NO. 9 ALABAMA AT NO. 24 OKLAHOMA
11 a.m. Saturday, ESPN
Coach Nate Oats is doing his best to make sure Alabama isn't known as just a football school, with the team off to a 9-0 SEC start. OU is going for its third straight top-10 win.
NO. 15 KANSAS AT NO. 18 TENNESSEE
5 p.m. Saturday, ESPN
Arguably the top matchup in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge with two former top-10 teams that could use a big win to get back on track in their respective conferences.
TRENDS to watch
Trending up: Big Ten road teams, which are 19-18 since Jan. 1. Only the Gophers and Nebraska are without a league road victory in the 14-team conference. Ohio State has won its past three road games, against Rutgers, Illinois and Wisconsin.
Trending down: Still Northwestern. The Wildcats lost their seventh straight earlier this week after a 3-0 start to Big Ten play and earning a national ranking. This last defeat was maybe the hardest to swallow, 81-78 to fellow bottom feeder Penn State.
player to watch
Sharife Cooper, Auburn: The 6-1, 180-pound freshman might be slight but he's as formidable as they come for his size. He's averaging 22.3 points and 8.7 assists this season. He had 28 points, eight rebounds and seven assists in an upset of No. 12 Missouri.
