Tuesday tip-off: Holiday tournaments highlight day

Setting up the day in college basketball:

Best bet: One of the benefits of these holiday hoops tournaments is getting a look at all sorts of exotic locales. Among them is the Cancun Challenge, which gets underway tonight.

The featured Riviera Division pits undefeated Northern Iowa against Virginia Tech (7 p.m. ET, CBS Sports Network). The Panthers' 4-0 start included a solid road victory in overtime at Stephen F. Austin in the Tip-Off Marathon, and they'd love to add a win against an ACC representative to their list of achievements before embarking on their campaign to dethrone Wichita State in the Missouri Valley Conference. Leading the way for the deep UNI squad is 6-8 F Seth Tuttle (17 ppg, 7.3 rpg). The nightcap in the Riviera Division matches Northwestern against Miami (Ohio) (9:30 p.m. ET, CBS Sports Network), with the winners to meet Wednesday night.

Number of the day: 49. Perhaps the scariest statistic illustrating top-ranked Kentucky's defensive prowess through its first five games is the 49 blocked shots, just a shade under 10 a game. The Wildcats opponents have 74 made field goals and are managing only a 28.1% accuracy rate against UK's rim protectors. Texas-Arlington will try its luck against the 'Cats tonight (7 p.m. ET, SEC Network).

Words of the day: "We've got a good feel for their personnel and what they like to do, but I'm more worried about what we're doing." — Charlotte coach Alan Major in the Charlotte Observer on his 49ers getting an almost instantaneous rematch against No. 20 Miami (Fla.), just two days after the Hurricanes rolled past Charlotte in the championship game of the Charleston Classic. It didn't help the 49ers' cause when leading scorer Braxton Ogbueze had to leave the game in the first half with an apparent knee injury. His status for the rematch wasn't immediately known.

Days until Selection Sunday: 110.

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