A pair of storied programs, both undefeated in the early going, will have to depart the comfort of their home arenas when No. 15 Kansas and No. 24 Kentucky meet on a neutral court in Chicago on Tuesday.
The State Farm Champions Classic, which also includes a game between No. 5 Michigan State and No. 2 Duke, brings together four programs that have won a combined 19 national titles.
Kansas (2-0) is showing it could be a title contender this season behind senior Tre White, transfer Trey Kaufman-Renn and freshman Tyran Stokes.
Kaufman-Renn, a Purdue transfer who returned to college after he was a second-round selection by the Minnesota Timberwolves, scored a team-high 17 points in the Jayhawks’ 89-45 victory over Middle Tennessee on Friday.
“I think his effectiveness for us is just scratching the surface,” Kansas head coach Bill Self said.
While White leads Kansas with 15.5 points per game, Kaufman-Renn is scoring 13.0, while Stokes has 11.5 through his first two college games, along with 6.0 rebounds that are second on the team to Keanu Dawes (8.5).
A total of 15 Jayhawks players saw action as the team shot 62.5% from the floor in the easy victory. Middle Tennessee shot 25.0%.
Now comes the huge step up in class for Kansas with a matchup against Kentucky.
“I think it’ll just be a really fun basketball game,” said Dawes, who had eight points and eight rebounds Friday. “I think we enjoy playing basketball, and any time it’s a talked-about game, it makes it a little more fun, but it’s just another basketball game.”
Kentucky will leave home for the first time after an 89-80 home victory over James Madison on Friday that was much more competitive than their 85-57 season-opening blowout over Manhattan.
Kentucky trailed James Madison 56-54 with less than 14 minutes remaining before taking control with an 11-0 burst and leading by as many as 14 points down the stretch. Zoom Diallo and Alex Wilkins each scored 16 points, while Justin McBride had 13 points with eight rebounds.
Kentucky shot 56.7% from the floor in the second half while outscoring James Madison 50-41, and shot 50.8% for the game.
Diallo, a transfer from Washington, went 7 of 11 from the floor and looked more like the player who averaged 15.7 points for the Huskies last season.
“I thought he was really controlled,” Kentucky head coach Mark Pope said of his new 6-foot-6 guard. “And I thought he was really disciplined. It was a zero-turnover night, which is a huge thing for him, and he was really forceful downhill. … I thought he had elite-level decision-making.”
Kam Williams made his season debut for the Wildcats and scored two points with one rebound and one assist in nine minutes. Williams had been out since January of last season with a broken foot.
“(Williams) could help us more (against) Kansas, and he’s gonna continue to put his fingerprints on this team,” Pope said.
Kansas has won six of the past eight meetings against Kentucky going back to the 2015-16 season, including an 89-84 victory in a November 2023 game that also was played in Chicago.