major faller tonight. Giving up 46 points and 13 assists in just 20 minutes of basketball is a terrible look. But the second half was maybe worse.

They didn’t get into Kansas; Trey Kaufman-Renn stood in the middle of the floor and picked Kentucky apart time and time again while the other Jayhawks back-cut. There was just no pressure and no fight on the defensive end at all.

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Kansas shot 46.4% from the field, and Tre White had 30. Didn’t have Tre White as the leading scorer.

Mark Pope and Cody Fueger’s offense

Whatever offensive scheme the staff has installed isn’t working. In the first half, the best shooter in college basketball last season, Milan Momcilovic, was just 2-for-7 from the floor. Nothing looked easy; it was all one-on-one action.

To put it nicely, Kentucky was easy to guard.

Kentucky couldn’t get Milan free, and even worse, they couldn’t figure out how to use him as a decoy. It is early in the season, but this offense isn’t going to cut it, especially when the unforced, crappy turnovers keep piling up.

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Overall, Kentucky was just 4-of-19 from deep; that is far too few attempts. The field goal percentage wasn’t terrible; they nearly equaled Kansas (45.8). But Kansas pretty much let Malachi Moreno go one-on-one after taking a 20-point lead,…

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Publish date : 2026-11-11 11:05:00

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