These five marquee games will be worth watching in Week 12 of the 2016-17 college basketball season.
With less than two months remaining until the start of the NCAA Tournament, Week 11 brought some major changes to conference races around college basketball.
The Kansas Jayhawks survived a tough game in Ames on Monday night before beating the Texas Longhorns over the weekend to move to 7-0 in Big 12 play. With the West Virginia Mountaineers losing twice, Kansas is one step closer to its 13th consecutive conference title, which would tie the record mark set by John Wooden’s UCLA Bruins.
Elsewhere, the Florida State Seminoles are looking like Final Four candidates after picking up two ranked ACC wins this week. Out west, Allonzo Trier returned for the Arizona Wildcats in Saturday’s win over UCLA, setting up an intriguing stretch run in the Pac-12.
Week 12 will feature another exciting slate of games for both title contenders and teams on the bubble. Here are five key matchups to watch over the next seven days.
5. Indiana at Northwestern, Sunday 6:30 p.m. ET
Northwestern is in decent shape to qualify for its first NCAA Tournament in program history, but a win over a volatile Indiana team would only solidify its resume further.
The Wildcats moved to 15-4 overall and 4-2 in the Big Ten with a 74-72 road victory over Ohio State on Sunday. That’s good enough for fourth place in the chaotic conference, although a tougher schedule awaits Northwestern in the coming weeks.
Indiana is also on the right side of the bubble for now after picking up wins over Penn State and Michigan State this week to move to 14-6 and 4-3 in conference play. The Hoosiers have proven an ability to either beat or lose to just about any team in the country and will look to build on their current three game winning streak.
Northwestern has the talent to keep up their current pace, with forward Vic Law leading the way at 14.8 points and 5.8 rebounds per game. That could be a problem for an Indiana interior defense that can struggle at times and will now have to move forward without OG Anunoby, who will miss the rest of the year with a knee problem.
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The Hoosiers are a tricky team to predict and always have a shot to get hot from the perimeter with James Blackmon and Robert Johnson. Still, Northwestern has proven to be up to the task with a strong defense, and will be energized for its biggest game of the year so far in front of a home crowd.