One of the better decisions made when it came to high major basketball scheduling was the Cross-Conference “Challenges” that have been set up. The B1G-ACC Challenge is a lot of fun. The Big East and Big 12 have a set up. The Gavitt Games Tip-Off is good too, with the Big 10 and Big East facing off. But nobody does it better than the SEC and Big 12 Challenge.

For one, the games are all in the same day, which to me is key. It’s a drink from the firehose situation. But even better is the games are not during the regular non-conference schedule, but one month into conference play, on a Saturday at the end of January.

If there were any changes I’d make, it would be to who they scheduled against each other. As it stands the matchups are made preseason without flexibility to really set up the best matchups. I’d also make sure that Texas A&M and Missouri were in the Challenge every year, and I’d make sure Missouri played an old Big 8 team and A&M played one of the other three from the Big 12 (although TCU would be fine too). Historical opportunism.

Also, while the SEC is a little down, but they’ve got the number one team in the country — the Auburn Tigers — going against a middle of the pack Big 12 team in the Oklahoma Sooners.

The Kentucky-Kansas game is a good one which will garner a ton of attention. Blue blood vs Blue blood. Preseason Alabama was projected to be better than they’ve been, so then the matchup against Baylor makes sense, but Auburn has been the best team in the league to date, and that matchup would be a lot more interesting. Or even Texas Tech-Auburn, the offensive fun of the Auburn Tigers vs a tough no-middle defense?

There are a lot of good matchups though. KU-UK, and Texas-Tennessee should be a fun battle of the orange with Rick Barnes facing off against the program that ran him off. And West Virginia-Arkansas is mildly interesting. The rest of the matchups are just kind of ok. Here’s what it should be:

• Kansas vs Kentucky
• Baylor vs Auburn
• Texas vs Tennessee
• Texas Tech vs Texas A&M
• Kansas State vs Missouri
• Iowa State vs Florida
• Oklahoma vs Alabama
• Oklahoma State vs Mississippi State
• West Virginia vs Arkansas
• TCU vs LSU

I put in A&M and dropped Ole Miss. With the Rebels struggling this just makes for a slightly more intriguing matchup. Not perfect, but a little better.

Missouri-Iowa State Basketball: Time, Location

TIME: 2:00 p.m. CT

DATE: Saturday, January 29, 2022

LOCATION: Hilton Coliseum; Ames, IA.

Missouri-Iowa State Basketball: Follow the game, TV Channel

TELEVISION: ESPNU

STREAM: WatchESPN

RADIO: Tiger Radio Network

TWITTER: @MizzouHoops

FACEBOOK: Mizzou Men’s Basketball

ESPN+: ROCKMNATION

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Missouri-Iowa State Basketball: Betting odds, predictions

As of Friday evening, Missouri is a 17-point underdog to Alabama, according to DraftKing’s Sportsbook. The total points (over/under) is 150.

KenPom predicts...

Iowa State 70, Missouri 57 | It’s easy to say that a win here seems unlikely because, well, a win here seems unlikely. Iowa State is one of the country’s most exciting stories, riding a ferocious defense to a competitive spot in the nation’s best basketball conference. Missouri is, frankly, none of those things.

But the Tigers have now shown that they can at least give opponents a run in their home building, nearly taking down Alabama in Tuscaloosa and throttling Ole Miss in Oxford. A trip to Ames won’t be as familiar, and they’ll have to find a way to get past the Cyclone defense. But it’s not a trip completely without hope. At the very least, you’d expect Missouri to find a way to be in it until the death against a team that struggles to score.

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