It may not be the clash of top-five titans that many expected it to be in the preseason, but Saturday's matchup between the Kentucky Wildcats and No. 4 Louisville Cardinals will certainly captivate everyone in the Bluegrass State.John Calipari's squad comes into Saturday's matchup winners of four straight games after a 4-3 start sent the Wildcats outside the Top 25. They'll walk into the KFC Yum! Center as 7.5-point underdogs (per Vegas Insider), a word ...

North Carolina has plenty of work to do between now and March Madness. As of the end of December, the team is unranked nationally and fifth in the ACC. For the Tar Heels to earn a favorable seed in the NCAA Tournament, they must do more than take care of business against inferior foes. UNC needs to show flashes of brilliance against respected competition as well, which it hasn’t been able to do this season. ...

No. 7 UNLV's defense is going to prove to be more than North Carolina can handle when the two meet at the Dean Dome in Chapel Hill on Saturday night.The Runnin' Rebels do as good a job at forcing opponents to take bad shots as anyone in the country, holding teams to 37.1 percent shooting from the field.Not even the explosive Tar Heel offense, one that drops an average of 84 points per game on ...

The three freshmen went off the court with their arms around each other and the crowd behind them boiling up and howling.  It was the picture Bruins fans had imagined, with Jordan Adams, Kyle Anderson and Shabazz Muhammad embraced like winners who expect nothing less and who care personally about what they are doing and where their team is going. David and Travis Wear had played the best game of their careers, combining for 38 ...

Friday night was a huge game for UCLA. The result of the Bruins’ matchup against No. 7 Missouri would determine their momentum approaching Pac-12 Conference play, and more importantly, discover if this team is capable of beating a tough opponent after falling to Georgetown and San Diego State earlier this season. UCLA provided decisive answers to those lingering questions in front of a wired crowd of 11,854 on its home court. Not only was UCLA ...

A strong second half propelled Cleveland State to a 79-59 victory against Rio Grande on Friday night at the Wolstein Center. After leading by three at the half, the Vikings (8-5) outscored the Red Storm 44-27 in the second half. "We needed a game like this to get back on track," said Vikings head coach Gary Waters. "What we wanted to do today is play solid defense and get better on the defensive end." CSU ...

Losing a productive guard that contributes a handful of points in a dozen or so minutes would hurt any college basketball team, even the Michigan State Spartans.But luckily for Tom Izzo's club, Brandan Kearney wasn't such a guard in East Lansing.Kearney, a former Detroit Southeastern star, announced Thursday that he's leaving Michigan State (Detroit Free-Press) via a conversation with Izzo, who spoke of the issue Friday.A transfer is presumably on the horizon. Kearney wasn't Izzo's first defector, ...

The stars were on display as the No. 7 Missouri Tigers traveled to Los Angeles to take on the UCLA Bruins on Friday night. Forty minutes were not enough to settle this one, and eventually, after a fast-paced, back-and-forth contest, the Bruins were able to protect their home floor and defeat Missouri 97-94 in overtime. Bruins freshman Shabazz Muhammad and Mizzou point guard Phil Pressey came into the contest as the the best players on their ...

Few saw this coming, but UCLA gave Missouri all it could handle in this game. It turns out that the seventh-ranked Tigers couldn't take the heat, as the Bruins shocked them, 97-94. This matchup was dominated by two offenses that seemingly couldn't miss. Missouri went 47.5 percent from the field, while UCLA shot 50.6 percent. The level of efficiency Friday night was simply awesome to watch.What really kept the Bruins in this game, though, was their ...

The North Carolina Tar Heels host No. 20 UNLV on Saturday at Dean E. Smith Center in what should be an electric affair.The Rebels are 11-1 this season, averaging 79.3 points per game (20th in the nation) while crashing the glass.The Tar Heels are 9-3, with losses against Butler, Indiana and Texas. They are unranked after being ranked No. 11 in the AP poll in the preseason.Here's a look at the players to watch on ...