North Carolina

The question going into Wednesday's matchup between rivals North Carolina and Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium was how the young Tar Heels would respond to the atmosphere. They responded quite well in the first half, scoring the first seven points of the game and leading by as many as 16 points before taking a 43-29 lead into the locker room. If anything the first half was a case of the more experienced Blue Devils being caught up in the moment, as getting away from the things they do best in addition to failing to truly compete inside landed them in the early hole.

Unlike last season's two regular season meetings there's more than pride on the line in tonight's matchup between North Carolina (17-5, 7-1) and bitter rival Duke (21-2, 8-1). The Tar Heels, who have played their best basketball of the season over the last three weeks, may have lost Larry Drew II last week but they didn't miss a beat in their beating of Florida State on Super Sunday.

The crazy nature of the Pac-10 is highlighted by this simple fact: Oregon State, a team who has lost to the likes of Seattle, Texas Southern and Utah Valley this season, is the lone conference team to own wins over both Arizona and Washington. The second of those Pac-10 victories came on Thursday night as the Beavers outscored Washington 36-24 in the second half of the 68-56 victory. Jared Cunningham scored a team-high 19 points and Calvin Haynes added 11 off the bench, but it was the foul and three-point lines that made the difference in Corvallis.

In a game that didn't provide much separation in terms of the starters and their production it was a reserve who proved to be the difference in Wisconsin's 66-59 win over Purdue in Madison. Ryan Evans supplied 10 points and some sold defense off the bench, most importantly tying up E'Twaun Moore on a drive to the basket with 25 seconds remaining and the Badgers up 63-59.

In the most recent installment in his "Coaching Greats" interview series CHN writer Jon Teitel spent some time with former Virginia Tech head coach Charles Moir, who won 213 games and led the Hokies to four NCAA Tournament appearances during his time in Blacksburg. An alum of Roanoke College, Moir's son Page is currently the head coach there.  

Jon Teitel: You played basketball and baseball at Appalachian State, and later played minor league baseball for a few years. Which sport did you like more, and which one were you better at?

Another Tuesday night means another important game in the Big Ten, with Purdue (18-4, 7-2) hitting the road to take on Wisconsin (15-5, 5-3) in the always-imposing Kohl Center. While there is quite the distance between both of these teams and undefeated Ohio State atop the conference standings, both get the Buckeyes at home later in the season, meaning that the winner on Tuesday night can still entertain some hope of winning a share of the Big Ten crown.

In arguably the most hyped regular season game in the history of the Mountain West it was only fitting that the stars on the marquee put on an impressive show. San Diego State forward Kawhi Leonard fought through flu-like symptoms to score 22 points and grab 15 rebounds, but his effort wasn't enough for the Aztecs in Provo. That's because Jimmer Fredette went off, scoring 43 points (14-24 FG) in a 71-58 BYU victory, moving the Cougars into sole possession of first place in the MWC.

While some may use a pair of comeback overtime victories as proof that Tom Izzo's Michigan State (12-5, 4-1) Spartans are back on the right track, the true test of such recovery comes on the road. That's what lies in front of the Spartans as they face an Illinois (13-5, 3-2) squad that's dropped back-to-back games on the road and needs a win to avoid falling three games behind Ohio State in the loss column.

Minnesota went into Thursday night's game against #8 Purdue in need of a victory and thanks to Blake Hoffarber and some solid late-game defense the mission was accomplished. Hoffarber's 26 points led the way offensively and the Golden Gophers managed to hold the Boilermakers without a field goal for the last nine minutes in a 70-67 victory in Minneapolis. JaJaun Johnson led all scorers with 29 points to go with 11 rebounds while Lewis Jackson added 15, but Purdue was unable to overcome the rough shooting night of E'Twaun Moore.