The 10th and final Big 12/SEC Challenge is being staged Saturday, and it is filled with promise.
There is the latest blue-blood matchup of Kansas-Kentucky inside Rupp Arena. There is Kansas State senior forward Keyontae Johnson having to face Florida, where he spent the first four years of a college career that included his collapsing in a December 2020 game at Florida State. There is the daunting task of the Southeastern Conference having to face six ranked opponents — No. 5 Kansas State, No. 9 Kansas, No. 10 Texas, No. 11 TCU, No. 12 Iowa State and No. 17 Baylor — in this 10-game extravaganza.
Oh, there is also the sequel of Tennessee coach Rick Barnes facing Texas, where he spent 17 seasons before relocating to Knoxville.
"It's a game," Barnes told reporters Friday afternoon. "We're going to play it, and they're going to be in this league from here on out. Going there last year was a little bit different, because it was the first time I had been back in that arena."
This past November, ESPN announced it would be televising an ACC/SEC Challenge beginning next season that would include men's and women's competition. The inaugural ACC/SEC Challenge is scheduled to take place the week after Thanksgiving.
The Big 12 heads into this final event holding a 48-41 advantage, having built a 20-10 lead through the first three years. The SEC has lost only one of the six competitions since, winning 5-4 in 2021 — that season's Kentucky-Texas pairing in Lexington had to be canceled due to coronavirus-related issues within the Wildcats program — and 6-4 last year.
Although Kansas and Kentucky are the most tradition-rich teams in this showcase, the only top-10 showdown this time around is Texas visiting the No. 4 Volunteers. The Longhorns won last year's meeting 52-51 in Austin, building a 17-point lead with seven minutes remaining before surviving a furious Tennessee rally.
Josiah-Jordan James missed an open 3-pointer as time expired, but the Vols would rebound to win 13 of their next 14 contests before being bounced by Michigan in the second round of the NCAA tournament.
"It was a really gritty game," Vols senior forward Olivier Nkamhoua said Friday. "We struggled for most of it, but in stretches, we played like we're supposed to play. It was a tough loss, but it was a turning point for us."
Texas began this season under Chris Beard, who was suspended and then fired after his arrest on a domestic family violence charge, and is now under the guidance of Rodney Terry.
Although there has been league pride when it comes to winning a Big 12/SEC Challenge, the SEC has its share of participants this weekend simply looking to right their respective ships. Alabama is even in that category, with the No. 2 Crimson Tide traveling to Oklahoma on the heels of Wednesday night's shaky 66-63 win over Mississippi State in Tuscaloosa.
Crimson Tide coach Nate Oats was asked after that escape how his team has been handling the target of being the league leader.
"Based on tonight, it didn't look good," Oats said. "That was the worst game we've played in a while. I personally thought we had been handling it pretty well until tonight."
At least Alabama is heading into this challenge coming off a win, with No. 15 Auburn having been thumped at home Wednesday night by Texas A&M 79-63. Bruce Pearl's Tigers won last year's SEC regular-season title and won six of their first seven league games this winter, but they have a back-loaded second half with two games against Alabama and Tennessee and trips to Kentucky and Texas A&M.
"This is probably the toughest 12-game schedule I can remember in my career," Pearl said Thursday in a news conference, "but at the same time, it's an incredible opportunity."
Kentucky has made the most of its opportunities since the embarrassing 71-68 loss to visiting South Carolina on Jan. 10, winning its past four contests, which included the topping of Tennessee in Knoxville and a downing of Texas A&M in Lexington. The Wildcats arguably produced the most dominating performance of last season with their 80-62 thrashing of Kansas in Lawrence, but it was Bill Self's Jayhawks who were cutting down the nets in after rallying past North Carolina in the national championship game.
"They're good. They're really good," Wildcats coach John Calipari said this week of the reigning champs, "and hopefully we're playing at our best, too."
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com.