North Carolina Central is starting off the basketball season with a tall task as they prepare to play the top-ranked Kansas Jayhawks in the John McLendon Classic. The classic game, which will take place on November 6th at Phog Allen Fieldhouse in Lawrence, Kansas, will be the first time that the two programs have faced each other. Eagles head coach LaVelle Moten excitedly announced the opening game on his Twitter.

He tweeted, “Eagles Nation, we’re Excited to Open our season vs the #1 ranked team in the Country…….Kansas Jayhawks!!!!”

North Carolina Central finished last season's campaign with an 18-12 overall record and 10-4 in conference. They were competitive in several out-of-conference contests such as their 79-74 loss to Appalachian State and a 71-63 loss against #18 ranked Virginia. Kansas is not North Carolina Central's only tough out-of-conference contest. The Eagles also will play the Georgia Bulldogs and have a rematch with Virginia on the schedule to start the season.

The Eagles were flying high headed into the MEAC tournament and convincingly beat Delaware State but lost an overtime battle with Norfolk State 72-65. Norfolk State ultimately went on to the MEAC Championship but lost 65-64 to Howard University. Moten and North Carolina Central hope to continue their dominance in the MEAC and win another MEAC Championship, their first since the 2018-2019 season. The 2018-2019 season was their third straight in successive seasons.

Kansas played Texas Southern last year and won 87-55. The matchup with Texas Southern from the 2022-2023 season was a rematch of the March Madness tournament where first-ranked Kansas beat Texas Southern 83-56 to advance in the tournament, en route to winning the NCAA Championship with a 72-69 victory over UNC.