Game #128.  RTC Live makes its first trip to the new Matthew Knight Arena on the campus of Oregon to see the Ducks take on Wazzu.

Washington State heads to Eugene for Thursday’s matchup on a completely different track than Oregon. The Cougars, led by Pac-10 scoring leader Klay Thompson, knocked off the Washington Huskies in Pullman on Sunday night, and sit fourth in the conference at 5-4. The Ducks are coming off of a split at the Bay Area schools, having won at Stanford for the first time in 25 years, but falling to reigning Pac-10 regular-season champs California. Washington State won the first game in Pullman, but this week is the start of the second half of the Pac-10 season, the last year in which the conference will play a double-round-robin schedule. Junior college transfer Faisal Aden, a native of Somalia, has made a huge impact on the Cougars this season, helping guide them from the conference cellar to NCAA Tournament bid contention. Washington State’s starting backcourt, featuring the 6’4′ Aden and 6’6 Thompson, will likely give fits to Oregon’s diminutive guard rotation, the tallest of whom are 6’1. The Ducks will have to attack the Cougars inside, with the now-healthy Joevan Catron and Jeremy Jacob teaming up with the hot Tyrone Nared to give Oregon quality interior play it has been lacking for most of the season. Join RTC Live Thursday night for its first game at Oregon’s new $200 million-plus Matthew Knight Arena, the most expensive on-campus arena in America.

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Game #125.  RTC Live visits College Park tonight for one of the classic rivalries in the modern game…

Game #126.  Syracuse is in the midst of its longest losing streak in some time as the Orange visits UConn this evening in snowy Hartford.

Tonight’s game in Hartford between Syracuse and Connecticut has big implications going forward.  First, most important (and obvious) is Syracuse is on a four-game losing skid that includes a 22-point beatdown in the Carrier Dome at the hands of Seton Hall.  While Syracuse is in no danger of joining the bubble anytime soon, their season prognosis is beginning to look like Texas’ epic collapse last season.  The Orange need to right this ship as soon as possible.  Connecticut is dealing with its own questions after a tough double-overtime home loss to Louisville last week.  Kemba Walker has starting coming back down to earth, but freshmen Jeremy Lamb, Shabazz Napier and Roscoe Smith have picked up the slack.  Still, there are lingering doubts about whether the Huskies are true Final Four contenders: most notably can the freshmen step up and deliver when Walker goes cold?  The hidden storyline revolves around the weather: like most of the country, New England was ravaged with snow, sleet and freezing rain the last couple of days, making travel a little dicey.  Normally that doesn’t hurt the home school too much because most arenas are on campus.  But this game isn’t in Storrs, so who knows how many fans make the trip?  With the homecourt advantage neutralized and Syracuse desperate for a win, there’s a very good chance for Jim Boeheim’s team to pull off the upset, especially if their zone can fluster Kemba Walker.

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Game #127.  RTC Live is in Bloomington tonight as the Hoosiers try to keep their forward progress moving against Minnesota on an icy evening.

Welcome to icy Bloomington, Indiana and to Assembly Hall.  Tonight’s matchup features the 20^th ranked Minnesota Golden Gophers (16-5, 5-4 Big Ten) vs. the Indiana Hoosiers (11-11, 2-7 Big Ten).  This game is a rematch of the 67-63 Barn Burner in Minneapolis in early January, a game that was narrowly won by Coach Tubby Smith’s Gopher squad.   Winners of their last two outings at Assembly Hall, Coach Tom Crean’s upstart Hoosiers will be looking for revenge.  The last time Indiana played at home, Crean logged perhaps his biggest win at Indiana, a 52-49 stunner over rival Illinois.  The Hoosiers followed up that win with a heartbreaking overtime loss to Michigan State.  With veteran Verdell Jones III unable to play in either game due to injury, others Hoosiers Jordan Hulls, Christian Watford, and Jeremiah Rivers have stepped up.  Assembly Hall is starting to become a big home court advantage once again, making this game far from an automatic victory for the visitors from Minneapolis.  Minnesota will be looking to bounce back from a twelve-point loss to Purdue last Saturday.  The Gophers will no doubt lean on leading scorers Blake Hoffarber (14.0 points per game) and Trevor Mbakwe (13.6 points per game) to silence the rowdy Hoosier fans during this game.  Hoffarber is one of the best sharpshooters in the conference, shooting over 40% from three.  Mbakwe is matchup nightmare at forward, sporting an NBA body (6’8, 240 pounds) and smooth moves to match.   Catch all the action LIVE! on RTC Wednesday evening (weather permitting). 

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Game #124.  RTC Live is back in DC for yet another Big East battle between ranked teams. 

There may not be a hotter team in the Big East right now than the Georgetown Hoyas. After starting off conference play 1-4, the Hoyas have won four straight, including a 25-point blowout of Duke-killers St. John’s and a nationally televised road win against Villanova. While Chris Wright has struggled a bit of late (he didn’t score against Villanova), Austin Freeman has refound the stroke that made him the preseason player of the year in the conference. He went for 30 against Villanova. Throw in the ever-improving play of big men Nate Lubick and Henry Sims and the spark that Hollis Thompson has provided since his move to the bench, and Georgetown has proven that they are still a force to be reckoned with in this league — for now.  If Georgetown isn’t the hottest team in the conference, then Louisville probably is. The Cardinals had a terrific week, notching comeback wins against both West Virgnia and UConn, the latter coming in double overtime on the road. Rick Pitino has said repeatedly that the Cardinals don’t have a “star,” but Peyton Siva is making a strong claim for that role. He hit the game-winner against West Virginia and made a number of huge plays down the stretch to beat UConn. Both the Hoyas and the Cardinals love to shoot threes which should make for an entertaining, back and forth game tonight.

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Game # 123.  It’s an Atlantic 10 blockbuster matchup as Duquesne faces off with Dayton on a Sunday afternoon.

Welcome to a flurry filled Sunday afternoon in Pittsburgh for an Atlantic 10 Conference matchup between Duquesne and Dayton at the Consol Energy Center, the home of the Pittsburgh Penguins. Duquesne comes into the contest as the hottest team in conference, riding a nine-game win streak, including 6-0 in the A-10. Duquesne has been stuffing the stat sheet of late, leading to a #11 national ranking in points per game, and #2 in assists per game. Dayton, meanwhile, has had a bouncy ride so far this A-10, coming into the match 3-3. Look for the Flyers to try to control the tempo, as they come into the game averaging 14 points a game less on the year. This should be a great matchup at a great new venue in a town with Super Bowl dreams this time of year. Join us for a great A-10 matchup this Sunday afternoon.

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Game #121. RTC heads to Madison Square Garden (aka “The World’s Most Famous Arena”) as the defending champs invade The Big Apple.

Game #120.  RTC Lives makes its first-ever trip to Arizona’s McKale Center for a battle between Pac-10 stalwarts.

Today’s game between USC and Arizona at the McKale Center represents the turning point of the conference season.  Arizona has designs on catching first-place Washington in the standings, sitting only one game behind the Huskies with the difference being the Wildcats’ loss at Seattle nine days ago.  Secure in the knowledge that UW will have to pay Sean Miller’s team a return trip in late February, Arizona knows that it can’t afford a home loss here today.  USC is coming off a solid road win in Tempe on Thursday night, and it’s clear that when their inside/outside duo of Nikola Vucevic and Jio Fontan have it going, they can compete with anyone in this league.  Arizona has a strong frontcourt anchored by All-American candidate Derrick Williams, but guard play has been troublesome and inconsistent.  Nevertheless, we’re excited to be headed to McKale tonight, site of so many great games over the years.  Join us on RTC Live…

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Game #121.  RTC Live visits Tulsa this evening for what should be a key Conference USA battle.

We are expecting a good game tonight in this high-stakes bout between the UTEP Miners (17-4, 5-1) and the Tulsa Golden Hurricanes (10-10, 3-3). For Tulsa, this is a revenge game. They were defeated 69-59 by the Miners in the conference opener on January 5, and they would love nothing more than to upset the C-USA standings, and hopefully right the ship with a win tonight. UTEP has a little more than just pride on the line. They are currently tied atop the conference standings with Memphis; I’m sure they would love for things to stay that way. It will also be a matchup between the conferences two biggest stars. Tulsa is led by leading scorer Justin Hurtt, who is averaging 20.7 points per game, while UTEP is led by Randy Culpepper; the returning Conference USA Player Of The Year.

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Game #119.  The nation’s top-ranked team visits struggling Northwestern this evening.

#1 Ohio State comes to Welsh-Ryan Arena on Saturday night with a perfect record and a dominating cast of players. Jared Sullinger should find plenty of room in the paint against a porous Northwestern interior defense, or the 1-3-1 zone, and the Buckeyes tend to knock down shots from everywhere. Northwestern’s star player, John Shurna, suffered a concussion in the Wildcats’ latest disappointing loss at Minnesota and will be a game-time decision. If he can’t go Northwestern will be undermanned at almost every position on the court. Still, can Northwestern pull the epic upset? It’ll be televised on ESPN2 and you can follow along during the whole game here starting at 6 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. CT.

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