The Jimmy V Classic at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday evening will feature two top 15 teams in the No. 4 Kansas Jayhawks and No. 13 Memphis Tigers. It's KU basketball's toughest test to date but they have been tested lately. Kansas beat Arizona by eight points and squeaked past UCLA by one point thanks to a helpful foul late in the game.
Memphis is playing in Madison Square Garden for the first team under head coach Josh Pastner.
"Tuesday's game versus Kansas is going to be a big-time game in a big-time atmosphere," Pastner said. "Bottom line is, as I told our guys, this is just another game on our schedule and we are not getting too high with the highs or too low with the lows."
Kansas on the other hand hasn't been as successful losing their last three in MSG since they last won a decade ago.
Kansas is still two more games away from Josh Selby's debut but they're learning how to play well without him. Going unscathed through the Arizona-UCLA-Memphis stretch would be impressive.
Neither team has faced a ranked opponent this year and both are tops in their conference in scoring. Kansas has been very efficient shooting a Division I high 56.9 percent.