John Clay's Sidelines

Saturday

• Auburn at Florida (noon, raycom): Gators were impressive in victory at Alabama on Tuesday night. Hurt by injuries and inconsistency, Auburn is struggling.

• North Carolina State at North Carolina (noon, espn): Top-ranked North Carolina takes on its No. 2 arch-rival, the Wolfpack.

• Fordham at Xavier (noon, fsn): Xavier may be playing as well as anyone in the country — after the Muskies were beaten at home by Tennessee. Sean Miller’s team learned a valuable lesson that day, and is now reaping the benefits.

• Vanderbilt at Kentucky (1:30, cbs): This is a split-regional game for the major network. Vandy is looking for its fifth straight win over the Cats.

• Georgia at Mississippi State (2:00, raycom): This is the SEC opener for Georgia. State opened with big win over pitiful LSU on Wednesday.

• Connecticut at Georgetown (2:00, espn): The Big East truly is shaping up to be the Big East this year. Georgetown trying to shake off lopsided loss to Memphis couple of weeks back.

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  Washington State at UCLA (2:30, fsn): Might be the best game of the day. And perhaps the most low-scoring game of the day.

• Arizona at Houston (3:00, espn2): Huge game for Tom Penders and the Cougars, who need all the non-conference wins they can muster to impress NCAA Tournament committee.

• Wake Forest at Boston College (4:00, fsn): A yawner from the ACC.

• California at Oregon State (4:30, fsn): Cal had the look of a Pac-10 surprise until Golden Bears were battered by UCLA. Oregon State stinks.

• LSU at Ole Miss (6:00, fsn): What in the world is going on with John Brady’s team? How could LSU be so bad as to score just 39 points in its conference opener? Doesn’t get any easier in Oxford.

• Tennessee at South Carolina (8:00, fsn): Everyone is worried about Chris Lofton. He just needs to hit some shots.

• Kansas at Nebraska (9:00, espn): ESPN’s Andy Katz says he thinks the Jayhawks are the best team in the country. He may be right.

Sunday

• Alabama at Arkansas (4:00, raycom); Tired of Romeo Romo, Eli and T.0.? Then check out Tide-Hogs.

• Illinois at Indiana (4:30, cbs): Second year of the grudge match/fallout over Eric Gordon.

• Virginia at Duke (8:00, fsn): It’s an ACC Sunday night tradition, gathering around the TV to watch the Blue Devils and their three friends play eight-on-five. Just kidding.