Top-ranked Houston is approaching its second straight 30-win season and junior point guard Jamal Shead says there is more improvement to come.

This even with the Cougars on an eight-game winning streak, including victories by 38 and 30 points, entering Saturday’s American Athletic Conference contest against East Carolina at Greenville, N.C.

“We’ve been coming together as a team,” Shead said after Wednesday’s 89-59 rout of visiting Tulane. “I still feel like we haven’t reached our ceiling, and I feel like that’s the most exciting thing as the season continues on.”

Houston (26-2, 14-1 AAC) would sew up the AAC regular-season title with a win over the Pirates (14-13, 5-9). The Cougars are 9-0 in true road games.

Barring a sudden slide, the Cougars are a near-certainty to be a No. 1 seed in next month’s NCAA Tournament.

In the past three NCAA Tournaments, Houston advanced to the Elite Eight, the Final Four and the Sweet 16. The Cougars have become a national force under coach Kelvin Sampson for the first time since the first half of the 1980s when legends such as Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler roamed the court.

However, Sampson has a tough time discussing the program’s rise.

“It’s hard for me to talk about that,” Sampson said. “I don’t know where to start or what to say. I do the best I can to coach these kids, put them in the best position to win and for them to be successful.

“I’ve got a great staff, and we all work in conjunction with each other. We’ve been winning around here for a long time.”

J’Wan Roberts and Marcus Sasser delivered strong performances in the romp against Tulane.

Roberts scored a career-best 26 points on 9-of-10 shooting for his second straight game of 20 or more. Sasser (averaging a team-best 16.9 points) has compiled four straight such outings after scoring 22 points against the Green Wave.

“Ball movement, body movement, and all five guys on the floor who are unselfish,” Sasser said of the Cougars scoring 80 or more for the fourth time in five games. “It’s really good to play on a team where nobody cares who scores the ball.”

East Carolina has won three of its past four games, including Tuesday’s 62-60 road victory over Tulsa.

Jaden Walker scored a career-high 24 points on 8-of-11 shooting while playing all 40 minutes.

“The effort from Jaden Walker all-around, to play 40 minutes and play through foul trouble, I thought he was tremendous,” Pirates coach Michael Schwartz said.

Walker has recently emerged to fill the gap of point guard Javon Small, who will miss his 10th game due to a knee injury. Small leads the Pirates in scoring (15.8) and assists (5.6).

Walker had 18 points (then a career high) and a career-best 10 assists in Sunday’s 86-70 road loss against SMU before delivering again against Tulsa. He has scored in double figures in three straight games while shooting 73.1 percent (19-for-26).

RJ Felton added 14 points and nine rebounds against Tulsa as the Pirates prevailed despite shooting 39.6 percent from the field and 6 of 27 (22.2 percent) from 3-point range.

“Sometimes the way the game looks, the prettiness of the game is secondary to what the end-of-the-game result is,” Schwartz said.

This is the first meeting of the season between the teams. The Cougars have won 10 of the past 11 matchups.

–Field Level Media

When Wake Forest visited Notre Dame three Saturdays ago, the Demon Deacons needed a win in the worst way. They had lost four in a row and all NCAA Tournament dreams were slipping away.

Wake Forest needed 10 minutes to get rolling in South Bend before racing to a 81-64 victory that triggered a three-game winning streak. But now that the Demon Deacons (17-11, 9-8 ACC) are dealing with another two-game slide, they need another win over Notre Dame (10-18, 2-15) in the worst way today — this time in Winston-Salem, N.C.

Wake Forest coach Steve Forbes understands his team needs to tighten things up — especially after allowing a combined 186 points in their last two games against Miami and North Carolina State.

“We don’t defend,” Forbes said after Wednesday’s 90-74 loss at NC State. “We’re not a great defensive team. That’s no secret. That’s why we’re not an NCAA Tournament team right now … we’re as good an offensive team as there is in the (ACC). No doubt about that. But you have to do other things.”

Notre Dame learned how good Wake Forest can be offensively on Feb. 4 when junior Damari Monsanto set career-highs with 28 points on 8 of 13 shooting from 3-point range. Likely all-ACC point guard Tyree Appleby added 16 points, nine rebounds and seven assists.

Because Wake Forest ranks right around 80th in the NET and KenPom metrics, Wake Forest’s essentially has little or no chance to reach its first NCAA Tournament since 2017 unless it wins the ACC Tournament.

“We have to win these next few at home,” Forbes said. “Go on the road at Syracuse and then we go into the ACC Tournament and see what happens.”

Notre Dame, meanwhile, wants to avoid its first 20-loss season since a 12-20 showing in 1990-91 — Digger Phelps’ 20th and final year at the helm.

The Irish, currently on a six-game losing streak, need to sweep their last three regular-season games (or win the ACC and NCAA championships) to avoid such a fate. If they lose all three – including a home game against Pittsburgh on Wednesday and a trip to Clemson next Saturday — they would match the school record of most losses in a season (21, 1966).

Since falling to Wake Forest on Feb. 4, the Irish have lost by 2, 6, 4, 2 and 4.

“I feel for our guys because we keep getting into position, but we can’t finish,” said Notre Dame coach Mike Brey, before joking that he’d summon sports psychologists to work with his players sitting on 15 different couches. “It becomes very mental, no question about it.”

–Field Level Media

After its winning streak was snapped at five games, Vanderbilt will be out to regroup when it hosts Florida on Saturday evening in Nashville, Tenn.

Coming off an upset loss to Southeastern Conference cellar-dweller LSU, the Commodores (15-13, 8-7) are looking for their first sweep of the Gators (14-14, 7-8) since beating them five times in a row in 2016 and 2017, capped by a 72-62 overtime win in the 2017 conference tournament.

They won the first meeting this season, 88-80 in Gainesville on Feb. 11.

Commodore coach Jerry Stackhouse called Wednesday’s 84-77 loss at LSU disappointing but “not the end of the world.”

“We’ve had some tough losses and disappointing losses,” Stackhouse said. “Our guys are resilient and they’ve found a way to bounce back.”

The Commodores will have an advantage up front with Liam Robbins. The 7-footer has averaged 22.7 points and 10.3 rebounds over the past six outings and is coming off a 23-point, 11-rebound performance against LSU that was just one blocked shot from a rare triple-double.

The Gators are vulnerable in the middle without Colin Castleton, who is out for the season with a broken hand. He had 25 points and 11 rebounds in the first meeting with the Commodores.

Florida has turned to senior Jason Jitoboh and freshman Aleks Szymczyk in the two games since Castleton’s injury. They combined to account for 20 points and 12 rebounds in the losses to Arkansas and Kentucky. Castleton averaged 16.0 points and 7.7 rebounds before his injury.

Gators coach Todd Golden, however, said he was encouraged by what he saw in Wednesday’s 82-74 loss to Kentucky. Freshman Riley Kugel scored a career-high 24 points.

The Gators shot 50 percent overall and 40 percent from 3-point range while losing only 10 turnovers.

“If we can build on that and find a way to get a little more grittier on the glass,” Golden said, “we can win any of these three games that remain on our schedule.”

After Vandy, Florida is at Georgia and finishes the regular season at home against LSU. Vanderbilt plays at Kentucky and against Mississippi State at home next week.

–Field Level Media

Pitt now has a clear path to claiming the Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season title following No. 6 Virginia’s blowout loss to Boston College on Wednesday.

A big step toward that goal will come Saturday afternoon, when Pitt (20-8, 13-4 ACC) will renew a former Big East rivalry and play host to Syracuse (16-12, 9-8).

Pitt can catch Miami and win the ACC by winning its final three games, including its season finale at Miami to break a tie.

The Panthers will be well-rested after a bounce-back 76-68 win over Georgia Tech on Tuesday, in which they had four starters score in double digits.

Nelly Cummings led the charge for Pitt, dropping 22 points for the third time this season. He also tallied seven assists and six rebounds, as well as going a perfect 7-for-7 from the free-throw line.

Cummings’ strong performance helped Pitt secure the program’s first 20-win season since 2015-16.

“We’re in the moment right now, it’s hard to reflect on those things right now because we know we have a heck of a game coming up on Saturday,” Pitt coach Jeff Capel said of achieving the 20-win milestone. “We have a lot of games left and we’ll reflect on it when it’s over with, but it’s certainly something we don’t take for granted.”

That “heck of a game” will be the Panthers’ last home game of the season against Syracuse. The Orange are in the middle of the pack, currently sitting at No. 9 in the ACC.

They enter Saturday’s contest on a rough two-game skid, losing by 22 points to Duke and 18 points to Clemson.

“Right now, we can’t stop anybody,” Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim said after the most recent loss to Clemson. “We’re going to have to play better defense over the last three games and I think we can.”

Syracuse is led by a two-headed monster of guards, Joseph Girard III and Judah Mintz, who are averaging 16.8 and 16.0 points, respectively.

Pitt won the first meeting, 84-82 on Dec. 20.

–Field Level Media

Alabama freshman Brandon Miller will be in the lineup for the Crimson Tide on Saturday, as the program maintains it is doing the “right thing” by not punishing the likely lottery pick for his connection to the Darius Miles murder case.

Head coach Nate Oats said Friday the university has taken the matter seriously since investigators shared details of Miller’s suspected involvement, which came to light earlier this week.

“We’ve been taking it very seriously from Day 1. The first minute that I got the information, I called (athletic director) Greg (Byrne) and we talked about it and the severity of it,” Oats said. “Greg, I thought, did a great job addressing those comments on Wednesday, and I really don’t have much to add to it. We feel like we’ve done the right thing in this case. So I’m going to leave it at that with Greg’s comments.”

Investigator Branden Culpepper shared new details of the murder probe on Tuesday, including a revelation that Miller drove the vehicle containing the gun used in the shooting to his then-teammate Miles, who had asked Miller to bring him the weapon. Miles and Michael Lynn Davis are charged with capital murder in the death of 23-year-old Jamea Jonae Harris, who was fatally shot on Jan. 15 near the university campus.

Miles admitted to providing the gun used in the shooting, according to investigators, but told authorities Davis fired the weapon. Miller fled the scene when gunfire started, per police, and his windshield was hit by bullets as he drove away.

Earlier this week, Oats said Miller was in the “wrong place are the wrong time.”

Tuscaloosa Chief Deputy District Attorney Paula Whitley said on Wednesday that Miller hasn’t been charged with a crime and gave no indication he would face charges.

After discussions involving Byrne and others in the Alabama administration, Miller played in Wednesday’s game against South Carolina and scored a career-high 41 points in the 78-76 overtime victory. He drove for the winning basket with 0.9 seconds on a night in which he was constantly booed by South Carolina fans.

Oats said the incident has driven multiple conversations with his team since Miles was arrested. In recent days, Miller’s involvement and the university decision not to suspend him from the lineup made international headlines.

“Life’s fluid. Different circumstances bring up different areas to talk about. There’s different areas you need to educate your players on,” Oats said. “The world changes. As we’ve come across different situations, it’s hard to predict everything that everybody is going to get into. We’ve taken the opportunities as a basketball program and as an athletic department and as a university as a whole to address situations that have come up and taking that opportunity to educate our guys on different things like this … the answer is yes, we’re using this as an opportunity to educate our players on stuff that hopefully will help them for the rest of their lives.”

Miller is in the midst of a stellar season. He leads the SEC with a 19.5 scoring average and became just the third freshman in school history to score at least 500 points in a season. He also is averaging 8.0 rebounds per game and has made a team-high 88 3-pointers, which is also best in the SEC.

Alabama plays host to Arkansas on Saturday.

–Field Level Media

Kentucky will look to continue its mastery of Auburn on Saturday inside Rupp Arena, where the Wildcats have beaten the Tigers 19 straight times in Lexington, Ky.

The Wildcats are 50-2 all-time at home against Auburn and haven’t lost to the Tigers at home since Jan. 9, 1988. Each team enters a pivotal game looking to bolster its NCAA Tournament profile.

Kentucky (19-9, 10-5 SEC) is coming off an 82-74 win at Florida on Wednesday, the Wildcats’ third straight win after consecutive losses to unranked Arkansas and Georgia. After Florida trimmed Kentucky’s 11-point second-half lead to 74-72 with 1:12 left, the Wildcats countered with 6-0 run over the next 56 seconds to secure the win.

Auburn (19-9, 9-6) won for just the second time in six games Wednesday with a 78-74 homecourt win over Ole Miss.

After Ole Miss took a 63-59 edge with 6:21 left, Auburn went on a decisive 11-1 run to take a 70-64 advantage it wouldn’t relinquish following Wendell Green Jr.’s reverse layup with 3:38 to play.

“We needed that,” Auburn coach Bruce Pearl said. “Our players stepped up and that was great to see. We need more from our bench. You win games at the end by getting stops and going to the foul line, that’s how you win games.”

The Tigers shot 22-of-24 from the free-throw line.

Green, who averages 13.9 points and a team-high 4.3 assists, finished with 23 points and went 11-of-12 from the free-throw line. Johni Broome, who averages a team-high 14.1 and 8.9 rebounds, had 19 points, eight rebounds, six blocks and three assists for the Tigers.

Jaylin Williams chipped in 12 points, while Allen Flanigan finished with 11 points, six rebounds and five assists to round out a balanced Auburn offense.

For Kentucky, Oscar Tshiebwe scored 25 points on 12-for-13 shooting in the win over Florida as the Wildcats held a 40-21 rebounding advantage.

Jacob Toppin added 19 points and 11 rebounds, while Chris Livingston also had a double-double with 10 points and 15 rebounds, Antonio Reeves, who averages 13.1 points per game, added 16 points and four assists against the Gators.

“It’s a good win,” Kentucky coach John Calipari said. “This time of the year, on the road, you just win and move on. Change my clothes, get on the plane and get out of here.”

Tshiebwe, last season’s national player of the year, leads Kentucky with 16.2 points and 12.7 rebounds per game.

–Field Level Media

Nebraska will try to extend its winning streak to a season-high four games Saturday when it hosts reeling Minnesota in Big Ten play in Lincoln, Neb.

The Cornhuskers (14-14, 7-10 Big Ten) are coming off a 70-66 overtime win over visiting Maryland on Sunday. The Golden Gophers (7-19, 1-15) dropped their 11th straight game Wednesday — an 88-70 setback at Maryland.

Nebraska trailed Maryland by eight with just over seven minutes to go before rallying, and Derrick Walker’s layup with 29 seconds remaining sent the game to overtime. Then, the Cornhuskers trailed 64-61 with 2:34 to play before scoring the next eight points, taking a five-point lead on Sam Hoiberg’s two free throws with 14 seconds left.

Walker, who averages a team-high 14.0 points and 7.2 rebounds, led the way for the Huskers with 23 points, seven rebounds and six assists. Keisei Tominaga (12.7 ppg) added 20 points and four rebounds.

Sam Griesel chipped in 12 points, while Hoiberg, son of Nebraska coach Fred Hoiberg, finished with nine points, including four in overtime.

“A lot of people were saying, when we had the injuries, ‘What could have been,'” Fred Hoiberg said. “My message to the guys was: ‘What can still be.’ Those guys fight like hell. They practice as hard as anybody. And they are resilient.

“They have some toughness and character to them. You have to have it.”

While Nebraska is playing its best basketball heading into the final stretch of the regular season, Minnesota hasn’t won since Jan. 12 and is in last place in the Big Ten.

The Gophers were outscored by the Terrapins 27-10 in the final 9:09 of the first half to trail by 47-30 at halftime. Minnesota trailed by as many as 28 in the second half as the Terrapins finished the game a blistering 68.1 percent from the field and 53.8 percent from beyond the arc.

Pharrel Payne, who averages 7.8 points, had 17 points and four rebounds off the bench for the Gophers, while Dawson Garcia had 15 points and eight rebounds. Jaden Henley chipped in 14 points, well above his average of 4.6 points.

“It wasn’t about offense,” Gophers coach Ben Johnson said after his team shot 48.1 percent from the field and 7-of-10 from 3-point range. “We just struggled to defend, especially after those scrappy (first) 10 minutes that we had. They got what they wanted, whether it was at the rim or from three.”

In Minnesota and Nebraska’s previous meeting this season, the Cornhuskers rallied for an 81-79 overtime win on Jan. 7 in Minneapolis.

Walker led Nebraska with 22 points, eight rebounds and seven assists, while Juwan Gary added 18 points and six rebounds. Griesel added 17 points, six rebounds and five assists.

The Golden Gophers were led by Jamison Battle’s 20 points, with Garcia posting 19 points and 15 rebounds.

–Field Level Media

Nationally ranked Texas A&M continues to play its best basketball at the right time of the year.

The No. 25 Aggies enter Saturday’s Southeastern Conference road matchup against Mississippi State seeking their seventh consecutive win. A&M (21-7, 13-2 SEC) stretched its win streak to six Tuesday with a 68-63 victory over No. 11 Tennessee.

The 13 conference wins are tied for the second most in school history. That success, in part, is attributed to the Aggies’ ability to win hard-fought games, as was the case against the Vols. The teams were tied at 31-31 at the half.

“It starts with practice,” junior forward Julius Marble told 12thman.com. “The coaching staff prepares us for situations where we have to get a stop … to win the game. It’s echoed throughout the team and we practice that all the time, so we are always poised in that situation.”

While the Aggies are on a roll, the Bulldogs are coming off a 66-64 overtime loss at Missouri.

Mississippi State had a 34-31 halftime lead and were tied with the Tigers at 57-57 at the end of regulation.

Tolu Smith played well in the loss, scoring 14 points and grabbing 10 rebounds for his seventh double-double in the last 12 games and ninth this season. He has scored in double figures in 12 consecutive games.

The Bulldogs (18-10, 6-9) need every win they can get to keep their NCAA tournament hopes alive.

Head coach Chris Jans is confident the fate of his team is in its own hands.

“This isn’t a conference race. We’re not in that,” Jans told The Clarion Ledger. “I’ve been in those situations where you’re going down the stretch and you need help from someone else to win a championship. That’s not the situation we’re in. We control our own destiny.”

Mississippi State is 6-2 in its last eight after enduring a five-game losing streak. Smith leads the Bulldogs in scoring at 14.9 points per outing. He’s the lone Bulldogs player averaging in double figures.

A&M had three players in double figures in its upset of the Vols, with Marble pouring in 21 points and Wade Taylor IV matching his career-high with 25. Tyrece Radford added 10 points, marking his 10th game in a row in double figures.

Taylor, Radford and Marble are the top three scorers on the team, with Taylor leading the way at 15.9 points per game. Radford is putting up 13.3 points per outing and Marble is just under 10 points per game (9.7).

The Aggies are 6-3 on the road, while Bulldogs are 10-4 at home.

–Field Level Media

No. 7 Arizona will honor two key senior transfers in its final home game on Saturday in Tucson, Ariz., where the Wildcats also hope to derail rival Arizona State’s late-season push for the NCAA Tournament.

The Wildcats (25-4, 13-4 Pac-12) have been playing a tight, seven-man rotation lately, including senior starters Courtney Ramey (Texas transfer) and Cedric Henderson Jr. (Campbell), who are each in their first season at Arizona.

Ramey is the team’s third-leading scorer at 10.7 points per game and leads the Pac-12 in 3-pointers made per game (2.72). He has hit 68 of 164 (41.5 percent) and had an 8-for-16 night at Stanford on Feb. 11. Henderson is a do-it-all-type averaging 7.6 points and shooting 40.3 percent from behind the arc (29 of 72). Arizona is 9-1 since he moved into the starting lineup about five weeks ago.

They have seamlessly fit into a lineup of veterans that include Azuolas Tubelis, Oumar Ballo, Kerr Kriisa and Pelle Larsson.

“I’m really thankful for those guys. Courtney and Ced have been tremendous additions to our program,” second-year Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd said. “And to be honest with you, I don’t know if we could have done better in the transfer portal than those two.”

Arizona State (19-9, 10-7) absorbed a home loss to Colorado last week that hurt its postseason chances, but it did bounce back Saturday with a 67-59 win over Utah. The Sun Devils’ finish to the regular season is daunting – at Arizona, at UCLA, at Southern California – but those are also great resume opportunities before the Pac-12 Tournament at Las Vegas.

“We’re having a good season. If we were in any other league, we wouldn’t even be talking about this. But our league was not rated great in the nonconference,” Hurley said about being projected on the wrong side of the NCAA bubble. “We have games that are opportunities in front of us. If we want to prove that we belong or prove to ourselves we can go to Vegas and win that event, we have to start winning games now.”

The Wildcats have won five in a row in the series, including a 69-60 decision at ASU on Dec. 31. The Sun Devils shot 28.9 percent in the first half and were down 17 at halftime before rallying within two points with the help of a full-court press.

“Our defense was excellent in the second half, and that gave us a chance,” Hurley said. “But overall we know we have to play more efficiently on offense, especially on the road against a team that can score, has a lot of firepower, and can score around the basket.”

Tubelis continues to lead the conference in scoring (19.6 points per game) and rebounding (9.1), although his frontcourt mate Ballo is right behind on the boards (9.0) and is scoring 14.6 points per game.

Arizona is first in the Pac-12 in field goal percentage (49.2), but ASU is third in field goal percentage defense (40.0). Desmon Cambridge Jr. (13.7 points) and DJ Horne (11.5) are the primary scorers for the Sun Devils, who haven’t scored more than 70 points in any of their past 10 games.

–Field Level Media

A pair of struggling Atlantic Coast Conference teams meet Saturday when Georgia Tech hosts Louisville in Atlanta.

With three regular-season games left, the Yellow Jackets (11-17, 3-14 ACC) are two losses away from dropping their most conference games in a season since joining the ACC before the 1979-80 season. Georgia Tech tied the record last year, when it finished 5-15, marking its most setbacks in ACC play since going 3-15 during the 2014-15 season.

Last-place Louisville (4-24, 2-15) already has set the program’s season record for most losses overall and in conference play, toping its 14 ACC losses from last season. The Cardinals never lost more than 20 games in program history before this season.

Georgia Tech, which is in 13th place in the ACC, ended a two-game winning streak and lost for the 11th time in their past 14 games with a 76-68 setback at Pitt on Tuesday.

After Miles Kelly’s two free throws gave Georgia Tech a 52-51 edge with 9:31 remaining, Pitt responded with an 11-4 run to take a 62-56 lead with 4:43 to play and never trailed again.

Georgia Tech was led by Kelly, who hit a career-high six 3-pointers in 13 attempts to finish with a career-best 24 points to go along with five rebounds. Ja’von Franklin chipped in 15 points, eight rebounds and four assists, with Kyle Sturdivant finishing with 16 points and five assists.

The Yellow Jackets struggled without point guard Deivon Smith (ankle), who averages 8.0 points, 5.6 rebounds and a team-high 3.7 assists per game, but he might return against Louisville.

Kelly averages a team-high 13.2 points per game, while Dallan “Deebo” Coleman and Lance Terry average 9.4 and 9.1 points per game, respectively.

Louisville’s nine-point first-half lead was quickly erased by Duke, which took a 42-33 halftime advantage before pulling away for a 79-62 win on Monday.

“I thought we started out pretty good — then we put them on their heels, and then when they hit us back, we wilted. We wilted and never got it back,” Louisville coach Kenny Payne said. “I thought we refused to get into bodies, and man up and fight to get open. We’ve worked on it every day.”

El Ellis, who averages a team-high 18.1 points and 4.6 assists, had 21 points and seven assists against Duke. JJ Traynor was the only other Cardinals player to score in double figures, finishing with 16, well above his 6.5 average.

The Cardinals have dropped five of their past six and 15 of their past 17, with one of their two wins during that stretch a 68-58 victory over visiting Georgia Tech on Feb. 1.

“We’ve gotten better, we’ve improved and we’re playing the right way,” Georgia Tech coach Josh Pastner said.

“We just have to keep getting better and I’m really proud of our guys in the way they compete and the way they battle…We have a great opportunity on Saturday and we’ll go from there.”

–Field Level Media