Jayhawks to Play in Blockbuster Basketball Marathon in November

BRISTOL, Conn. (AP) – Defending champion Kentucky will play Duke, and Michigan State meets Kansas in the Champions Classic Doubleheader that will cap ESPN’s 24-hour Tip-Off Marathon. The network announced Wednesday that the fifth annual day of hoops will start Nov. 13 at midnight EDT with West Virginia at Gonzaga. Eleven games will follow, capped by the marquee doubleheader in Atlanta’s Georgia Dome. Sixteen conferences will be represented in the marathon. Despite Butler and Xavier both being in the Atlantic 10, their game in Cincinnati will be a nonconference matchup since it was scheduled before Butler joined the conference for this season. Eight schools will make their debut in the marathon: Davidson, Detroit, Harvard, Houston Baptist, New Mexico, Northern Illinois, Valparaiso and Xavier.