NCAA Basketball: Colgate, Ohio among mid-major upset candidates

CHAPEL HILL, NORTH CAROLINA - NOVEMBER 12: Nana Owusu-Anane #31 of the Brown Bears dunks against the North Carolina Tar Heels during the first half of their game at the Dean E. Smith Center on November 12, 2021 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. (Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images) /

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NCAA Basketball Oscar Tshiebwe Kentucky Wildcats (Photo by Mike Stobe/Getty Images) /

3. #10 Kentucky vs Ohio

TV schedule: Friday, Nov. 19 – 7:00 PM ET, SEC Network

Arena: Rupp Arena – Lexington, KY

This will be Kentucky’s first true test since their opening night loss to Duke in the Champions Classic at Madison Square Garden.

The Wildcats have been led by three transfers so far in West Virginia center Oscar Tshiebwe (15.5 ppg, 20.0 rpg, .520 eFG), Georgia point guard Sahvir Wheeler (10.5 ppg, 11.0 apg, .432 eFG), and Davidson guard Kellan Grady (14.0 ppg, .710 eFG). This year’s team has much more shooting and a more physically imposing post presence than last year’s 9-16 squad.

Ohio has opened the season with two impressive wins over conference favorites in Belmont (Ohio Valley) and Cleveland State (Horizon). Neither game was particularly close down the stretch.

The Bobcats return all but one impact player from the 2020-21 team that upset Virginia in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Sophomore guard Mark Sears (21.0 ppg, 4.5 rpg, 4.0 apg, .795 eFG) has been Head Coach Jeff Boals’ go-to player so far this season.

Similar to the Syracuse-Colgate game, this is not as much a pick against Kentucky as it is a pick for Ohio—one of the three best mid-major teams in college basketball at the moment.

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