Dribble Handoff: Duke-Kansas, St. John’s-Kentucky, Houston-Auburn among college hoops’ top 2025-26 showdowns

College basketball schedules are nearing completion ahead of the 2025-26 season, and there will be no shortage of marquee nonconference matchups over the first couple months. While the Players Era Festival will bring numerous high-profile showdowns to Las Vegas in November, we’re also in store for some blockbuster, on-campus games.

Just to name a few of the on-campus highlights, we’ll get Michigan State vs. Duke, Alabama vs. Purdue, Illinois vs. Texas Tech, Kentucky vs. Indiana and UConn vs. Arizona. Then, there’s the 2025 ACC-SEC Challenge, which brings another 16 contests of note, including Duke vs. Florida and Kentucky vs. North Carolina.

These are the games and results that help set the tone for the season. Entire conferences suffer or thrive on Selection Sunday because of the metrics that were built through November and December performances.

The SEC’s blockbuster run through nonconference action last season set the stage for the league to earn a record-breaking 14 NCAA Tournament bids. While the collective attention of the sports world was mostly focused on football and what turned out to be a substandard season on the gridiron, the SEC was quietly taking college basketball by storm.

With basketball season drawing ever closer, we’ve identified the nonconference games we’re most excited for (in chronological order).

Kentucky @ Louisville (Nov. 11)

Their Nov. 11 meeting at the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville is coming much earlier than normal, but the timing is arguably a positive. The rivalry showdown is slated for a Tuesday night, which will make it an attractive national viewing option for sports fans who won’t have any significant football alternatives. It will also be the first real test for both teams, meaning we should learn a ton about their new rosters in a pressure-packed environment.

Last season’s Kentucky vs. Louisville game transpired before the Cardinals found their mojo under Pat Kelsey, as a 93-85 loss at No. 5 UK dropped the Cards to 6-5. But Louisville spent the rest of the 2024-25 season building momentum. Now, entering the 2025-26 season, both Kentucky and Louisville are thriving under second-year coaches and expected to compete for conference and national titles. The quick success that Kelsey and Mark Pope have brought to a basketball-crazed state is reenergizing one of the sport’s best rivalries. This year’s meeting will essentially be a celebration of college basketball in the Commonwealth as these programs square off while seeking to set the tone for seasons with significant upside. — David Cobb

Last November, Houston-Auburn played at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas, was an early season measuring stick for two teams ranked inside the top 15 of the AP poll. Auburn won that game 74-69 despite a litany of troubles on their initial trek to face the Cougars. Both teams went on to emerge as top-five teams on the season, with Auburn’s run wrapping in the Final Four to eventual champion Florida and Houston’s run ending at the hands of the Gators in the title game.

It’s not crazy to think this season’s Houston-Auburn game in November could again serve as another litmus test for two contending powers.

This year’s game will be played on Nov. 16 at the Legacy Arena in Birmingham, Alabama, and will feature a Houston team that could open as preseason No. 1 taking on an Auburn team that is remade but will nonetheless be rugged and ready to play spoiler on stomping grounds near its home. 

I’m very much excited to see how these teams fare against one another. This will, of course, be a huge test for a Cougars team with title aspirations, but also a worthy challenge for Auburn to see just how ready it is to punch against big dogs. It’ll also pit college stars against each other — Tahaad Pettiford (Auburn) vs. Milos Uzan (Houston), specifically — to say nothing of the chess match between coaches Kelvin Sampson and Bruce Pearl. This matchup has all the goods you want. — Kyle Boone

Duke vs. Kansas (Nov. 18)

Kansas freshman Darryn Peterson is the No. 1 prospect from the Class of 2025, according to 247Sports. Duke freshman Cameron Boozer is No. 3. Both are obviously elite and likely one-and-done top-five picks in the 2026 NBA Draft, where they’ll be selected next June by franchises and then presumably spend the next decade-plus competing against each other as professionals.

We’ll get a preview nine days before Thanksgiving.

That’s when the Jayhawks and Blue Devils will meet in the 15th annual Champions Classic inside New York’s Madison Square Garden. It’s a circle-the-date event similar to the 2007 Jimmy V Classic, when Memphis and USC were paired as MSG in a game showcasing Derrick Rose (Memphis) and O.J. Mayo (USC), two heralded guards who subsequently went first and third, respectively, in the 2008 NBA Draft.

Neither Rose nor Mayo were great that night.

They combined to shoot 9 of 29 from the field, including 1 of 5 from 3. So, hopefully, Peterson and Boozer will deliver a little better when they meet Nov. 18. Either way, I can’t wait to see it. — Gary Parrish

Florida @ Duke (Dec. 2)

Last year’s SEC/ACC Men’s Challenge was an eventful one, but it was lopsided. The scales tipped heavily in favor of the SEC, as the conference went 14-2 against the ACC. Duke was able to save the day for the conference after recording a statement win at home over Auburn. This year’s challenge should also be a good one, and the headliner matchup will see reigning national champion Florida travel to Cameron Indoor Stadium to face Duke.

There are many reasons this will be the best nonconference game of the season. Among them is the fact that there will be plenty of NBA Draft prospects to ponder. One of them is Duke freshman Cameron Boozer, who is a projected top-three pick in the 2026 NBA Draft. The Gators also have a handful of players who could hear their name called early next summer, including Thomas Haugh, Alex Condon and Boogie Fland.

Had Duke not blown a late lead against Houston this past spring, this would’ve been the national title game matchup. The fact that we get this game less than eight months later is a small consolation prize for college basketball diehards who wanted to see this game played in San Antonio. — Cameron Salerno

Kentucky vs. St. John’s (Dec. 20)

Wrote about this one when it went official back in May. UCLA ducked out on the CBS Sports Classic (because Mick Cronin didn’t want to fly from LA to Atlanta; he told me as much earlier this offseason), and in doing so gave college basketball one of its best non-con games of the season. St. John’s was available and willing to sub in. What do we get? Quite possibly a top-10 matchup, but beyond that, we get Kentucky coach Mark Pope matching wits against his mentor, former Kentucky coach Rick Pitino. And it’s happening on the 30-year anniversary of when the two helped guide an all-time-great Kentucky team to a national title in the 1995-96 season.

“I’ve been trying to get this game for more than a year,” Pope told me in May. “This is a perfect scenario.”

“Obviously, Kentucky was Camelot for me, I’ve said it many times,” Pitino told CBS Sports. “So now, to play against The Captain (Pope), who made so many special moments for me and the team, in a battle that CBS is putting on is quite special.” 

And it’s happening in a city that Kentucky fans know well: Atlanta. Or, as it’s known colloquially: Catlanta. This marquee game will come at a point on the calendar when we’ll have got a good gauge of St. John’s and Kentucky’s capabilities. It’s possible both could be ranked as high as in the top five. But, beyond where the teams are at, the storylines attached and the reunion element is what makes me more excited for this game than any other in the first eight weeks of the season. — Matt Norlander