Conference races across the country are getting tight as the regular season winds toward the finish.
The Big 12 and Southeastern conferences will take a break from league games on Saturday to play each other, gifting college basketball fans with some marquee midseason non-conference games.
The 10th and final SEC/Big 12 Challenge will feature 10 games between the two conferences, including eight involving ranked teams.
Topping the marquee will be No. 10 Texas at No. 4 Tennessee.
The Vols have one of the nation's best defenses and moved up five spots in this week's AP Top 25 after lopsided wins over Mississippi State and LSU.
The Longhorns lost three spots in this week's poll following a loss to No. 12 Iowa State and a win over West Virginia.
Two blue-blood programs heading in opposite directions will face off when No. 5 Kansas plays at Kentucky.
The Jayhawks last week had consecutive losses in the state for the first time since 1989 after losing in overtime to rival Kansas State and being blown out by TCU at home. Kansas continued its downward trend against No. 17 Baylor on Monday night, losing 75-69 for its fourth three-game losing streak under Bill Self.
Kentucky is no longer ranked, thanks to some lackluster losses, but seems to be rounding back into form. The Wildcats blew out Georgia and beat Texas A&M by 10 points last week.
Baylor beat Kansas for its fifth straight win, but has another difficult game against Arkansas on Saturday.
The Razorbacks were near the top 10 most of the season before hitting a rough patch of four straight losses. Arkansas bounced back with wins over Ole Miss and LSU in the past week, but the Razorbacks fell out of this week's poll.
No. 2 Alabama has its highest ranking since reaching No. 1 in 2002-03 and is right behind top-ranked Purdue, receiving 23 first-place votes from a 62-person media panel in Monday's poll.
The Crimson Tide will likely have a tough road game at Oklahoma.
Kansas State hopes to keep its momentum after an emotional win over Kansas last week helped it climb to No. 5 in this week's poll, the program's highest ranking since reaching No. 3 in 2010-11.
The Wildcats will host Florida on Saturday.
No. 12 Iowa State, have to follow up playing Kansas State by heading to Missouri on Saturday to face a team desperate to get back on track.
TCU handed Kansas one of its worst losses in 20 years under Self with its 83-60 win last Saturday. That helped the Horned Frogs move up three spots to No. 11 in this week's poll. They host Mississippi State on Saturday.
No. 15 Auburn has been on a nice run, but the Tigers may have the toughest road draw in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge by playing at West Virginia.
The Mountaineers lost five of their first six Big 12 games, but they play a physical game and Morgantown is always a difficult place to play.