Your College Basketball Saturday Viewing Guide: January 3, 2026

PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND - MARCH 22: The Arkansas Razorbacks mascot on the floor during a second round game against the St. John's Red Storm in the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Amica Mutual Pavillion on March 22, 2025 in Providence, Rhode Island.
Arkansas is the home team for the best national TV game of the day. | Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images

HELLO AND WELCOME TO 2026!

It’s the first Saturday of the year, and since we’re past the majority of the college football playoffs/bowl games, there is A TON of college basketball on national television today! I’m counting 37 games in total, split 36 for the men and one for the women. The one women’s game on national TV? You better believe it’s UConn, as the top ranked Huskies are hosting Seton Hall.

13 of the men’s games have at least one ranked team involved. There’s just one game between two ranked opponents, and that’s #19 Tennessee visiting #18 Arkansas. I suppose that automatically makes that one your game of the day.

Still, there are nine other ranked teams on the road against an unranked foe here, so the chances for BLOOD SATURDAY~! are kind of high. The first game of the day might be the best chance for an upset, as #21 Virginia visits NC State. I also like Wisconsin’s chances at home against #5 Purdue, but that’s more “the Kohl Center is a bear to deal with” more than “actually, the Badgers are good.”

There are, of course, a bunch of games that are streaming only, so they’re not on the calendar below. #4 UCLA hosts #17 USC on Peacock is the top streaming women’s game of the day, while #17 Kansas visiting 11-1 UCF for the Big 12 opener for both teams is best streaming-only men’s game today.

Here’s your full schedule for the day, with all times Central as always. If you latch on to something great, sound off in the comments so everyone can tune in!

Time (CT) Game Television
10:00 AM #21 Virginia at NC State ESPN2
11:00 AM Seton Hall at #1 UConn FS1
Kentucky at #14 Alabama ESPN
VCU at Duquesne USA Network
UTSA at Temple ESPNU
Villanova at Butler TNT
Providence at St. John’s Fox
Virginia Tech at Wake Forest ACC Network
Clemson at Pitt The CW
Northeastern at Campbell CBS Sports Network
12:00 PM Oklahoma State at #15 Texas Tech ESPN2
Auburn at #23 Georgia SEC Network
12:30 PM #10 BYU at Kansas State CBS
1:00 PM #8 Houston at Cincinnati Fox
#11 Vanderbilt at South Carolina ESPNU
La Salle at George Washington USA Network
Dayton at Loyola Chicago CBS Sports Network
Baylor at TCU TNT
Xavier at DePaul FS1
Boston College at Georgia Tech ACC Network
1:15 PM #12 North Carolina at SMU The CW
2:00 PM #19 Tennessee at #18 Arkansas ESPN2
2:30 PM Ole Miss at Oklahoma SEC Network
2:45 PM #6 Duke at Florida State CBS
3:00 PM Rhode Island at George Mason USA Network
Oral Roberts at North Dakota State CBS Sports Network
LSU at Texas A&M ESPNU
4:00 PM Colorado at Arizona State ESPN2
Minnesota at Northwestern Big Ten Network
5:00 PM Davidson at Saint Joseph’s CBS Sports Network
Wichita State at Charlotte ESPNU
Mississippi State at Texas SEC Network
6:00 PM #20 Illinois at Penn State Big Ten Network
7:00 PM #5 Purdue at Wisconsin Fox
Wyoming at New Mexico CBS Sports Network
7:30 PM #22 Florida at Missouri SEC Network
9:00 PM Boise State at San Diego State CBS Sports Network

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