The Champions Classic has been KU’s first game of the basketball season three times
The Champions Classic, a one-day event featuring college basketball powerhouses Kansas, Kentucky, Duke and Michigan State now in its 13th year of existence, served as the opening game of the season for the Jayhawks in 2018-19, ’19-20 and ’21-22.
Last year and again this year, KU will have played a pair of tune-up games before the prestigious one-day doubleheader that Tuesday night pits Duke against Michigan State at 6 p.m. and KU against Kentucky approximately 8:30 p.m. at Chicago’s United Center.
So which does 21st-year KU coach Bill Self prefer: having the Champions Classic serve as a ceremonial opening day to the marathon hoops season, or as the second or third game of the long campaign — which in theory accounts for better-played games on the second Tuesday of the season.
“I think for our sport it’s better to jump into it,” Self said of having the Classic tip off the season as an opening night celebration of basketball.
“For us (as a team) I think it’s better to play two games first. I think the chance of you actually performing at a level that would bring positive recognition and things to the sport to get people excited about it for a year, there’s a better chance to have better play if you have couple games under your belt. But to get people amped up and excited about the season and advertising the Championship Classic as the opening tipoff and have the games run all day I think is pretty good.
“Personally (after having two tune-up games) I’d rather be able to see how they (opponents in Champions Classic) may run some actions so that way we don’t look like we never guarded anything when we get out there. We still may look that way. I’d rather do it the way it is right now,” Self added.
KU, which is 7-5 all-time in the Champions Classic, is 2-1 when the Classic is the first game on KU’s schedule. KU beat Michigan State, 92-87, in 2018-19, lost to Duke, 68-66, in 2019-20 and beat Michigan State, 87-74, in 2021-22, all in season openers.
When the Classic has been KU’s second or third game of the season, the Jayhawks are 5-4.
KU enters Tuesday’s Classic contest 2-0. The Jayhawks have defeated North Carolina Central, 99-56, and Manhattan College, 99-61, both at Allen Fieldhouse. Kentucky enters 2-0 having defeated New Mexico State, 86-46, and Texas A&M Commerce, 81-61, both in Lexington.
“I know we are more prepared after two tuneups than we would have been had we hadn’t had them,” Self said.
Kentucky coach John Calipari’s Wildcats fell behind by double digits early to A&M Commerce.
“They showed us some things that we’re going to have to deal with,” Calipari said of the A&M Commerce team that the Wildcats played in a Champions Classic tuneup. “And some of it is, if you can’t stay in front of somebody, I’ve got to play somebody else or you have got to guard somebody else. You can’t let a guy get by you three times in a row. It doesn’t work that way.”
UK’s D.J. Wagner, a 6-4 freshman guard from Camden, New Jersey, who is one of three current freshman starters (with Justin Edwards, 6-8 forward from Philadelphia, and Rob Dillingham, 6-3 guard from Hickory, North Carolina) said by playing a couple of games, UK’s squad now knows what it needs to improve on before the KU game.
“Just making adjustments, that’s what practice is for,” Wagner said. “We’re going to get back in the lab and we’re just going to work on, just communicating and small things like that. So, we’re going to get right back to practice and work on it.”
Duke and Kansas have the best record in the Champions Classic at 7–5, followed by Kentucky and Michigan State at 5–7. Each team has at least one victory over each team in the Classic. KU is the only team that does not have a losing record to one of the other three teams.
There has been one overtime game: in 2022 when Michigan State defeated Kentucky. The most points scored was 118 by Duke in 2018. The fewest points scored were by the Jayhawks (40 in 2014).
The largest margin of defeat was 34 points when Duke defeated Kentucky, 118–84, in 2018. The closest game was Kansas’ 77-75 win over Duke in 2016. KU at the Classic is 3-1 vs. Duke, 2-2 versus Kentucky and Michigan State.
