Hoops, Hits and a Night Among the Stars

Your daily guide to what's popping in Chicago

By Raj Singh · Published November 10, 2026.

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 10

Champions Classic: Michigan State vs. Duke & Kansas vs. Kentucky @ United Center

Four of college basketball's bluest bloods roll into the United Center on the same night: the State Farm Champions Classic stacks Michigan State vs. Duke and Kansas vs. Kentucky into one early-season doubleheader. It's November, so nothing's decided — which is the whole appeal of these early-season showcases, four storied programs measuring themselves against each other before conference play swallows the schedule.

Tip-off is listed for 6 PM at the United Center. We don't have a ticket price in the listing, so follow the link for seats.

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 10

Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson: Astronomy Bizarre @ Auditorium Theatre

Neil deGrasse Tyson brings his new touring show, "Astronomy Bizarre," to the Auditorium Theatre tonight — a tour through the universe's weirdest phenomena, from black holes to dark matter to cosmic collisions. The venue itself is a National Historic Landmark, a fitting room for a night spent thinking about very large things.

The show is listed for 7:30 PM in the Loop. No ticket price in our listing — check the link.

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 10

Michelle Branch: Everywhere and Back Again Tour @ House of Blues

Grammy winner Michelle Branch headlines House of Blues tonight on her "Everywhere and Back Again Tour." If your early-2000s playlist leaned on "Everywhere" or "All You Wanted," this is your night. The listing puts the show at 8 PM at the River North venue, and the ticket price isn't in our data, so follow the link for availability.

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 10

Leaf It to Us: A Plant Swap in Austin @ Austin Branch Library

A quieter way to spend the afternoon: the Austin branch library hosts "Leaf It to Us," a community plant swap where you bring a plant and take one home — cuttings, full-grown greenery, or just plant-care questions for fellow growers. It's pitched at adults, and the library notes registration is required with limited seating (about two dozen spots were left when we pulled the listing), so sign up before you head over. It runs 3 to 5:30 PM on the West Side.

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 11

The Gradient at Hamilton Park

The Chicago Park District's Night Out in the Parks brings Steph Del Rosso's "The Gradient" to Hamilton Park on the South Side on Wednesday — a sharp, darkly funny satire in which men accused of sexual misconduct enter a futuristic rehabilitation center built to reform them, and a new employee starts asking what accountability-as-a-business really buys.

It's free, runs 5 to 7 PM, and the Park District flags it for adults (recommended 16 and up) with content warnings for sexual assault, sexism and misogyny, and adult language. Worth the trip if you want theater with teeth and no ticket price.

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 11

Drunk Christmas Carol @ The Lion Theatre

The team behind the long-running "Drunk Shakespeare" opens its holiday spin, "Drunk Christmas Carol," at The Lion Theatre in the Loop on Wednesday, and it runs through January 3. The conceit: a 90-minute romp through Dickens performed by a completely sober cast — except for the one actor who takes five shots before the curtain. Tickets start at $49, and showtimes aren't in our listing, so check the link before you plan around it.

THIS WEEK

Beatriz González: In Series and Full Color @ Art Institute of Chicago

The weekend's big arrival at the Art Institute: "Beatriz González: In Series and Full Color," the first retrospective devoted to the drawings and prints of the Colombian artist known at home as la maestra, who died earlier this year. It gathers more than 80 works — drawings, prints, sketchbooks and archival material — across a six-decade career, many shown publicly for the first time, under a title borrowed from the Spanish phrase "¡ahora en serie y a todo color!" ("now in series and full color!").

Members get a preview on Saturday, November 14; it opens to the general public on Sunday, November 15, and runs through March 1. The exhibition is free with museum admission, and the Art Institute lists related programs — a member preview, a curator conversation and drop-in sketching — with registration required.