A look at the eight teams and four first-round 2023 Maui Invitational matchups

The Kansas Jayhawks will face a familiar foe in the first round of the 2023 Maui Invitational.

As the top-seeded men’s basketball squad in the 40th-annual Thanksgiving week tourney, KU will take on NCAA Division-II Chaminade, the host team. Tipoff is 8 p.m., Central time, Monday, at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center in Honolulu with a live telecast on ESPNU.

It will mark the fifth time the Jayhawks have played Chaminade in the Maui Invitational in eight all-time appearances at the prestigious event.

KU defeated the Silverswords 93-63 in the first round of the 2019 tournament. The Jayhawks went on to win the 2019 Maui title.

KU also defeated Chaminade in a first-round game, this time by a score of 123-72, in 2015. KU also won the Maui Invitational that year.

In 2005, KU routed Chaminade 102-54 in the tourney’s seventh place game. The Jayhawks lost to Arizona, 61-49, in round one and Arkansas 65-64 in round two, salvaging just one win that November.

In 1987, Larry Brown’s Jayhawks went 1-2 in Maui, defeating Chaminade in the first round, 89-62, then losing to Iowa 100-81 and Illinois 81-75.

Here’s a look at the four first-round matchups on Monday:

No. 7 Tennessee (3-0) vs. Syracuse (3-0), 1:30 p.m., Central time

The Tennessee Volunteers have opened the season with victories over Tennessee Tech (80-42) and Wofford (82-61) at home and Wisconsin (80-70) on the road.

Santiago Vescovi, a 6-foot-3, fifth-year senior guard from Montevideo, Uruguay, is a two-time, first-team all-SEC selection. He’s off to a slow start scoring wise with a 6.0 scoring average through three games.

Northern Colorado transfer Dalton Knecht, a 6-6 senior guard from Thornton, Colorado, leads the team in scoring at 19.7 points per game. Jordan Gainey, a 6-3 junior guard, averages 13.3 points per game. Josiah-Jordan James, a 6-7 senior wing, averages 11.3 ppg.

Former Texas coach Rick Barnes has a 176-92 record in nine seasons at Tennessee.

Expectations are high again this season. Tennessee placed first in the SEC preseason media poll, finishing ahead of Texas A&M, Arkansas and Kentucky.

Syracuse is off to a 3-0 start under first-year coach Adrian Autry, who has taken over for Jim Boeheim, who resigned after 47 seasons as coach of the Orange.

Syracuse has defeated New Hampshire (83-72), Canisius (89-77) and Colgate (79-75) all at home. Syracuse came back from a 24-point second-half deficit in beating Colgate.

Judah Mintz, a 6-4 sophomore guard from Fort Washington, Maryland, leads the Orange at 22.3 points per game. Other double-digit scorers at this early juncture: Chris Bell, a 6-7 sophomore forward (14.0 ppg), J.J. Starling, a 6-4 sophomore guard (13.3) and Justin Taylor, a 6-6 sophomore guard (11.0 ppg).

Former KU guard Kyle Cuffe, a 6-2 sophomore, has averaged 3.7 points per game at Syracuse. So far, he’s played 13.3 minutes per contest.

Syracuse was picked to finish 10th of 15 teams in the ACC preseason poll.

No. 2 Purdue (3-0) vs. No. 11 Gonzaga (2-0), 4 p.m., Central time

Purdue, led by 19th-year coach Matt Painter, has opened the season with wins over Samford (98-45), Morehead State (87-75) and Xavier (83-71). All three games were played in West Lafayette, Indiana.

Defending national player of the year Zach Edey, a 7-4, 300-pound senior from Toronto, Ontario, is off to a good start, averaging 20.7 points and 10.0 rebounds a game.

Braden Smith, a 6-0 sophomore guard, averages 11.7 points, 8.3 assists and 6.0 boards per game. Lance Jones, a 6-1 senior guard, averages 9.7 ppg. Two Boilermakers average 8.3 points per game. They are 6-4 sophomore guard Fletcher Loyer and 6-5 freshman guard Myles Colvin.

Painter has compiled a 416-198 record in 19 seasons at the Big Ten school.

Purdue has won 27 straight regular-season non-conference games, dating to a Dec. 8, 2020, setback at Miami, Fla. The Boilermakers were picked to finish first in the Big Ten preseason media poll.

Gonzaga, led by 25th-year coach Mark Few (691-135 record), has opened with home wins over Yale (86-71) and Eastern Oregon (123-57).

The Zags have five players averaging in double figures after two games. Braden Huff, a 6-10 redshirt freshman forward, is averaging 21.0 points and 7.5 rebounds per game. Wyoming transfer Graham Ike, a 6-9 junior forward, averages 18.0 points and 7.0 boards per game. Anton Watson, a 6-8 senior forward, averages 15.5 points and a team-leading 9.0 rebounds per game.

Other double-digit scorers: 6-2 junior guard Nolan Hickman (13.5 ppg) and 6-0 junior guard Ryan Nembhard (11.0 ppg), a transfer from Creighton.

For the first time in six years, Gonzaga was not picked to win the West Coast Conference in the league’s preseason poll. Gonzaga placed second in the nine-team league poll behind Saint Mary’s.

No. 1 Kansas (3-0) vs. Chaminade (1-2), 8 p.m., Central time

The Jayhawks have defeated North Carolina Central (99-56) and Manhattan (99-61) at home and Kentucky (89-84) on a neutral court in Chicago. Former Michigan center Hunter Dickinson averages a team-leading 22.0 points and 12.3 rebounds per game.

Senior guard Kevin McCullar, who had the third official triple-double in KU history in the win over Kentucky, averages 16.3 points and 7.7 rebounds per game. The Jayhawks were picked to win the Big 12 in the league’s preseason poll.

The NCAA Division-II Silverswords — the only team in the tourney that has lost a game — recently traveled to Alaska for a pair of games: a 77-72 loss to Alaska Anchorage followed by a 80-72 win over Alaska.

The Silverswords lost to Hawaii Hilo 90-86 in overtime on Thursday in a Pacific West Conference game in Honolulu. Leading scorers are: 6-2 senior guard Isaac Amaral-Artharee (21.7 ppg,, 5.3 rpg) 5-10 junior guard Jamir Thomas (16.3 ppg) and 6-4 sophomore guard Ross Reeves (10.0 ppg, 6.0 rpg).

Amaral-Artharee was voted first-team preseason all-Pacific West Conference. Amaral-Artharee has led the Silverswords in scoring each of the last three seasons and in 2022-23, averaged a career-best 16.1 points per game. Last season, he ranked among Pac West leaders in scoring, field-goal percentage (45.1), 3-point percentage (39.1), 3-point field goals per game (2.0) and free-throw percentage (84.0).

Chaminade was picked to finish sixth in the 11-team PacWest Conference in the league’s preseason poll.

Coach Eric Bovaird is beginning his 13th season as Silverswords coach. During his tenure, Bovaird has guided the Silverswords to three NCAA West Regional appearances, a record eight trips to the Pacific West Conference Tournament and one Pac West Tournament title. With 175 career wins, he ranks second all-time in school history in victories. Bovaird also sports a career 167-119 (.584) record against NCAA Division-II opponents.

UCLA (3-0) vs. No. 4 Marquette (3-0), 10:30 p.m., Central time

UCLA has opened the season with home wins over Saint Francis (75-44), Lafayette (68-50) and Long Island (78-58).

Adem Bona, a 6-10 sophomore forward from Ebonyi, Nigeria, last season won Pac-12 freshman-of-the-year honors. Bona is averaging 18.0 points a game on 57.1% shooting with 8.7 rebounds per outing. Bona scored a career-high 28 points and had nine rebounds and four blocks in the Bruins’ season opener against Saint Francis.

Aday Mara, a 7-3 freshman center, averages 7.0 points per game on 69.2% shooting. Sebastian Mack, a 6-3 freshman guard, averages 12.7 ppg.

The Bruins were picked to finish third of 12 teams, behind Arizona and USC, in the Pac-12 preseason coaches poll.

Coach Mick Cronin is 102-36 in five seasons at UCLA. The Bruins have reached the NCAA Tournament each of the last three seasons, Last year UCLA went 31-6 overall and 18-2 in conference play, winning the Pac-12 regular-season title for the first time since 2013. The Bruins advanced to the NCAA Tournament’s Sweet 16.

Marquette has opened with wins at home over Northern Illinois (92-70) and Rider (95-65) and at No. 23 Illinois (71-64).

Tyler Kolek, a 6-3 senior point guard, led the way with 24 points, six boards and four assists in Tuesday’s win at Illinois.

Kam Jones, a 6-5 junior guard, had 15 points and five boards, and Oso Ighodaro, a 6-11 senior, had 13 points and eight boards.

For the season, Jones averages 19.3 points and 4.7 rebounds per game. Kolek, the reigning Big East player of the year, averages 14.7 points, 5.3 rebounds and 4.7 assists per game. Ighodaro averages 13.0 points and 8.7 rebounds per game.

Marquette’s recent No. 4 national ranking is the program’s highest ranking since the 1977-78 season. Marquette was picked to finish first in the 11-team Big East preseason coaches poll. It’s the first time Marquette has been tabbed first in the poll since 2013-14. Now in his third year at Marquette, former Texas coach Shaka Smart has a 51-20 record.