Seventh-ranked Michigan looks to stay on track for its first Big Ten regular-season championship since 2013-14 when it visits Minnesota on Thursday. The Wolverines took down No. 25 Maryland 65-52 on Saturday to extend its home winning streak to 22 games and hope to pull ahead of 11th-ranked Michigan State and No. 13 Purdue at the top of the standings by knocking off the Golden Gophers for the fourth consecutive time. 

Cincinnati made it back into the USA Today coaches poll this week, earning the final spot at No. 25 along with Maryland following Sunday's 72-62 victory over Wichita State. The Bearcats remain at home for their next test, as Central Florida comes to town Thursday looking to move into a tie with Cincinnati for second place in the American Athletic Conference.

Second-ranked Gonzaga seeks its 17th consecutive victory when it hosts Pepperdine in West Coast Conference play on Thursday. The Bulldogs have defeated the Waves 35 consecutive times with Pepperdine's last win in the series occurring on Jan. 18, 2002.

Connecticut showed plenty of heart last time out against No. 8 Houston and will look to build off that effort while winning a true road game for the first time this season Thursday night at SMU in an American Athletic Conference matchup. The short-handed Huskies trimmed a 17-point deficit to six with just over two minutes left last Thursday before falling 71-63 against the powerful Cougars and go for a regular-season sweep of SMU.

These are unusual times for traditional power Arizona, which has lost seven straight games for the first time since 1982-83 and fallen into 10th place in the Pac-12 standings. The Wildcats have their best chance to end the skid Thursday against visiting California, which has dropped 14 consecutive games and trailed by as many as 31 points in last Saturday’s 89-66 loss to USC.

A regular season Pac-12 championship is no longer a realistic goal for preseason favorite Oregon which trails first place Washington by five games with six games to go. But the eighth-place Ducks, who travel to USC on Thursday night, and the Trojans, who begin the week in a three-way tie for fifth, are still within striking distance of a top-four finish and a key first round bye in next month's Pac-12 Tournament in Las Vegas.

Oregon State is fresh off its first season sweep of rival Oregon in nine years. The Beavers are now eyeing another sweep Thursday when they visit UCLA.