Kentucky To Face Ohio State in Las Vegas

LAS VEGAS – The 2021 CBS Sports Classic will be contested at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, the third time the venue has hosted the annual event, on December 18. This year’s Classic features North Carolina facing UCLA at 3 PM, ET, followed by Ohio State taking on Kentucky. Both contests will be broadcast on the CBS Television Network and streamed on Paramount+ Premium.

Tickets for the CBS Sports Classic will go on sale to the general public Wednesday, July 28 at 1 PM, ET, and can be secured through www.t-mobilearena.com or www.cbssportsclassic.com. Fans interested in attending the event can register to receive direct email alerts regarding ticket news and other event updates at www.cbssportsclassic.com/tickets. Fans who register for these ticket alerts will be eligible for exclusive presale access.

With each team returning major contributors and high impact transfers, all four programs rank in the Top 16 of the CBSSports.com preseason rankings, according to CBS Sports college basketball analyst Gary Parrish. Fresh off its run to the 2021 Final Four, UCLA appears at No. 2, and is joined in the rankings by No. 12 Kentucky, North Carolina checks in at No. 13 and Ohio State stands at No. 16.

The CBS Sports Classic was previously contested at T-Mobile Arena in 2016 and 2019. Throughout the seven-year history of the CBS Sports Classic, the United Center in Chicago (2014, 2018), Barclays Center in Brooklyn (2015), Smoothie King Center in New Orleans (2017) and Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland (2020) have hosted the annual doubleheader.

The CBS Sports Classic annually brings together four of the nation’s most successful college basketball programs. The quartet owns a combined 26 national championships, with UCLA (11), Kentucky (8) and North Carolina (6) ranking first, second and third, respectively, in NCAA history. Additionally, all four programs rank in the top six in all time Final Four berths, compiling 65 total appearances between them (North Carolina, 20; UCLA, 18; Kentucky, 17; Ohio State, 10). They are among college basketball’s all-time winningest programs, combining for more than 8,200 victories.

North Carolina is 5-2 in CBS Sports Classic games, Ohio State is 4-3, Kentucky is 3-4 and UCLA is 2-5. This set of matchups was last featured in the 2019 CBS Sports Classic, with the Tar Heels defeating the Bruins, 74-64, and the Buckeyes knocking off the Wildcats, 71-65. The 2020 edition of the Classic was staged at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland, with Ohio State defeating UCLA, 77-70, and North Carolina knocking off Kentucky, 75-63.