No. 18 Purdue looks to continue its impressive run in Big Ten play when it hosts Minnesota on Sunday. The Boilermakers have won six consecutive contests after pulling out a 99-90 overtime victory against Penn State on Thursday, which moved them into a second-place tie with fifth-ranked Michigan in the conference standings, and hope to stay in contention for their second regular-season title in three years by knocking off the Gophers for the third straight time.

Clemson will try to make it back-to-back ACC wins for the first time this season when the Tigers host struggling Wake Forest on Sunday. The Demon Deacons are looking to snap a season-high four-game losing streak and in search of their first road win of the season.

With its senior stars leading the way, No. 14 Villanova is on the verge of a double-digit winning streak. The Wildcats can clinch a 10th straight victory Sunday when they host Georgetown in Big East action.

Xavier has missed the NCAA Tournament once in the past 13 seasons and hasn't finished with a losing conference record since 1982. Both those scenarios are in danger of becoming reality unless the Musketeers can go on a run in February, beginning with a visit to Creighton on Sunday for a Big East clash.

Connecticut caught a break in the schedule following a rough start to American Athletic Conference play, but it is debatable whether or not first-year coach Dan Hurley's squad has taken full advantage of it. The Huskies wrap up a five-game stretch in which they face one conference favorite and the four teams who sit below them in the league standings Sunday when they host East Carolina.

California coach Wyking Jones is preaching patience with his young team, which has lost nine straight games and is one loss away from tying the school’s worst-ever streak. The last-place Bears aim for their first Pac-12 victory Sunday in a pre-Super Bowl matinee against rival Stanford, which is beginning a three-game road trip.