Pittsburgh vs. Providence

Panthers vs. Friars

Once upon a time, Pittsburgh was enveloped in the top ranking in the country for the first time ever. That ranking was short lived and the Panthers tumbled with two losses in a short period of time. Seven straight and nine wins in their last 10 contests have propelled the Panthers to the top again. They will put their top ranking on the line as they face Providence on the road.

The top spot has not been a sought after spot this season as the teams in that spot have tumbled out of it and those approaching it have been stopped along the way.

Pitt (25-2, 12-2) will reluctantly, or otherwise, serve out their role. They are rolling, winning each of the last seven by an average of 15.7 points. Their big victory came over the prior number one team, Connecticut last Monday. They also were able to avoid a letdown and decimated DePaul 80-61 on Saturday.

Dominating the last two games, as he has done all season, has been DeJuan Blair. He dominated U-Conn’s star player Hasheem Thabeet by scoring 22 points and snatching 23 rebounds. His encore was a 20 point, 18 rebound performance against the Blue Demons. The Panthers are 21-0 when Blair scores 10 points or more.

Providence (16-11, 8-7) once had high hopes and were a shoe-in for the NCAA Tournament as they started 6-2 in the tough Big East. But all the good feelings have been lost when they dropped five of seven after their 103-84 home loss to Notre Dame.

Weyinmi Efejuku did his best to turn the tide of his team, scoring a career-high 31 points in a losing effort. He has averaged 23.7 points in his past three games. Sharaud Curry scored 23 points as well.

Providence is 1-10 all-time against number one teams.

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Iowa vs. Minnesota

Hawkeyes vs. Golden Gophers

The number 22 Golden Gophers of Minnesota are no longer in the ranks of the nation’s unbeaten masses, but they are still off to their best start in 12 years. Two games ago, Minnesota was beaten at home by, then-number 10, Michigan State, but rebounded to a victory against Ohio State 68-59 last Saturday. But now the Gophers will set off on an odyssey of which they are unfamiliar with: the road.

Unbelievably at this point in the season, Minnesota (13-1, 1-1) has played only one road game at Colorado State on November 22nd, a 72-71 victory. Thursday night they will travel to rival Iowa for their first road conference game and they will feature a team that has not lost at home in nine tries.

You would have to look hard in the Minnesota records to find a season when they started this well. That is because the last time that they did, 15-1 at the start of 1996-97, the records were expunged because of NCAA sanctions, which wiped a Final Four appearance off of the books.

The Gophers are residents of the Top 25 for the first time since 2002. They have done it with a balance offensive attack which scores 73.1 points per game, but the production is spread around because Minnesota has only one player in the top 25 scorers within the Big Ten. Lawrence Westbrook is the lone representative with 13 points per contest.

The Iowa Hawkeyes’s promising start has been derailed by alternating wins and losses over their last five games. They will look to win two straight for the first time in about a month after beating Indiana 65-60 last Saturday. The Hawkeyes (11-4) remained perfect at home by defeating the Hoosiers. At home, Iowa is holding opponents to a mere 50.6 points and 37.7 percent shooting. On the season, both home and away, Iowa is holding opponents to 55.9 points per game, good for a place in the top 10 in the country.

Minnesota is technically 2-0 on the road this season, having also beaten, then-number nine, Louisville at the neutral site of Glendale, Arizona on December 20th. A season ago, the Gophers were 4-8 on the road last season and have dropped their last four and seven of eight at Iowa.

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