College basketball on television: SEC/Big 12 Challenge takes center stage

As I wrote in my column, Saturday is a good day because it is the day of the SEC/Big 12 Basketball Challenge, which has the added twist of being played not in the non-conference part of the season but as a break from league play.

The Challenge has the ESPN spotlight with College GameDay in Lawerence to preview the 7 p.m. Kentucky-Kansas matchup at Allen Fieldhouse. Dan Shulman, Jay Bilas and Shannon Spake will be the broadcast crew for that game.

There is also No. 1 Oklahoma at LSU with OU’s Buddy Hield matching up with the Tigers’ Ben Simmons. That game precedes UK-Kansas with a 5 p.m. tip on ESPN. Dick Vitale is in Baton Rouge for that one.

Iowa State, fresh off a win over Kansas on Monday night, travels to College Station to play Texas A&M, which took its first league loss this week, falling at Arkansas. That game is set for 2 p.m. on ESPN.

Outside of the SEC/Big 12 event, Louisville plays host to Virginia in a key ACC game. CBS has that tip at 1 p.m.

Saturday, Jan. 30

▪ 12:00 - West Virginia at Florida (ESPN)

▪ 12:00 - Vanderbilt at Texas (ESPN2)

▪ 12:00 - Michigan at Penn State (Big 10)

▪ 12:00 - Houston at East Carolina (ESPN News)

▪ 12:00 - Georgia Tech at Syracuse (ESPNU)

▪ 12:00 - Butler at Marquette (Fox Sports 1)

▪ 12:00 - Fordham at UMass (NBC Sports)

▪ 12:00 - UAB at Marshall (CBS Sports)

▪ 1:00 - Virginia at Louisville (CBS)

▪ 2:00 - Ole Miss at Kansas State (ESPNU)

▪ 2:00 - Tennessee at TCU (ESPN2)

▪ 2:00 - Iowa State at Texas A&M (ESPN)

▪ 2:00 - Xavier at DePaul (CBS Sports)

▪ 2:00 - LaSalle at Dayton (NBC Sports)

▪ 2:15 - Minnesota at Indiana (Big 10)

▪ 4:00 - Texas Tech at Arkansas (ESPNU)

▪ 4:00 - Boston College at North Carolina (ESPN2)

▪ 4:00 - Murray State at Tennessee-Martin (CBS Sports)

▪ 4:30 - Nebraska at Purdue (Big 10)

▪ 5:00 - Oklahoma at LSU (ESPN)

▪ 6:00 - Georgia at Baylor (ESPN2)

▪ 6:00 - Alabama at South Carolina (SEC)

▪ 6:00 - Saint Joseph’s at Rhode Island (CBS Sports)

▪ 7:00 - Kentucky at Kansas (ESPN)

▪ 8:00 - Oklahoma State at Auburn (ESPN2)

▪ 8:00 - San Diego State at UNLV (CBS Sports)

▪ 8:00 - Memphis at SMU (ESPNU)

▪ 8:00 - Seton Hall at Creighton (Fox Sports Ohio)

▪ 8:00 - Providence at Georgetown (Fox Spots 1)

▪ 8:30 - Mississippi State at Missouri (SEC)

▪ 10:00 - Pepperdine at BYU (ESPN2)

▪ 10:00 - UC-Santa Barbara at UC-Irvine (ESPNU)