Auburn Tigers at Purdue Boilermakers
Date: Saturday, December 20
The jury is still out on head coach Steven Pearl for the Tigers. They have two big time resume wins and they came over St. John’s and North Carolina State. Their last two losses were noncompetitive performances, as they allowed 102 to Michigan and 97 to Arizona. The Tigers are led by forward Keyshawn Hall with 20.8 points per game. Tahaad Pettiford is adding 15.7 per game for the Tigers as well. For Matt Painter and his Boilermakers, they will certainly get the advantage playing this game in Indianapolis. Purdue still has strong guard play, tough defense, and shares the ball well. Despite the blowout loss to Iowa State, there is no reason to get off the Boilermakers when it comes to potentially cutting down the nets.
Duke Blue Devils at Texas Tech Red Raiders
Date: Saturday, December 20
It really is amazing what Jon Scheyer has done with his Blue Devils team after losing basically the whole squad from a season ago. Duke is 10-0 with a game against Lipscomb before this showdown. The Blue Devils look to be the class of the ACC and maybe the entire country. If you have not seen Cameron Boozer, you will not want to miss this showdown. Plus, anytime there is a big time basketball game at Madison Square Garden, it is sure to be fun. Texas Tech will certainly head into Big 12 play battle tested. The Red Raiders see both Houston and Brigham Young in the first two weeks of conference play, so there is not a lot of opportunity to rest for Coach McCasland’s squad. The toughness of the Red Raiders will keep them interesting in this game in the Big Apple.
Heat on the Hardwood
There you have it. Those eight games are prime time and ready to keep the fire going for college basketball before entering conference season. Enjoy the games.