NBA, ACC men, UConn women among college hoops games affected by approaching winter storm

An NBA game, an NHL contest and dozens of college basketball games across a wide swath of the country have been reshuffled because of an approaching major winter storm.

The storm that meteorologists say could rival the damage of a major hurricane is expected to bring snow, ice and frigid temperatures from New Mexico to New England starting Friday. Forecasters warn the weather system could bring catastrophic damage, widespread power outages and bitter cold.

In the NBA, the start time of the Washington Wizards' game at the Charlotte Hornets on Saturday was moved to noon.

The NHL said Saturday's game in Nashville between the Predators and the Utah Mammoth would start two hours earlier.

The Atlantic Coast Conference moved up the start times for three men's basketball games on Saturday: Wake Forest at Duke, North Carolina at Virginia, and Virginia Tech at Louisville. On the women's side, Wake Forest's home game against Virginia Tech and Virginia's home game against N.C. State were shifted from Sunday to Saturday, while North Carolina moved up its Sunday game against Syracuse to a noon EST start.

Xavier moved up its start time for Saturday's men's game against St. John's by one hour, and the Xavier women's team made it a doubleheader, moving its home game against Georgetown from Sunday to Saturday morning.

In the Big 12, the Oklahoma State men's game against No. 9 Iowa State was moved up by one hour on Saturday, while the LSU at Arkansas men's matchup in the Southeastern Conference was pushed several hours earlier. On the women's side, Arkansas' home game against Texas was postponed to Feb. 19.

The number of states where college games were being adjusted showed the large path of the approaching storm. The forecast comes exactly a year after another storm forced postponements across U.S. sports.

The Sun Belt Conference preemptively shook up its women's basketball schedule, moving around the start times on several games from Thursday through Saturday. The American Athletic Conference also adjusted its weekend men's and women's schedules, moving some games up to Friday.

North Carolina Central postponed two men's and two women's games scheduled to be played from Thursday through Monday in Durham, North Carolina.

Appalachian State moved up its men's home game with Louisiana-Lafayette to Thursday morning and Marshall made its home game against Louisiana-Monroe a noon Thursday tipoff.

Middle Tennessee State men's basketball moved its Conference USA showdown with Jacksonville State from Saturday to Friday evening.

Other women's games moved up several hours Saturday included No. 20 Princeton at Brown and North Florida at Eastern Kentucky, along with men's games involving Towson at North Carolina A&T and Texas State at James Madison.

Rice adjusted tipoff times for its men's and women's home games. The men's game against Tulsa originally scheduled for Sunday was changed to Saturday. The women's game game against Tulane on Saturday was moved up by one hour.

George Mason's women's game against Richmond was moved up three hours to 11 a.m. Sunday, with no fans permitted to attend.

Major League Baseball's Texas Rangers canceled their annual Fan Fest scheduled for Saturday because of the forecast for frozen precipitation in North Texas and ''in the interest of safety for players, fans, and employees.''

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