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Sunday, February 27, 2011

The Matchup 2/27/11

College Basketball

#15 Connecticut @ Cincinnati - ESPNU 12 p.m.
After falling 71-58 at No. 16 Louisville on Feb. 18, and 74-67 in overtime at home to Marquette on Thursday, Connecticut (20-7, 8-7) is in danger of dropping three in a row for the first time this season. Cincinnati (22-6, 9-6), which is ahead of UConn in the league standings and has victories at home over Louisville and at No. 11 Georgetown in the last three games. A win here and the Bearcats can go ahead and book travel plans for their first NCAA appearance in 5 seasons.

#8 Purdue @ Michigan State - ESPN 1 p.m.
Purdue (23-5, 12-3) tries to keep its Big Ten regular season title hopes alive as it goes for its sixth straight win. Michigan State (16-11, 8-7) has regained some confidence since the teams last met in a 86-76 Purdue win at Mackey Arena on Jan. 22. The Boilermakers are looking to sweep the regular-season series against Michigan State for the first time since 1997. Last season's win at the Breslin Center was Purdue's first since 1998. Michigan State looks to stay on track as they look to win 3 straight for the first time since starting the season 3-0.

Xavier @ Dayton - ESPN2 1 p.m.
Xavier (21-6, 12-1) defeated Dayton 81-76 on Jan. 15 to match a conference record with its 34th straight home win. It also was the Musketeers' 26th consecutive victory on its home floor versus the Flyers (19-9, 7-6) since Jan. 10, 1981. Xavier has won 10 of 12 overall in this matchup but has lost its last two visits to Dayton by an average of 19 points. Xavier, currently one-half game ahead of second-place Temple, enters this matchup having won six straight and 13 of 14.

#6 Pittsburgh @ #16 Louisville - CBS 2 p.m.
The Panthers can take a big step toward clinching their first regular season Big East title in 7 years Sunday afternoon by handing the No. 16 Cardinals their first conference loss at the new KFC Yum! Center. Pitt (25-3, 13-2) won its first six league road games before falling 60-59 to St. John's at Madison Square Garden on Feb. 19. Louisville (21-7, 10-5) has little chance to earn the conference's No. 1 seed, but it's in excellent position to earn one of four double-byes heading into the Big East tournament. The last two games of this series have been nail-biters with Pitt winning last season at home in OT and Louisville winning at home in 2009, a game which knocked the Panthers out of the #1 spot in the polls.

NBA

Lakers @ Oklahoma City - ABC 2:30 p.m.
These two division leaders square off Sunday for the second time this season. Los Angeles won the last matchup at home but travel to an Thunder team looking to avoid its first 3-game losing streak of the season and using newly acquired Kendrick Perkins and Nate Robinson for the first time. The addition of Perkins, known as one of the league's top defensive big men, has Los Angeles especially on alert. The Lakers trailed 3-2 in last year's NBA finals before Perkins hurt his knee in Game 6, and the Celtics lost the series in seven.

Memphis @ San Antonio - SportSouth 7 p.m.
The Spurs, who own the NBA's best record, looks for a franchise-record 21st straight home win Sunday against the Grizzlies who were the only team in the past three months to make San Antonio play more than 48 minutes on its home floor. The Spurs are an amazing 27-2 this season at home but Memphis gave them one of their stiffest challenges Dec. 18. The Grizzlies rallied from nine down after three quarters to force overtime before falling 112-106. The Grizzlies will use the newly acquired Shane Battier to fill in for their injured star forward Rudy Gay.

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