No. 14 Kentucky is trending in the right direction, but Thursday's encounter against visiting Tennessee presents a challenge for the Wildcats, who lost to the Volunteers in embarrassing fashion earlier this month. Kentucky led by 21 points in the first half of that Feb. 2 meeting before Tennessee rallied to win 84-77 in a performance that left John Calipari less than thrilled.

With its postseason chances stripped because of NCAA sanctions, SMU needs a strong finish to capture its main goal - the American Athletic Conference regular-season title. The Mustangs enter Thursday's road game against Connecticut in Hartford one-half game behind Temple for first place in the AAC and one game ahead of the Huskies.

Minnesota’s chance of picking up its first Big Ten win of the season is looking like a long shot based on the competition on Thursday. The winless Golden Gophers play host to No. 5 Maryland, which is looking to bounce back after a loss over the weekend knocked it out of the top spot in the Big Ten.

Cincinnati and host Tulsa look to bolster their postseason resumes when they meet in a key American Athletic Conference contest Thursday. The pair - two of the five teams within two games of league-leading Temple - need quality wins against other AAC contenders.

Wisconsin is the hottest team in the competitive Big Ten and seeks its eighth consecutive victory when it visits No. 9 Michigan State on Thursday. The Badgers started conference play with four losses in five games before beginning their turnaround by beating the Spartans 77-76 on freshman forward Ethan Happ's basket with 10 seconds left on Jan. 17.

The Pac-12 race hasn't loosened any this month and Utah will try to stay in the hunt when the Utes visit UCLA on Thursday night. Utah came into the week a game behind No. 12 Arizona and No. 17 Oregon for first place and tied with Colorado; USC, California and Washington were also within a game of the Utes.

Stanford aims to build on its biggest win of the season Thursday as the Cardinal visit struggling Washington State, which has lost 11 straight games, including eight by double figures. Stanford snapped its four-game losing streak and kept its faint Pac-12 title hopes alive with last Saturday’s 76-72 upset of Oregon.

No single player typifies California’s roller-coaster season more than junior guard Jabari Bird, who has the Bears trending upward with the Pac-12 tournament less than three weeks away. Bird looks to continue his strong play Thursday at Washington, which has lost three in a row and fallen squarely on the NCAA Tournament bubble.