A pair of former Big East rivals and NCAA hopefuls look to bolster their tournament resumes when Connecticut hosts Cincinnati in an American Athletic Conference game Thursday night in Hartford, Conn. Both clubs have won four of their last five outings and trail first-place SMU by two games in the conference standings.

If Demetrius Jackson hasn't been the most valuable player on Notre Dame's roster, the Irish will find out Thursday when they face Syracuse without their leading scorer. The Orange will open a four-game homestand after having their three-game winning streak snapped with a loss at No. 12 Virginia.

Two of the top teams in the Big Ten - and the country, for that matter - square off Thursday when Maryland hosts Iowa in an intriguing matchup between Final Four contenders. The fourth-ranked Hawkeyes are aiming for their 10th straight victory, while the No. 8 Terrapins suffered their worst loss of the season at Michigan State last time out.

Oregon State hopes to ride the momentum of what could be considered a season-saving victory as it tries to halt a seven-game losing streak at Arizona State on Thursday. The Beavers avoided a crippling 2-5 start in Pac-12 play and snapped a three-game slide with an 85-70 victory over then-No. 25 USC on Sunday, improving their chance to earn an NCAA Tournament berth for the first time since 1990.

Ohio State looks to end its three-game road losing streak when it travels to Champaign to take on Illinois in a Thursday night Big Ten Conference contest. All three of the Buckeyes' setbacks during the slide have come against ranked teams, while the Illini come off a big road victory in overtime against Minnesota on Saturday.

No. 11 Michigan State snapped out of a funk and aims to move above .500 in Big Ten play when it visits Northwestern on Thursday. The Spartans experienced a three-game slide but broke out of it in style with a 74-65 victory over then-No. 5 Maryland on Saturday.

Oregon can take a giant step toward the Pac-12 title Thursday with a win over No. 15 Arizona, but winning at the McKale Center is no easy task. Arizona owns the nation’s longest home winning streak at 49 games heading into its matchup with the 24th-ranked Ducks, who swept the Los Angeles schools last week to move into a tie with Washington for first place.

Washington is right where UCLA wants to be in the Pac-12 standings - and if the Bruins hope to eventually get there, they'll need to win games like Thursday's tilt against the visiting Huskies. Washington enters the week tied for first with No. 24 Oregon and the Bruins are two games back with 11 conference games remaining.

USC, which just finished a stretch of playing five of seven Pac-12 games on the road, returns home to host slumping Washington State on Thursday night. The Trojans, who have won 12 straight at the Galen Center and are 11-0 there this season, now get to play five of their next seven games on their home court.