As is usually the case in recent years, this game has significant importance in the standings, with both teams jockeying with Florida State for the top spot in the ACC. North Carolina enters the game at 7-1 in conference action, while Duke slipped to 6-2 after losing to Miami. Duke can ill-afford another loss, especially because the Seminoles and Tar Heels will not meet again this regular season.

Besides the usual hostility generated by one of the most intense rivalries in the game, the 233rd match up between these teams — UNC leads the all-time series 131-101 — is critical for both teams. Duke is facing more than its fair share of critics after a lackluster performance against the Hurricanes. Meanwhile, North Carolina needs to prove it can beat an elite team, sometime the Heels haven’t done in a few months.

For the Blue Devils, coach Mike Krzyzewski will be looking for renewed passion from his team after calling them out for lacking the energy to compete with the Hurricanes in the overtime loss at Cameron Indoor Stadium. Expect his team to rally around his battle cry, especially on the road surrounded by the Enemy in Powder Blue. To win, Duke will need to play smart defense, something the Blue Devils haven’t done consistently this season.

On the other hand, North Carolina seems to be on the rise, especially after a gutsy win in College Park last weekend in which Maryland tried to beat up the Tar Heels. Unlike the game in Tallahassee in which Florida State annihilated UNC, the Tar Heels responded after getting hit in the mouth and clamped down in the second half to erase a nine-point deficit to win by nine. However, the Tar Heels haven’t beaten a team guaranteed to be in the NCAA Tournament since they knocked off Wisconsin in Chapel Hill Nov. 30. North Carolina needs a win at home against the team’s arch rival to validate the argument that this team should be in the conversation for a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

That adds a lot of pressure to both teams, and that might favor North Carolina. The Tar Heels have a roster full of players who have been through this rivalry at least three times after last season. Duke has struggled with leadership on the court, and the Blue Devils must get someone to step up or else things could ugly for Duke pretty quickly.

Let the battle begin.

We take you coast to coast with news from around the college basketball nation.

Louisville coach Rick Pitino got his wish with Memphis, as the Tigers will be joining the Big East starting in 2013-14, according an ESPN.com news services report. Pitino had lobbied for the Conference USA’s Tigers to join the Big East to help replace the power that will be departing with West Virginia, Syracuse and Pittsburgh in coming years.

Florida coach Billy Donovan tried to preach that Kentucky faced all the pressure entering the Gators/Wildcats clash Tuesday night, with the home team trying to extend a 15-game winning streak and 48-game undefeated streak at Rupp Arena, according to the Associated Press. That psyche-out didn’t seem to work as the Wildcats clobbered Florida 78-58.

If Connecticut can rally around the toughness of coach Jim Calhoun, the Huskies won’t be out of the picture despite a bleak couple of weeks, including a horrid loss Monday night at Louisville. Calhoun told ESPN’s Andy Katz that he doesn’t plan to let spinal stenosis to force him into retirement, and the coach could return to the sidelines sometime this season if the pain in his legs and back subsides.

There’s also health concerns for another coach: College of Charleston’s Bobby Cremins. The 64-year-old Cougar coach took a leave of absence Jan. 27, and he told people that he’s just taking a break to recuperate from a lack of energy, according to a CBS Sports.com wire report.

Alabama’s tournament chances could be in some jeopardy after the team indefinitely suspended junior Tony Mitchell for misconduct, writes TideNation’s Alex Scarborough. The junior forward averages 13.1 ppg and 7.0 rpg in more than 30 minutes per game for the Crimson Tide.

With the Super Bowl coming up this weekend, the biggest event in U.S. sports will command the attention of tens of millions of viewers, generating tens of millions of dollars for everyone associated with the event.

A few weeks later, the NBA All-Star game will show the NFL how exhibition weekends should be run. In my opinion, the NBA All-Star weekend festivities are the best of any pro sport, with baseball coming in a close second. Did anyone actually watch the Pro Bowl last weekend?

We don’t have any winter Olympics this year, but that’s a February event, too.

And then we have college hoops. To casual fans, March is the month of joy. But February is the month that sets the table for March. Dozens of teams are jockeying for position right now, fighting for a better seed and location or merely a bid to the Big Dance.

The schedule-makers know what they’re doing, too. Next Wednesday — just days after the Super Bowl — the top rivalry in college hoops will go down for the first of two meetings in a month when Duke visits North Carolina. That’s a nice way for the NCAA to tell America: “Guess what? Football is over. It’s time to set your sights on the hardwood.”

And of course, as we work through the thick of conference play, we’ll have the rush of bracket projections to feed the hoops addiction. Hoopville will join the fray as usual, starting this Friday. We choose to wait until February because it just feels right. By now, we have a large enough sample size to judge teams’ résumés and make projections that have a good shot of standing up during the final few weeks before Selection Sunday.

We take you coast to coast with news from around the college basketball nation.

Get ready for more technical fouls and a shorter leash on players or coaches who act out. Eamonn Brennan of ESPN.com’s “College Basketball Nation” blog reports that John Adams, the NCAA’s national officiating coordinator, sent a notice to all officials that implored them to clamp down on bad behavior.

Clemson has indefinitely suspended junior Milton Jennings, a former McDonald’s All-American, because of academic reasons, according to the Associated Press. Jennings averages 8.9 ppg and 5.4 rpg.

Arizona will finish the season without junior Kevin Parrom, who broke his foot in a loss to Washington last weekend, according to a CBS Sports.com report. He averaged 4.9 ppg, 2.9 rpg and 1.7 apg this season.

Iona is looking to remain one of the premier programs in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, and the university extended the contract of coach Tim Cluess to help make that happen, according to a CBS Sports.com report.

Don’t mess with a player’s routine. North Carolina’s Harrison Barnes shared some of the details of his routine with Andrew Jones of Fox Sports to explain why he changed his shoes at halftime of the Tar Heels’ win against Georgia Tech. Like the rest of the team, Barnes started the game with pink shoes to help promote breast cancer awareness. But he went with his usual Kobes in the second half.

VCU coach Shaka Smart stirred some commotion in the commonwealth during a teleconference Monday, writes Myron Medcalf for ESPN.com’s “College Basketball Nation” blog. Smart asserted that Virginia’s best schools reside in the CAA. He didn’t call out the ACC teams in Blacksburg or Charlottesville by name, but Smart felt compelled to give UVA coach Tony Bennett a call to clarify his comments.

The NCAA won’t be seeking any further action against Connecticut freshman guard Ryan Boatright regarding an investigation into his eligibility because of money and benefits that he and his mother received, according to the Associated Press. But the AP reports that the Boatrights’ lawyer isn’t finished with his actions against the NCAA, lambasting the organization for releasing private information.

The only coach to ever lead Canisius to an NCAA Tournament win died Saturday, according to the Associated Press. Joseph Curran, 89, passed away in Mystic, Conn. He led the Golden Griffins to a 76-66 record in six seasons, which included a shocking four overtime victory against No. 2 North Carolina State in the 1956 NCAA Tournament.

The 49ers loaded up their nonconference slate with the likes of Kansas, North Carolina, San Diego State, Louisville and Xavier. The team struggled through many of those games, ending up with a 7-6 record heading into Big West play.

But don’t be fooled. The 49ers were more than competitive against the big boys, with single-digit losses on the road at San Diego State, Kansas and North Carolina. Plus, the 49ers beat Pittsburgh, Xavier and Auburn. None of those are particularly outstanding — the Xavier win came during the Musketeers’ tailspin following the brawl against Cincinnati. But in short, Dan Monson’s team learned how to win and how to believe in itself.

This team has taken that lesson and applied it well through the first seven games of Big West play. Long Beach State sits atop the conference standings with a 7-0 record, and only Cal Poly stayed within 10 points of the 49ers.

If Long Beach State can continue to plow through the Big West and claim an automatic to the NCAA Tournament, the 49ers should be a popular first-round upset pick. Their lack of hefty wins will prevent the team from earning a seed much higher than a No. 12 or 13 spot. But that just makes this team a sound pick to upset any No. 4 or 5 seed from a major conference on a neutral court.

The benefits of such a tough schedule might not show up in the win-loss columns immediately. But if Long Beach State goes 1-1 or 2-0 during the first weekend of March, that tournament success will be partially due to the team’s preparation early in the season.

We take you coast to coast with news from around the college basketball nation.

Murray State will get back leading rebounder Ivan Aska, who grabs 6.0 rpg and scores 12.6 ppg, for the team’s game against Eastern Illinois Saturday, according to the Associated Press.

Michigan could have big Jon Horford back for the Wolverines’ game against Purdue Tuesday, coach John Beilein told Wolverine Nation’s Chantel Jennings for ESPN.com. Horford has been out with a stress fracture since early December.

Arguably the most intense and spite-filled rivalry in the ACC, Maryland and Duke will clash for the first time this season Wednesday night in College Park. And the Terrapins will likely have freshman 7-footer Alex Len, even though he twisted his ankle during the Terps’ loss at Temple last weekend, according to the Washington Post’s Liz Clarke.

Of course, that’s no disrespect to the North Carolina vs. Duke rivalry. And this year, coach Roy Williams won’t have his best defender, Dexter Strickland, who tore his ACL in the team’s win against Virginia Tech Thursday, according ESPN.com’s Robbi Pickeral.

Arkansas coach Mike Anderson is considering adding a hometown hero to the Razorbacks squad, according to the Associated Press. Former Oklahoma State guard Fred Gulley has enrolled at Arkansas and plans to play for Anderson as a walk-on or scholarship player. He was a star high school basketball player in Arkansas before leaving the state to play for the Cowboys.

Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan railed against the rule that allows graduated players to transfer and play immediately during a news conference Monday, writes Benjamin Worgull for Badger Nation.com.

• If there was any doubt as to the value of a point guard, look no further than Boston University and floor leader D.J. Irving. There are a few reasons the Terriers have now won five games in a row and is tied with Stony Brook (who they beat last Saturday) atop the America East Conference, but Irving’s return to health following a concussion last month is chief among them. That was readily apparent to one opposing coach, who thinks he’s the Terriers’ best player.

  “I think they’re at their best when the ball is in his hands and getting guys shots,” said Albany head coach Will Brown.

• Speaking of the Terriers, if they are to continue this run, they will need to improve on the glass. Albany beat them badly on the backboards Monday night, and that wasn’t an isolated event. It was so bad Monday that if there was a time of possession stat like in football games, the Great Danes would have had a big advantage. It made the Terriers’ defense in the first half that much more impressive.

  “It’s an area of major concern for me,” said head coach Joe Jones, “because I think if we’re going to continue to have success in this league, we’re going to need to defend and rebound at a high rate, much better than we did tonight in terms of the glass, especially when we go on the road.”

• Brown said that the big reason he sat Gerardo Suero, America East’s top scorer, for a lot of the second half against the Terriers was simple. He found that the group he put in was playing well, but also wanted his star to gain something else from it. Suero was just 1-10 from the field on the night for six points, and had eight turnovers.

  “He got frustrated,” said Brown. “With the combination of BU doing a really good job on him and him getting frustrated, it got to a point where he just wasn’t there today.”

• On Thursday, Lafayette used a big second half to overcome a terrible shooting first half to beat Holy Cross in a matchup of two teams that can probably be best characterized as consistently inconsistent this season. The Leopards, who shot 19.4 percent from the field in the first half before shooting 52 percent in the second, haven’t been able to put together a streak of more than two wins together. But they are 2-0 on the road in early Patriot League play and their only loss came against league favorite Bucknell. With co-captain Tony Johnson back and being in better game shape now that he has a few games under his belt, they may be ready to turn a corner.

  “I feel really good about it,” said freshman Dan Trist, one of three Leopards who scored 11 points on the night. “The seniors were telling me how hard it is to win on the road in the Patriot League. Every gym is like a fortress, pretty much.”

• On the other side, Holy Cross head coach Milan Brown was at a loss for words to describe his team’s effort. The real oddity is that the Crusaders got next to nothing from the first unit in the second half, while a new group from a wholesale substitution early on led a rally to regain the lead. Holy Cross has had times where they have played very well, but Thursday’s second half hasn’t been an isolated case although it was probably their worst half of the season.

• It hasn’t been the best stretch for North Carolina. First, they got blown out by 33 at Florida State on Saturday, then Dexter Strickland tore his ACL and is done for the season. It’s not a small loss for this team, as he’s the closest thing they have to a backup point guard.

• Every year, there is at least one key player who is academically ineligible for the second semester. The first one to make news this time around is California sophomore forward Richard Solomon, who started eight of the Golden Bears’ 13 games and led the team in rebounding. That’s a big blow to a team that figures to contend for the Pac-12 title, something which just got more difficult.

Entering Tuesday night’s game, Miami figured to pose some problems for a North Carolina team that occasionally forgets to play fundamentally sound perimeter defense. With talented shooters like Malcolm Grant, Durand Scott, Shane Larkin, Rion Brown and Trey McKinney Jones, the Hurricanes had plenty of options to use. But North Carolina shut them all down.

The Tar Heels executed a well-orchestrated game plan in which perimeter defenders jumped passing lanes to knock away passes, disrupting the timing of Miami’s offense. Equally important, Tyler Zeller, John Henson and even Justin Watts capably guarded the Canes’ big men, Reggie Johnson — all 300 pounds of him — and Kenny Kadji.

At one point, Watts, a 6’4” guard, was left alone to defend the 6’10” Kadji. The Canes big man didn’t get to touch the ball in the possession, which is partially the fault of Miami’s guards and also a tribute to the intense work Watts put in to maintain good position. And that’s the kind of smart, effective play that North Carolina applied all night to grind out a 73-56 win.

The offense wasn’t always pretty for North Carolina, but the Tar Heels kept possessions alive by grabbing 15 offensive rebounds, including six by Zeller, and avoiding turnovers. Jim Larranaga’s squad was able to slow the Tar Heels down a little bit, keeping the pace to 72 possessions for the game, which is down from North Carolina’s season average of about 75 possessions per game. However, the Tar Heels still got plenty of transition opportunities, which feeds into the strengths of this team.

North Carolina’s high-octane offense gets plenty of opportunities to run because the Tar Heels are among the best in the nation at grabbing rebounds and avoiding fouls. Based on Ken Pomeroy’s efficiency stats, the Tar Heels allow opponents to collect only 27.1 percent of their missed shots, ranking among the top 25 in Division I in defensive rebounding. And North Carolina is tops in D-I when it comes to not fouling opponents, allowing opponents to get one free throw attempt for every six shots from the field.

Critics might argue that the Tar Heels are the beneficiary of referees’ deference to the name on the jersey. We won’t go there. Instead, we’ll focus on what we see in games, namely smart defensive play by guys like Zeller, Henson and Dexter Strickland, who know how to defend their men without fouling. For Henson and Zeller, who rely on their height to deter shots — or swat them into next year, in Henson’s case — precise footwork and timing are critical.

All those skills were on display against Miami, as the Tar Heels finished with only 11 fouls to Miami’s 17 and 44 total rebounds to Miami’s 27. The vaunted Canes’ backcourt made only 3 of 16 3-point attempts, and Scott was the only guard to reach double figures, with 12 points.

Keep that up, and the Tar Heels should be able to fend off the curse of slow-paced, 3-point-happy, upset-minded lower seeds in the NCAA Tournament.

As mentioned in the latest TIQ stats for the ACC, Pac-12 and SEC, I’m taking a look at head-to-head comparisons from each conference. Here’s who’s on tap:

• ACC: North Carolina State’s Lorenzo Brown vs. North Carolina’s Harrison Barnes
• Pac-12: Washington’s Tony Wroten vs. Oregon State’s Jared Cunningham
• SEC: Florida’s Patric Young vs. Vanderbilt’s John Jenkins

North Carolina State’s Brown is off a phenomenal start to this season, putting up solid stats across the board for a TIQ of 36.1 points per 40 minutes. That’s especially impressive considering that Brown has played more than 80 percent of the team’s minutes this season. In other words, he’s consistently producing at a high level throughout an entire game — regardless of fatigue or opponent.

My props to Brown don’t mean to take away from North Carolina’s Harrison Barnes, who is also having a strong season. He’s got a TIQ of 30.4 points per 40 minutes, which is well above the ACC average of 21.2 points per 40 minutes. However, he’s only fifth on his team in TIQ, largely because the Tar Heels have been on fire in recent weeks. That bodes well for North Carolina, which has plenty of talent, including P.J. Hairston and Reggie Bullock on the bench, that can step into the lineup and be productive in more ways than just making shots.

Florida’s Young is simply one of the most athletic players in the SEC and a dominant presence near the hoop. He’s not scoring tons of points per game (12.1 ppg), but he grabs about seven rebounds per game, including about three at the offensive end. Young also is a good passer, averaging 1.8 apg compared to 1.5 turnovers per game. In sum, Young is the total package for the Gators, with a TIQ of 32.0 points per 40 minutes.

In contrast to Young, Jenkins is a one-trick pony for Vanderbilt. One of the top scorers in the nation, Jenkins is averaging 20.5 ppg. If your defense loses track of Jenkins, he can put up points in a hurry. But despite playing more than 33 minutes per game, he only contributes 2.6 rpg, 1.0 apg and less than one steal or block per game. That’s good for 25.8 points per 40 minutes on the TIQ rating scale.

Although Jenkins is a solid shooter, the Commodores are a poor offensive rebounding team, so the volume of his attempts and misses hurts Jenkins more than Young’s misses counts against the Gator big man. Of course, it helps that Young shoots better than 62 percent from the field and the Gators grab 37 percent of their missed shots. Florida is likely to score points at some point during a possession more than 70 percent of the time when Young takes a shot.

Oregon State’s Cunningham is one of the Pac-12′s premier players and figured to have a strong season after making a gigantic leap between his freshman and sophomore seasons, increasing his scoring from 6.2 ppg to 14.2 ppg. He’s posting strong numbers thus far at 17.0 ppg, 3.4 rpg and 2.8 apg. And he’s an excellent defensive stopper, with nearly three steals per game. That gives Cunningham a TIQ of 27.7 points per 40 minutes — nothing to sneeze at.

However, he doesn’t match the overall production of Washington’s Wroten, who’s putting up 16.8 ppg, 4.8 rpg and 3.4 apg in five fewer minutes per game than Cunningham plays. Wroten remains under the national radar as a freshman phenom for the Huskies, but that could easily change with a few standout performances on national TV in conference play. His TIQ of 32.3 points per 40 minutes is fourth in the entire Pac-12 and tops on a team that features outstanding talent, such as Terrence Ross and Abdul Gaddy.

So the lesson is that it’s not all about points. Players who do all the other things that coaches ask — sometimes in substantially fewer minutes than what star players receive — end up becoming the most productive guys out there.

Kentucky probably has the most talent of any team in the country, but the Wildcats’ youth hasn’t been hard to see. Their freshmen have had their share of growing pains, from Marquis Teague’s early struggles taking care of the ball to Anthony Davis learning how physical the college game can be. It’s for exactly that reason that senior Darius Miller has never been more valuable than much of the early going this time around.

North Carolina is right up there with the Wildcats, but this is an older and more mature team. Whereas the Wildcats start three freshmen, the Tar Heels only played two freshmen yesterday and both came off the bench. But they start a senior, two juniors and two sophomores, and on the whole this is a team quite a ways from its ceiling just like Kentucky.

In the first half, North Carolina led by as many as nine and was the better team. They were hot from long range, going 6-9 from behind the arc in the opening frame. But Kentucky scored seven in a row at the end of the first and start of the second half, momentarily grabbing the lead and then staying right with the Tar Heels until they took the lead for good on a Davis jumper with less than eight minutes to play.

The Tar Heels had one more chance after Teague missed the front end of a one-and-one with 21 seconds left. They got the ball to John Henson, known more for his shot-blocking than scoring, and in a length-versus-length matchup, Davis got a hand on his short jumper and the Wildcats were able to run out the final seconds for a 73-72 victory.

It’s a game that many would love to see a rematch of, and considering that both teams are a ways from their respective ceilings, no one would be surprised if it materialized in the month of March.

While that was the best matchup of the day, there were a few other teams, conferences and player of note.

Marquette

Winning at the Kohl Center is hard for visiting teams to do, but Marquette pulled it off on Saturday and did so without their starting point guard. Before the game, the Golden Eagles announced that Junior Cadougan was suspended for the game due to a violation of team rules. Wisconsin has lost two straight, but neither is a bad loss as they lost to North Carolina earlier in the week. The Golden Eagles, meanwhile, are 7-0 with a blowout win over Ole Miss and Saturday’s win at Wisconsin.

Xavier

Xavier is becoming quite the second-half team. On Monday, they trailed by ten in the second half before rallying to beat Vanderbilt in overtime in Nashville. But yesterday they did themselves one better, as they trailed Purdue by 11 at the half and 19 in the second half before coming back to edge the Boilermakers 66-63. In the last 10:44, Xavier outscored Purdue 30-8.

Illinois

It seems like Bruce Weber has been on the hot seat forever in Champaign, but let’s acknowledge not only the job he has done thus far but especially what he is doing this season. After an 82-75 win over Gonzaga on Saturday, the Illini are 8-0 with wins over Richmond and at Maryland as well. Neither of those two is a big NCAA Tournament resume win, but they are worth noting because the Illini haven’t beaten up on a slew of terrible teams and could be 12-0 when they take on Missouri on Dec. 22, though they will have to get by UNLV at home before then. Saturday was the first time all season Gonzaga did not have at least four players score in double figures.

Brigham Young

No Jimmer, no problem for Brigham Young. After Saturday’s 79-65 win over Oregon in Salt Lake City, BYU is 6-2 with a win over Nevada included and the only losses being at Utah State and against Wisconsin. Granted, this isn’t the Oregon team we all thought we would see before the season with the departures of Jabari Brown and Bruce Barron, but the Ducks aren’t pushovers.

Head-scratching in the CAA

A number of conferences have their opening games this weekend before teams resume non-conference play for a little while longer. Perhaps none has had results that might leave one scratching their head as much as the Colonial Athletic Association, where three teams won on the road and preseason favorite Drexel lost to Delaware by 11 (albeit on the road). The Dragons have had a rough go of it thus far, but Chris Fouch is back so they’re closer to having their full team together. Still, Fouch was 0-9 yesterday and the Blue Hens won the battle on the glass by a 40-32 margin over a Drexel team that routinely beats up opponents on the boards.

The one other score that jumps out is Georgia State thumping William & Mary 66-34 in Atlanta. The Tribe didn’t look to be far from being a good team last season, but they’re struggling mightily out of the gates and Saturday may be the low point thus far.

We go coast to coast with other news from the college basketball nation

• Ohio State didn’t miss a beat despite Jared Sullinger being out with back spasms.
• College of Charleston lost a wealth of talent and experience from last season’s team, but the Cougars are 7-1 overall and are one of four teams that went 2-0 in early Southern Conference games this weekend. Chattanooga, who the Cougars beat last night and was picked to win the North Division, is 0-2.
• Connecticut got a big lift from Ryan Boatright with 23 points and six assists in his home debut.
• UCLA is now 2-5 after a home loss to Texas that saw them blow an 11-point lead.

Some of Sunday’s Key Matchups

Sunday is a day full of interesting matchups of teams that we’re trying to find out something about. None of these are like North Carolina-Kentucky, but they will be worth keeping an eye on.

• Baylor at Northwestern
• UNLV at Wichita State
• California at San Diego State
• Dayton at Murray State
• North Carolina State at Stanford
• Notre Dame at Maryland
• VCU vs. George Washington (BB&T Classic at the Verizon Center)
• Kansas State at Virginia Tech

From top to bottom, the Big Ten has the most quality, and those teams were on display Tuesday as the conference grabbed a 4-2 lead in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge.

Among the premier teams, Ohio State thumped Duke 85-63 as the Buckeyes tore through the Blue Devils’ Swiss cheese defense. Four of Ohio State’s five starters scored at least 17 points, led by Jared Sullinger’s 21. As a team, Ohio State shot nearly 60 percent from the field and from 3-point range. When they did miss, they collected the rebounds nearly 30 percent of the time, which is actually off their season average of about 34 percent, according to Ken Pomeroy’s stats. But when you’re already shooting 60 percent, any second chances at all could be devastating for your opponent.

Although the convincing victory is excellent, it’s not altogether shocking. Duke entered a hostile environment in Columbus coming off a tough trip to Maui last week in which the Blue Devils battled tooth and nail three straight days to claim the EA Sports Maui Invitational title. Yes, they had nearly a week off, but Duke looked tired, as several players launched air balls from deep throughout the game. With eight days off until their next game, look for the Blue Devils to rest up and rebound well.

Perhaps the best win of the Big Ten/ACC Challenge last night was Northwestern’s 16-point victory at Georgia Tech. For a team searching for its first NCAA Tournament bid in school history, the Wildcats had to win this one. Georgia Tech does not figure to be competitive for the ACC title this year, but the Thrillerdome remains a tough place to play. Northwestern was on its game, shooting 55 percent from the field, with John Shurna leading the way with 25 points. The Wildcats’ win is impressive because it’s not like the team is totally unfamiliar to the Yellow Jackets. Georgia Tech coach Brian Gregory was an assistant to MIchigan State’s Tom Izzo for several years, including in 2003, Bill Carmody’s first season in Evanston. And it’s not like his style of play has changed much in eight years, according to Pomeroy’s stats.

The Big Ten will look to continue its strong play tonight, highlighted by a huge match up in Chapel Hill between North Carolina and Wisconsin.

Here are some other news and notes from across the college basketball nation.

North Carolina’s Harrison Barnes is expected to play in that clash with the Badgers tonight after spraining his ankle in the Tar Heels’ loss to UNLV last weekend, ESPN reports.

Bernie Fine is out at Syracuse after new and more troublesome allegations of sexual abuse emerged during the past week. However, the Associated Press’ John Kekis writes, Orange coach Jim Boeheim isn’t worried about his own job security, despite vehemently defending Fine when the allegations first appeared, going as far as to call the accusers liars. The investigation continues in this case, so Fine is innocent until proven guilty. But there apparently was enough smoke for Syracuse to find cause to ditch the veteran assistant before a raging fire broke out.

USC forward Dewayne Dedmon, averaging 7.7 ppg and 6.0 rig, will miss about a month because of a stress injury in his right foot, the Associated Press reports. The Trojans have been struggling already this season with one of their big men in the lineup. This certainly won’t help the cause.

Eamonn Brennan notes for ESPN’s College Basketball Nation blog that Florida coach Billy Donovan picked up win No. 400 in his career when the Gators dismantled Stetson 96-70. At age 45, Donovan is one of the few coaches in the game who have the early success that could put him in position to challenge Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski’s record for Division I wins — whenever Coach K calls it a career.

The Tar Heels had looked phenomenal in five blowout victories against mostly overmatched teams. But those wins masked an Achilles heel. And the Runnin’ Rebels fired a perfect shot to strike North Carolina in that vulnerable spot, sending the No. 1 team tumbling back to earth.

In short, North Carolina doesn’t do a great job of guarding the perimeter, doesn’t dominate the boards, and doesn’t have well-developed depth behind the front line.

All three of those weaknesses are related to UNC’s vaunted frontcourt, especially Tyler Zeller and John Henson. Those two make a perfect tandem, as Zeller’s offensive game is far more developed than Henson’s, while Henson is a defensive beast with his shot-blocking ability. On defense, they tend to rely on their height and length to stop driving opponents. Not surprisingly, North Carolina ranks among the Division I leaders in blocks, swatting more than 6 percent of opponents’ shots, according to Ken Pomeroy’s statistics.

But that affinity for blocks makes the team susceptible to penetrating guards who only intend to kick the ball out to good perimeter shooters. It makes perfect sense. A guard at the top of the key could sprint off a high screen into the lane, with his man in tow. Henson or Zeller would slide off his defender to get in position to reject a shot attempt into the third row. Someone else would rotate to cut off a pass to anyone else near the post. As the guard enters the lane, he should have at least one perimeter player open.

One pass to the outside might be enough to get an open look. If a Tar Heel defender could get out to the perimeter in time, the odds are that another rotating perimeter player would be wide open, and an extra pass should get a clean look. And that’s pretty much how UNLV attacked North Carolina.

In addition, the Runnin’ Rebels fought for rebounds. When the Tar Heels help out on defense, they occasionally move out of position for rebounds. Coach Roy Williams will probably preach on proper technique in practice during the next couple of days, which is necessary for a team with only middling stats for rebounds despite holding a height advantage over most opponents. Somewhat interestingly, North Carolina actually did better against UNLV at the defensive end despite allowing 13 offensive rebounds. The Tar Heels collected 68 percent of all missed shots at that end, which is slightly better than the 65 percent that they usually get. On offense, though, the Tar Heels grabbed only 24 percent of their missed shots, down from their season average of 32 percent.

Part of the reason that the rebounding was down is that Zeller and Henson’s minutes were down because of foul trouble. Zeller was on the court for 24 minutes in the loss. Henson also had to deal with foul trouble. Although freshman James Michael McAdoo is off to a strong start, there’s not much quality depth behind the starters right now.

UNLV outlined a strategy for taking down North Carolina that is clear and repeatable – for the teams that are actually equipped to execute that game plan. Five Runnin’ Rebels attempted at least 3-pointers, with Chase Stanback and Oscar Bellfield hitting four apiece. It will be tough to beat the Tar Heels without that kind of firepower.

Besides the long-range specialists, opponents need to attack the rim to try to draw fouls on Zeller and Henson. That includes penetrating the lane off screens and fighting for rebounds and both ends of the court. Turn North Carolina’s shot-blocking strength into a weakness by sending players to the rims from the areas where Zeller or Henson should be defending. That part of the game plan relies mostly on desire and effort.

Another strategy for slowing down North Carolina is attacking Kendall Marshall at both ends of the court. North Carolina’s point guard is the engine to the entire Tar Heel offense. He can’t keep things running smoothly if he doesn’t have the ball. If opponents can deny Marshall the ball and obstruct his vision when he has it, the Tar Heels will need to work out of half-court sets more often, from which their offense is far less lethal than when the team is sprinting down the court in transition.

Williams has his hands full making adjustments after UNLV’s impressive victory last night. And he’ll need to work quickly with Wisconsin coming to the Dean Dome Nov. 30 and a trip to Lexington on tap next weekend.

Against Michigan State, the Tar Heels started hot, then fell behind as the offense fell into a funk as night fell on the USS Carl Vinson in San Diego. Blame the offensive woes on the players adjusting to darkness during a game played outdoors if you’d like. But really, this is what the Tar Heels do.

After the Spartans established a lead midway through the first half, North Carolina jacked up the defensive pressure, with Henson and Tyler Zeller daring anyone to attack the rim. Henson finished with nine blocks, and at times, he looked intent on swatting the ball into the Pacific Ocean. With the post on lockdown, Michigan State turned to the perimeter, where the Spartans made only two 3-points out of 20 attempts. Despite the strong effort against Michigan State’s initial attacks, the Tar Heels played a little soft on the boards, allowing the Spartans to grab 19 offensive rebounds, or 38 percent of their missed shots. The 67-55 final would have been a much bigger blowout if North Carolina had done a better job boxing out Draymond Green, Derrick Nix and Branden Dawson.

The scoring stats won’t always reveal the game changers for North Carolina in 2011-12. The 2005 and 2009 championship teams used a high-octane offense to mask some defensive flaws, especially when teams forced North Carolina to play a primarily half-court game. This year’s team can play defense with the best of them, regardless whether the game flow is sprinting up and down the court or methodically working through half-court sets. As usual, the Tar Heels’ offense is at its best when the team is running and Kendall Marshall has an opportunity to slice and dice opponents with laser-guided passes.

But it will start and end with the defense, led by Henson. Against the Spartans, Harrison Barnes led the team with 17 points and five rebounds. That line is respectable, but was a little less impressive than Henson’s, despite the higher points total. Like Barnes, Henson logged 31 minutes, and in that time, he filled his stat sheet with 12 points, seven rebounds, nine blocks and two assists. Turning to the Total Impact Quotient rating system, Barnes had a Real TIQ of 19.6 points for the game compared to 22.3 points for Henson. By isolating the defensive side of that formula, Henson’s work on that end prevented 12.3 points, while Barnes’ defensive effort saved 4.3 points. Yep, that’s what Henson does.