Big Al's Daily Angle: UEFA Champions League and NCAA Basketball Preview

by Big Al Staff

Tuesday, Dec 01, 2020
The Tuesday sports card features a full day of college basketball action as well as MatchDay 5 of the group stage of the UEFA Champions League. The NFL showdown between the Baltimore Ravens and the Pittsburgh Steelers that was rescheduled for Tuesday evening has pushed back until Wednesday for a 3:20 PM ET kickoff. The morning college football game between Charlotte and Western Kentucky was canceled due to COVID issues with the 49ers program.

The college basketball card begins at 1:30 PM ET, with the second day of the Maui Invitational taking place on a neutral court in Asheville, North Carolina, this year. The opening game on ESPN has Texas playing Indiana after both teams won on Monday. BYU also plays USC on ESPN2 at 1:30 PM ET on a neutral court in the mini-bubble at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut. The Cougars are a 3.5-point favorite with the total set at 147 (all odds from BetOnline). 

The second game of the Maui Invitational in Asheville takes place at 4 PM ET on ESPN, with North Carolina playing Stanford after both teams won their games on Monday.

At 5:00 PM ET, Villanova plays Hartford in the second game at the Mohegan Sun Arena that Jay Wright has made his team’s home away from home over the last week. The Wildcats are 26.5-point favorites with an over/under of 139. 

Davidson plays Providence at 7 PM ET on ESPN2 in the third game in the Maui Invitational in the losers bracket after both teams lost on Monday.

The Champions Classic tips off at 7:30 PM ET on ESPN with Michigan State traveling to Cameron Indoor Arena to play Duke. The Blue Devils are 3.5-point favorites with a total of 152. 

The second game of the Champions Classic starts at 9:30 PM ET on ESPN, with Kansas playing Kentucky on a neutral court at Bankers Field House in Indianapolis, Indiana. The Jayhawks are 4.5-point favorites with the total at 146.5. The final game of the Maui Invitational in Asheville tips off at 9:30 PM ET as well on ESPN2 with UNLV playing Alabama. 

The Tuesday sports card features the first eight matches in the UEFA Champions League Group Stage Matchday 5. These matches are all reverse fixtures of the games played on October 21st in the round-robin group stage six-match schedule.

Two matches start at 12:55 PM ET. Salzburg travels to Lokomotiv Moskva as a -1 goal line road favorite with the total set at 3. Real Madrid visits Shaktar Donetsk as a -1.25 goal line road favorite with an over/under of 3.25.

Another six matches take place at 3 PM ET. Atletico Madrid hosts Bayern Munich (who has clinched a spot in the Round of 16) as a -0.5 goal line favorite with a total of 2.75. Inter Milan visits Borussia Monchengladbach as a -0.25 goal line road favorite with the total at 3. Marseille hosts Olympiacos as a -0.25 goal line favorite with an over/under of 2.25. Manchester City (who has also clinched a spot in the Round of 16) travels to Porto as a -1 goal line road favorite with the total at 2.75. Liverpool hosts Ajax as a -0.75 goal line favorite with the over/under at 3.25. Atalanta hosts the pointless Midtjylland without a goal line yet established and an over/under set at 3.5.

All eight games are available on the CBS Sports All-Access package. Alternatively, the CBS Sports Network broadcasts a whip-around show during the six 3 PM ET games.

All photographic images used for editorial content have been licensed from the Associated Press.

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