Cnotes College Basketball Previews For 11/25/16 !

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Preview: Cavaliers (4-0) at Hawkeyes (3-1)
Date: November 25, 2016 7:00 PM EDT

After becoming the first team in the last 20 years to hold three straight opponents to less than 40 points, No. 7 Virginia will face its toughest test of the young season against Iowa on Friday night.

The matchup between the Cavaliers and the Hawkeyes will take place in Niceville, Fla. in the semifinals of the Emerald Coast Classic.

Virginia and Iowa last met in 2013 when the Hawkeyes defeated the Cavaliers 75-64 in the quarterfinals of the NIT. Much has changed since then as Virginia became a staple in the top 10, and the Cavaliers look for their best win of the season.

"I would say we've been tested, but tested against each other every day in practice," Virginia guard Darius Thompson said. "We go against each other every day, battling against one of the better defenses in the country. I think our practices prepare us to play against anybody."

Iowa (3-1) boasts the nation's ninth-best scoring offense at 96.3 points per game. Guard Peter Jok has averaged 24 points per game so far this season, which leads the Big Ten, and the Hawkeyes have five players averaging at least seven points per contest.

Jok needs just 31 points to reach the 1,000 mark for his career. The Hawkeyes will be without the services of senior Dale Jones, who suffered a fracture in his right wrist against Seton Hall. Jones is expected to miss eight to nine weeks of game action.

Virginia's perfect record of 4-0 will be put to the test against Fran McCaffery's high-powered Iowa offense. The Cavaliers are ranked first in the country in scoring defense this season as they allow just under 39 points per game.

"I haven't really played against a good defense yet this year," Jok said. "Offensively, we will be good as long as we move the ball. We have a lot of guys that can score but to be successful we have to play defense too and that starts with me."

Freshmen have been needed, and thrived for both teams in the early going of the season. Iowa and Virginia both boasted highly-touted freshman in and forward Tyler Cook and guard Kyle Guy, respectively.

Cook has tallied double-digits in his last three games and is averaging just a tad under 15 points per game to compliment Jok. In the Hawkeye's win over Seton Hall, Cook scored a career-high 24 points and will be a handful for Virginia's frontcourt despite his lack of collegiate experience.

Guy has also been impressive in the Cavaliers' 4-0 start. Guy's coming out party came Tuesday night against Grambling State where he came off of the bench to score a game-high 20 points, which included a 5-for-6 mark from the three-point line.

Virginia's guards could be a matchup problem for Iowa, which has yet to face a superior opponent like the Cavaliers thus far this season.

The winner of Friday's semifinal matchup will move on to Saturday's championship game against the winner of the Memphis-Providence game on Friday.

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Preview: Skyhawks (5-1) at Wildcats (5-0)
Date: November 25, 2016 7:00 PM EDT

LEXINGTON, Ky. -- No. 1 Kentucky puts its perfect season on the line Friday night when Tennessee-Martin visits Rupp Arena, and if the Wildcats are to win they might have to do so without their leading scorer.

Sophomore guard Isaiah Briscoe, who was averaging 18 points per game through the first four games, sat out Wednesday's win over Cleveland State because of a lower back injury. His status for Friday remains unclear.

"He tried to practice, but you can't be 75 percent with the way we're playing," coach John Calipari said Wednesday. "So he took today and tomorrow off and we'll see if he can go Friday. If he can't go Friday, we'll just hope he's ready for Monday."

Briscoe was hurt during Sunday's win over Duquesne when he was fouled hard on a drive to the basket. He landed awkwardly on his tailbone and managed to play only three minutes after intermission. Briscoe sat on an ice pack the second half.

Kentucky didn't need Briscoe in Wednesday's 101-70 rout of Cleveland State, but Friday won't be so easy when UT-Martin brings its 5-1 record to Lexington.

The Skyhawks lost the season opener 86-83 at Ole Miss, but has since ripped off five straight wins. Three of the victories are against common opponents in the Bluegrass Showcase, a loosely aligned, round-robin event.

UT-Martin defeated Cleveland State, 85-74; and won at Canisius, 72-69, and at Duquesne, 66-63, on Wednesday thanks to a 38-25 second-half spurt that erased a 10-point halftime deficit.

Kentucky defeated Canisius, 93-69; Duquesne, 93-59; and Cleveland State, 101-70. The Wildcats also own a 69-48 win over Michigan State.

"Tennessee-Martin had Mississippi beat, lost by three, and they won every other game. They've beaten all the teams," Calipari said. "They press, they trap, they drive the ball at every chance."

The Skyhawks have five players averaging double figures scoring, led by Jacolby Mobley at 17.4 points per game. Martinez is the top rebounder at 8.2 per game.

Without Briscoe, Kentucky is led by freshman guard Malik Monk at 17.2 points per game. Next comes freshman guard De'Aaron Fox at 15.4 and freshman forward Bam Adebayo at 10.2.

Most impressive, Kentucky has 92 assists in five wins while forcing opponents into 103 turnovers.

"They're relentless when they come at you," Cleveland State coach Gary Waters said. "The thing that's scary about them is they enjoy getting out there and doing it. They've also got good inside presence. They want to score inside. They're physical and you've got to match that size."

Calipari said his team would be serving meals at the Salvation Army on Thanksgiving morning, meet at his house for a team meal at 3 p.m. and then do a walk-through for UT-Martin at 7 p.m. at the Craft Center on campus.

"I think I'm going to give them the day off, which I usually wouldn't do the day before a game, but this is going to be a tough run," Calipari said. "We play Friday and then Saturday morning we're in the Bahamas for three days before we come back and then it's on again."

Kentucky faces Arizona State in the Bahamas on Monday before returning home to host No. 14 UCLA on Dec. 3.

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Preview: Bruins (1-2) at Rams (4-1)
Date: November 25, 2016 7:00 PM EDT

After having played five games and winning four of them in 10 days, No. 23 Rhode Island was anxious to get back to business as usual before hosting Belmont on Friday night.

"I'm proud of the guys and happy, obviously," coach Dan Hurley said after his Rams lost to No. 1 Duke in the final of the Hall of Fame Tip Off Tournament in Connecticut last Sunday.

"We would have loved to have won today or least have a chance in the last minute or two, but the reality of it is, five games in 10 days, that's like an NBA schedule and then add into that ... we played a war, Cincinnati (in the semifinals) probably took a little bit from us today.

"Not to make any excuses at all, but that was a taxing war we played with a high-level team and then to turn around and face the No. 1 team in the country; that was a tall task for us but, man, we learned a lot about ourselves this weekend about what we can be and we've got to kind of get cleaned up the next time, hopefully in March that we face somebody like this."

The Rams started the season ranked 23rd, moved up to No. 21 and then dropped back to 23 after the loss. They now face a 1-2 Belmont team at home before a tough week next week -- at Valparaiso and at local rival Providence and the Dunkin Donuts Center in Providence.

"Just proud of the way the guys play(ed) the whole weekend," Hurley said Sunday. "I think today was a tremendous learning experience for us that we can move on from."

Belmont, picked preseason to win the Ohio Valley Conference, has lost to Vanderbilt and Florida and defeated Western Kentucky.

At Florida, the Bruins, who are led in scoring (20.7 per game) and rebounding (8.3) by 6-foor-7 forward Evan Bradds, the OVC preseason player of the year, didn't score for the first 5:13 and fell behind 24-4 before making a game of it.

A 3-point shooting team, they went 25-for-75 from behind the arc in the first two games but were just 7-for-27 against Florida.

Now, they're on to URI.

"Rhode Island presents a number of challenges for any opponent it faces," coach Eric Byrd said Wednesday. "In watching them on film, their individual talent and versatility jump off the screen. Their players play with great confidence."

E.C. Matthews, who was handled by Duke's Grayson Allen and scored just nine points Sunday, leads the Rams in scoring at 17.4 points per game -- with four starter averaging in double figures through the first five games. Hassan Martin, who is scoring at a 13.6 per game clip, leads URI in rebounding with 7.4 boards per contest.

"We beat an outstanding team," Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said Sunday. "Danny, he hasn't built a team, he's built a program. They love one another, they play together ... it was such a competitive game."