Photos via Getty Images Kansas senior center Udoka Azubuike and Duke sophomore guard Tre Jones
Two of college basketball’s top winningest programs meet on Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden, as No. 3 Kansas faces No. 4 Duke in the State Farm Champions Classic.
The game is scheduled to start at 7 p.m. ET and will be televised on ESPN. If you don’t have cable, you can watch a live stream of the game on your computer, phone, Roku, Fire TV Stick or other streaming device via one of the following cable-free, live-TV streaming services:
Hulu With Live TV comes with Hulu’s extensive on-demand library of TV shows and movies and 60-plus live TV channels, including ESPN.
You can sign up for Hulu with Live TV right here, and you can then watch a live stream of Kansas vs Duke on your computer via the Hulu website, or on your phone (Android and iPhone supported), tablet, Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Chromecast, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, Echo Show, or other streaming device via the Hulu app. You can also watch the game on the ESPN app if you sign in using your Hulu credentials.
If you can’t watch live, Hulu With Live TV comes with 50 hours of cloud DVR space, as well as the option to upgrade to “Enhanced Cloud DVR,” which gives you 200 hours of space and the ability to fast-forward through commercials.
Sling TV’s “Sling Orange” bundle comes with 25-plus live TV channels, including ESPN.
You can start a free seven-day trial of Sling TV right here, and you can then watch a live stream of Kansas vs Duke on your computer via the Sling TV website, or on your phone (Android and iPhone supported), tablet, Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Chromecast, Xbox One, or other streaming device via the Sling TV app. You can also watch the game on the ESPN app if you sign in using your Sling TV credentials.
If you can’t watch live, cloud DVR is available as an add-on.
YouTube TV comes with 70-plus live TV channels, including ESPN.
You can sign up for YouTube TV right here, and you can then watch a live stream of Kansas vs Duke on your computer via the YouTube website, or on your phone (Android and iPhone supported), tablet, Roku, Apple TV, Chromecast, Xbox One or other compatible streaming device via the YouTube app. You can also watch the game on the ESPN app if you sign in using your YouTube TV credentials.
If you can’t watch live, YouTube TV comes with included DVR.
Kansas vs Duke Preview
What more could you ask for to tip-off the 2019-2020 college basketball season then to have the top four teams in the nation playing under one roof on night one?
That’s what we get on Tuesday night for the ninth annual Champions Classic at Madison Square Garden when No. 3 Kansas takes on No. 4 Duke, followed by No. 1 Michigan State facing No. 2 Kentucky.
In the night’s first game, the Kansas Jay Hawks will meet the Duke Blue Devils for the first time since Kansas won an overtime thriller in the Midwest Regional Final in 2018 to advance to the Final Four.
Two pieces from that 2018 run, that were sorely missed last season, are back to lead a Jay Hawks team that has high expectations coming into the 2019-2020 campaign.
Kansas center Udoka Azubuike returns after missing the majority of last year due to injury. The 7-foot, 270-pound senior was named the Big 12 Preseason Player of the Year by the league’s coaches. He averaged a nation-best 77.0% field goal percentage during his sophomore season.
Joining Azubuike in the paint will be junior forward Silvio De Sousa, who was ineligible to play last season.
The Jay Hawks’ floor general Devon Dotson returns for his sophomore season. He was the top-scoring freshman in the Big 12, averaging 12.3 points per game last season.
Kansas was the preseason No. 1-ranked team going into last year but struggled with injuries and finished third in the Big 12. The Jay Hawks fell in the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament to eventual Final Four-participant Auburn.
Kansas ranks second in all-time NCAA Division I wins at 2,274 and is a remarkable 17-5 against AP top 5 teams under coach Bill Self.
Duke enters this season with a new crop of freshman studs, including three McDonald’s All-Americans — Vernon Carey Jr., Matthew Hurt and Wendell Moore Jr.
The Blue Devils are coming off a 32-6 season, in which they won their 21st ACC championship, reached the NCAA Tournament for the 24th straight year and advanced to the Elite Eight for the 22nd time in their program’s history.
This Duke team will look a lot different than last season’s, as their phenom freshmen stars Zion Williamson and RJ Barrett made the leap to the NBA where they were taken No. 1 and No. 3 overall, respectively, in last summer’s draft.
Having the No. 2-ranked recruiting class and coach Mike Krzyzewski to lead the squad will certainly help fill the void.
“It’s a different approach every year,” Krzyzewski said. “This group is going to be a unit, not a starting five. Everyone’s got to be ready to play. I’d call it old school, like older Duke teams, from years past.”
Sophomore guard Tre Jones is back for the Blue Devils, after a season which saw him start 36 games, averaging 9.4 points, 5.3 assists and 3.8 rebounds per game. He also set a Duke single-season record for assist-turnover ratio (3.62).
Duke has won 19 straight season openers and is 37-2 under Coach K, including last season’s impressive beatdown of then-No. 2 Kentucky, 118-84, in the Champions Classic in Indianapolis.
Duke owns the edge in the all-time series between the two blue bloods, 7-5, but hasn’t beat Kansas since the 2011 Maui Invitational championship game.
The Jay Hawks got the best of the Blue Devils in their last matchup in the 2018 Elite Eight, when they won a thrilling overtime game, 85-81, on their way to reaching the Final Four.
Following the Duke-Kansas game on Tuesday night will be another heavyweight battle, featuring the top two teams in the nation, No. 1 Michigan State and No. 2 Kentucky. It will be the first time in NCAA Division I men’s basketball history that No. 1 and No. 2 will meet on opening night.
ODDS:
Kansas -2.5
Total Points Over/Under: 153.5