News and Notes For Tuesday and Wednesday

Tuesday, January 23,
2006

 

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Illinois-Indiana

Press Notes

Illinois has
won six of the last seven games, and 11 of the last 15, in the series. The Illini also own a five-game winning streak over the
Hoosiers at Assembly Hall. After playing Big Ten leader Wisconsin
on Saturday, the Illini next host Indiana, who is
tied for second in the conference. Illinois
plays three of its next four games at home. In six of its seven losses, Illinois
has led during the second half.

Northern Iowa-Southern Illinois

Press Notes
At the halfway point of the Missouri Valley Conference
season, the University of Northern
Iowa
(15-4, 6-2 MVC)
stands in sole possession of first place. The Panthers head to Carbondale,
Ill.
, for a battle with second place Southern
Illinois
(15-5, 6-3). UNI shot a
season-best 11-for-17 from three-point range against Missouri State Jan. 18,
including connecting on 8-of-10 from behind the arc in the first half. For the
season, the Panthers now have five players who have made at least 15
three-pointers. The Panthers have dropped nine straight games at SIU Arena. The last time UNI won
in Carbondale was in the 1996-97
season, when it posted a 92-81 victory. Southern Illinois
is 15-5 overall, 6-3 in Missouri Valley Conference action, and stands in a tie
for second place, one half game behind UNI.

 

San Diego State-UNLV

Press Notes

Less than 72 hours after returning home from facing 13th-ranked
Air Force, San Diego State (13-6 overall/2-3 MWC)faces
its second consecutive top 20 RPIteam
when the Aztecs travel to Sin City to face UNLV(16-4/3-2
MWC). The Aztecs encounter their second consecutive
juggernaut at home, as UNLV has won eight straight
games at the Thomas &Mack Center this season, is 10-1 in 2006-07
and has won 18 of their last 21 home games dating back to last season (one of
those losses is to San Diego State). Tuesday marks the 40th meeting
between the schools with UNLVowning a
28-11 series lead. SDSU owns a school-best three-game
win streak against the Rebels, having swept UNLVlast
season, winning 83-67 in San Diego, 81-70 in Las Vegas and 63-60 in Denver.

Virginia Tech-Miami

Press Notes

Looking to snap a three-game slide, the Hurricanes play
host to Virginia Tech Tuesday with an overall record of 9-11 and 2-4 mark in
ACC play following an 86-67 loss at Florida State Saturday. Miami
continues to be one of the better three-point shooting teams in the ACC,
hitting an average of 6.3 three-pointers per game which ranks among the top
half of the league. The Hokies head to Coral Gables
with an overall record of 14-5 and are 4-1 in league play following a 67-64
overtime victory over Maryland
Sunday evening in Blacksburg.

Press Notes

After proving itself capable of beating very good teams,
Virginia Tech has to be careful not to slip up against lesser opponents. The 24th-ranked
Hokies look to stay near the top of the ACC on Tuesday when they take on
slumping Miami at the BankUnited Center.

Wins over No. 5 Duke and top-ranked North Carolina in a
recent eight-day span served notice that Virginia Tech (14-5, 4-1) is a
legitimate threat to win the ACC for the first time since joining the
conference in 1995.However, just four days after upsetting the Tar Heels, the
Hokies stumbled to an 82-73 loss at Florida State, which had lost its first
three conference games. Virginia Tech returned to the win column Sunday with a
67-64 overtime victory against visiting Maryland
and is tied for second with North Carolina,
one-half game behind Boston College.
The Terps had a chance to win it with 10 seconds to play in regulation, but
missed a jumper from the corner.Virginia Tech’s 14-5
record is the program’s best mark through 19 games since it was 17-2 in the
1995-96 season, which marked its last trip to the NCAA tournament. The Hokies’
4-1 ACC record is their best in league play since they started 5-0 that same
season. Miami (9-11, 2-4) will try
to end a three-game overall losing streak, and a three-game skid at home. The
Hurricanes shot only 35.5 percent (22-of-62) from the field Saturday in an
86-67 loss at Florida State.

The Hurricanes are 35-105 all-time against ranked
opponents, including 1-1 this season.

Miami won the
last meeting with Virginia Tech 70-59 at home on Feb. 22. The Hurricanes have
won seven of 10 overall, and four of five at home against the Hokies.

Florida State-Boston College

Press Notes

Florida State,
which has won two consecutive ACC games, travels to play its third conference
road game of the season as they play at Boston
College
. The Seminoles enter
Wednesday’s game having won two consecutive games with victories over No. 23
Virginia Tech (Jan. 17, 82-73) and Miami (Jan. 20, , 86-67) and play Boston
College hoping to win their third consecutive ACC game for the first time since
the 1994-95 season. Florida State is 11-1 at home, 2-4 on the road and 1-0 on a
neutral court this season and has two victories over ranked teams – current No.
1 Florida (Dec. 3, 70-66) and against No. 23 Virginia Tech (Jan. 17, 82-73).
The Seminoles are averaging 6.7 points more in the last three games (82.7 ppg)
than they are for the entire season (76.0).

Approved sportsbooks are at www.linetrackers.com

 

Wednesday, January
24, 2007

 

Tulsa-SMU

Press Notes

The SMU Mustangs (11-7, 0-4
Conference USA)
host the Tulane Green Wave (8-8, 1-3 C-USA). The Mustangs and Green Wave have
each won nine times in series history. The Mustangs fell 59-56 at Fogelman
Arena in New Orleans on Feb. 1, 2006. The Mustangs are 7-3 at
home this season and are looking for their first league win this year. The two
home losses in conference have been examples of the thin line between victory
and defeat. The Ponies fell to Southern Miss 57-56 on Jan. 10, as Derrick Roberts left-elbow jumper at the buzzer was just long. SMU stormed back from 21 down in the second half to take a
one-point lead before falling. Against UTEP on Jan.
20, Donatas Rackauskas had
a game-tying three-point attempt with 17 seconds remining.
The Mustangs lead Conference USA in 3-point percentage defense (.304) and
rebounding defense (28.8) and rank second in rebound margin (+8.0) and scoring
defense (61.3). Nationally, the team is ninth in rebound margin, 40th
in blocked shots, and 42nd in scoring defense.

GA Tech-Maryland

Press Notes

Georgia Tech goes in search of its first road victory of
the season when it visits Maryland.
Tech, 13-5 overall, 2-3 in the ACC, is coming off a 77-61 loss to No. 4 North
Carolina Saturday night, which snapped a two-game winning streak for the
Jackets. Maryland, 15-5 overall
and 1-4 in the ACC, dropped both its games last week on the road at Virginia
(103-91) and Virginia Tech (67-64 in overtime). The Jackets have dropped 15
straight games on opponents’ home courts, including 12 ACC losses, and has not
won a true road game since Feb. 26,
2005
, a 76-72 victory at Miami.
But the Yellow Jackets have had several close calls, including three one-point
defeats. One of those close calls was an 87-84 overtime loss to the Terps last
year at the Comcast Center.
Tech is concluding a five-game stretch, beginning with its Jan. 6 game against
Clemson, against teams with an average current RPI of
14.6. They have a combined record of 77-16. Maryland
has won nine of the last 14, including both regular-season meetings in 2005-06.
Tech is 4-8 against Maryland
under head coach Paul Hewitt, 1-5 at College Park.
Tech is 16-20 vs. Gary Williams-coached Maryland
teams. Seven of the 12 games between Tech and Maryland
since Paul Hewitt became the head coach have been decided by 10 points or
fewer.

Kansas-Baylor

Press Notes

Kansas  (16-3, 3-1) continues its short tour of the Lone Star
state when it travels to Baylor (11-7, 1-4) Wednesday. The Jayhawks
and Bears look to bounce back from road losses Saturday. KU fell at Texas Tech
69-64, while Baylor lost at Oklahoma
91-51. Kansas’ loss snapped a
10-game winning streak. Baylor has lost two straight heading into the Kansas
contest. No. 8/8 Kansas (16-3,
3-1) plays its second of four games in nine days at Baylor. The Jayhawks had a 10-game winning streak snapped at Texas Tech
69-64 Saturday. KU is scoring 76.5 points per game and giving up 59.7. The Jayhawks have held every opponent to under 50 percent
shooting this season and are making 48.4 percent to their opponents’ 37.6
percent from the floor. Kansas
forces 17.6 turnovers per game and averages 7.3 blocked shots per contest.
Baylor (11-7, 1-4) is looking to snap a two game losing skid after Oklahoma
handed the Bears a 91-51 loss at Norman
Saturday. BU has lost four of its last five games with three of those on the
road. Additionally, three of the four losses have been by 10 points or less.
Baylor is scoring 75.8 points per game and giving up 69.3. Kansas
has won 11 of the 12 meetings with Baylor and has won five straight in the
series. Baylor’s lone win versus Kansas
came in 2001 when it defeated the then-No. 5 Jayhawks 85-77 in Waco.
Since the inception of the Big 12, Kansas
is 9-1 against Baylor.

Penn State-Iowa

Press Notes

Iowa (10-9,
2-3) plays the first of two home games when it hosts Penn
State
(10-8, 1-4) Wednesday, Jan.
24. Iowa lost to Ohio
State
82-63 in Columbus
Saturday evening. Penn State
lost to Michigan State
91-64 Saturday in State College. With the 60-49 win over
Minnesota, Iowa
improved its home winning streak in Big Ten Conference games to 11 straight.
The Hawkeyes have won the last six meetings, 10 of the last 12, 11 of the last
14 and 13 of the last 17. Iowa
won both meetings last season, defeating the Nittany Lions 80-76 in State
College
and 59-44 in Iowa City.
Iowa also won single games in
both 2004 and 2005. Iowa holds a
9-3 advantage in games played in Iowa City,
with all 12 meetings taking place in Carver-Hawkeye Arena. The Hawkeyes have
won seven of the last eight meetings in Iowa City.

Tennessee-Mississippi

Associated Press

Chris Lofton’s sprained right ankle likely will keep Tennessee’s
star guard out of Wednesday night’s game at Mississippi.
Lofton, who leads the Southeastern Conference in scoring at 21.5 points per
games, sprained the ankle in the second half of Saturday’s 64-61 victory over South
Carolina
.

 

Press Notes

The Vols are in a stretch where
they are playing five of six games on the road. The stretch began with three
consecutive road games (at Vanderbilt, at Ohio State and at Auburn) before UT
returned home to play South Carolina Saturday, Jan. 20. The Mississippi
game begins a two-game road trip that will continue at Kentucky
Sunday, Jan. 28. Each of Tennessee’s
last four games has been decided by one possession. The four games have been
decided by a combined total of nine points. Vanderbilt scored on a tip-in as
time expired to take an 82-81 win in Nashville
Jan. 10 and then Ohio State
needed a 3-pointer with 11.2 seconds left for a 68-66 victory in Columbus,
Ohio
, Jan. 13. Auburn
took an 83-80 win Jan. 17 and then UT defeated South Carolina 64-61 on Jan. 20.
Tennessee is leading the SEC and
ranks seventh in the nation with 83.2 points per game. The Vols
will be without the services of All-America guard Chris Lofton Wednesday night.
Lofton, who is leading the SEC in scoring with 21.5 points per game, suffered
an injury to his right ankle Saturday, Jan. 20. X-rays performed Monday were
negative and his status remains out indefinitely.

 

Thursday, January 25,
2007

 

Weber State-Idaho State

Press Notes

Idaho State University’s men’s basketball will look to get
back on the winning track by starting a four-game homestand
on Thursday night in a huge game, as the first place Bengals take on the
tied-for-second Weber State Wildcats.The game is the
second of the season between the two schools, as Idaho State won the opener
58-55 in Ogden on January 4. Idaho State
is 10-9 on the season, and 5-1 in the Big Sky Conference, good enough for first
place, one game up on both Weber State
and Northern Arizona, and two up in the loss column on
four teams, including Montana and
Montana State.
The Bengals had their five game winning streak snapped with a 58-57 loss at Montana
State
, missing a three to win with
0.9 left. The Wildcats are 12-9 overall, and their 5-3 record has them tied for
second in the Big Sky, and they would move into a virtual tie for first with ISU with a win on Thursday. The Wildcats have lost two
straight, dropping a 90-86 overtime decision to the Montana Grizzlies after
losing 63-48 to Montana State
on Thursday.

Oregon-Washington

Press Notes

In the wake of a tough road stretch, the Washington
Huskies (11-7, 1-6 Pac-10) eagerly return to the friendly confines of Bank of
America Arena to host seventh-ranked Oregon (18-1, 6-1) on Thursday, Jan. 25 at
8 p.m. Washington won in each of the Ducks’ last five visits to Seattle. The
Huskies have an 11-1 home record this season and are 0-6 in road contests.
Thursday’s game begins a stretch when UW will play five of its next seven games
at home. That’s the opposite of the way the Huskies opened Pac-10 play, with
five of seven on the road. On Saturday, Jan. 27, UW entertains Oregon
State
(9-11, 1-6). Oregon
will be without the services of leading scorer (18.4 ppg) Aaron Brooks, a
product of Seattle’s Franklin
High School
. He is suspended for
Thursday’s game due to an incident during the last meeting between the Ducks
and Huskies, This Season’s Record vs. Ranked Opponents: 1-3. All-Time Record
vs. Ranked Opponents: 75-199 (won 7 of last 8 games in Seattle
vs. ranked foes). Last Win Over a Ranked Opponent: UW 88, #12 LSU 72 (12/20/06,
Seattle)


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