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Feast Week-Plus Viewer’s Guide: Saturday, November 20, 2021

Thanks to college football, this is a lightly-scheduled day, but the semifinal doubleheader for one of this November’s biggest events is set for the afternoon.

NCAA Basketball: Howard at Villanova Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports

For a more complete listing of today’s games, visit the daily schedule at Matt Sarz’s Sports, adjustable by time zone.

All times are Eastern.

The Myrtle Beach Invitational, Charleston Classic, Jersey Mike’s Classic, and Roman Main Event all take today off. They’ll wrap up tomorrow.

Cheez-It Tip-Off Presented by Hotels.com Semifinals

ESPN News will air both games.

Villanova (Big East, 2-1, 10 KP) vs. Tennessee (SEC, 2-0, 11 KP), 1 p.m.
Purdue (Big Ten, 3-0, 4 KP) vs. North Carolina (ACC, 3-0, 51 KP), 4 p.m.

Perhaps the best early season tournament of 2021 gets the worst timeslot for its semifinals, shuffled off to ESPN News on a college football Saturday. At least it isn’t streaming only as it is most years! Tomorrow’s championship game will be on ABC, however, to make up for it. Incredibly, one of these four teams will leave the Mohegan Sun with two losses. In other words, NCAA Tournament seeding could already be on the line on the second Saturday of the season.

Sunshine Slam Semifinals

FloHoops ($) will stream all four games.

Host Bracket

Utah (Pac-12, 3-0, 80 KP) vs. Boston College (ACC, 3-1, 130 KP), 5 p.m.
Rhode Island (A 10, 3-0, KP 90) vs. Tulsa (American, 2-1, 147 KP), approx. 7:30 p.m.

Visitor Bracket

Bryant (NEC, 1-2, 224 KP) vs. Bethune-Cookman (SWAC, 0-3, 355 KP), 12 p.m.
Air Force (MW, 2-1, 285 KP) vs. Holy Cross (Patriot, 1-2, 325 KP), approx. 2:30 p.m.

This is not a new event, even if it’s unfamiliar to you. However, the venue (the Daytona Beach Ocean Center) and format (split bracket) are different from the previous time this event was played as a four-team round-robin down I-4 and US 192 in Kissimmee. Even though the visitor bracket is weak, Bethune-Cookman might not be able to take advantage of playing this event near campus. As for the host bracket, all four of these teams have question marks, and that’s even with URI defeating BC by a 57-49 score in Kingston on Wednesday night.

U.S. Virgin Islands Paradise Jam Consolation Semifinals

PDF Bracket

ESPN3 will stream both games.

Bradley (MVC, 1-3, 195 KP) vs. Brown (Ivy, 3-2, 232 KP), 3:15 p.m.
Duquesne (A 10, 1-3, 199 KP) vs. Colorado (Pac-12, 3-1, 50 KP), approx. 5:45 p.m.

Last night’s final game eliminated two possibilities: Colorado and Colorado State are likely not to play this year, as the Buffaloes fell to Southern Illinois, 67-63. (Never dig yourself too deep of a hole for the second half, Buffs.) That result pushed the Salukis into the semifinals, which means they won’t meet Valley rival Bradley until conference play begins.

Friday’s four winners meet in the championship semifinals on Sunday evening.

Other Games Of Note

Richmond (2-1, 70 KP) at Drake (2-0, 54 KP), 1 p.m. (MC-22/ESPN+ ($))
The winner of this contest in Des Moines will have a leg up in the at-large chase.

Stanford (3-1, 79 KP) at Baylor (3-0, 6 KP), 1 p.m. (ESPN+ ($))
The defending National Champs play their fourth straight game at home, with the previous ones decided by 27, 29, and 45 points each.

Austin Peay (1-2, 310 KP) at Dayton (1-2, 115 KP), 2 p.m. (Bally Sports Ohio/ESPN+ ($))
The Flyers have lost to UMass Lowell and Lipscomb already at home. They could use a win in their final tuneup before heading to Florida for the ESPN Events Invitational on Thanksgiving.

Rider (2-2, 258 KP) at Buffalo (1-1, 83 KP) (Cancún Challenge), 2 p.m. (ESPN3)
The Bulls recorded a nice road win over North Texas on Monday.

Detroit Mercy (0-3, 232 KP) at Louisville (2-1, 49 KP) (Baha Mar Bahamas Championship), 2 p.m. (ACCNX/ESPN+ ($))
Last night, Maryland struggled to defeat Hofstra in its Baha Mar on-campus game, so the Cardinals will want to be wary of the Titans.

UCF (3-0, 59 KP) at Evansville (2-2, 193 KP), 2 p.m. (ESPN+ ($))
The Knights have a road win over Miami (Fla.) already this season.

Chattanooga (3-0, 125 KP) at VCU (2-1, 105 KP), 4 p.m. (ESPN+ ($))
The Mocs will challenge Furman in the SoCon, while VCU dropped its last home game—to Wagner, by 14! However, the Rams did win at Vandy by a 48-37 count on Wednesday.

UIC (2-1, 254 KP) at Loyola Chicago (3-0, 31 KP), 4 p.m. (ESPN+ ($))
My neighbors, the Flames, travel to my old neighborhood for a potential meeting of Missouri Valley ships passing in the night.

North Carolina A&T (1-3, 249 KP) at Wake Forest (3-0, 106 KP) (Emerald Coast Classic), 4 p.m. (ACCNX/ESPN+ ($))
The Demon Deacons play the Aggies and Kennesaw State to wrap up a soft five-game homestand before heading to the Florida Panhandle to meet Oregon State and either Penn State or LSU.

Mercer (1-2, 173 KP) at Saint Louis (3-1, 97 KP) (Cancún Challenge), 5 p.m. (Bally Sports Midwest/ESPN+ ($))
While the Bears lack a Division I win, they did take Winthrop to OT in Rock Hill one week ago and pushed Arkansas hard on Opening Night.

Colgate (2-2, 124 KP) at Syracuse (2-0, 38 KP), 5 p.m. (ACCNX/ESPN+ ($))
The Orange meet a 2021 NCAA Tournament team for the second game in a row. Syracuse didn’t meet the Raiders last season, a rarity, due to the Patriot League’s scheduling restrictions.

Manhattan (3-1, 267 KP) vs. Liberty (1-2, 103 KP) (MAAC/ASUN Challenge), 6 p.m. (ESPN3)
In their openers last night, the Jaspers took down North Alabama, while the Flames collapsed against Iona.

Western Illinois (3-0, 225) at DePaul (3-0, 119 KP) (Blue Demon Classic), 8 p.m. (FS2)
Sadly for the Leathernecks, Coach Rick’s squad won’t be taking the floor at Wintrust tonight.

Winthrop (2-1, 176 KP) at Vanderbilt (2-1, 84 KP), 8 p.m. (SECN+/ESPN+ ($))
As mentioned above, the Commodores scored a mere 37 points in their last game and Winthrop is a decent squad.

Iona (4-0, 149 KP) vs. North Alabama (1-2, 303 KP) (MAAC/ASUN Challenge), approx. 8:30 p.m. (ESPN3)
The Gaels look to win a second straight in Orlando and their fifth overall with a rematch with Alabama looming on Thursday.

Pepperdine (2-2, 182 KP) at UC Irvine (2-1, 110 KP), 9 p.m. (ESPN+ ($))
An intriguing West Coast/Big West matchup featuring a pair of teams likely to make noise in their respective conference races.