If you’re not an avid fan, a professional basketball game and a college basketball game will look very similar, if not totally the same. From game to game, you see similar things: a standard-size ball, basketball players, a 10-foot hoop, and the free throw line 15 feet from the backboard. Take a closer look, though, and you’ll start to see differences in college and professional play.

In the NBA, the game is played in four 12-minute quarter periods. In the NCAA, there are two 20-minute halves. The duration of the game is different, but both share an extra time that lasts five minutes.

The clock is also different between college and professional, where the NBA has a shot clock of 24 seconds and the NCAA shot clock lasts 35 seconds. For this reason, scoring in NCAA games can differ greatly from game to game, as well as from team to team. Teams that employ a strong shot clock defense strategy end up with games scoring in the 50-60 point range. Using a more aggressive offensive strategy, you will see higher scores in the 80-100 range, similar to the scores posted in most NBA games.

NCAA teams have 10 seconds to get the ball to the middle of the court after a basket; NBA teams are limited to just 8 seconds.

The court is the same size in both organizations (94 feet long by 50 feet wide), the height of the basket, the distance from the backboard and the free throw line are also the same. However, watch closely when college and professional teams take a three-point shot. NBA players take a 3-point shot from 23’9 “(22” at the corners) and the NCAA 3-point shot is from a distance of 19’9 “. The width of the NBA lane is 16 feet and the varsity lane is 12 feet.

There are more differences between professional and college basketball beyond the variation in shot clock length and distance for 3s. The differences discussed in this article are just the beginning; Keep reading and researching to learn even more about how basketball is played at the college and professional levels. Controlling the differences between college basketball rules and professional rules can help you better understand the strategy and action that takes place during a given game.