No. 19 North Carolina State and Miami (Fla.) have finished the non-conference tuneups and get their Atlantic Coast Conference seasons under way in South Florida on Thursday night. The Wolfpack are inching up the rankings after a perfect 6-0 mark in the month of December and they are off to their best start since 2005-06, while the Hurricanes have regained footing after a surprising swoon and are riding a confidence-boosting three-game winning streak.

No. 22 Indiana returns to game action after an 11-day break on Thursday when it plays host to struggling Illinois. The Hoosiers went 6-0 in December to move into the national rankings and the Fighting Illini closed out a dismal final month of 2018 by losing four of six games.

Purdue looks to put together all the pieces it needs to be a contender around All-American candidate Carsen Edwards when the Big Ten season resumes Thursday night against visiting Iowa. The Boilermakers showed some progress Saturday when they limited Belmont to 24 points in the first half of a 73-62 victory and received another strong performance from Edwards, the nation’s second leading scorer at 25.8 points per game.

Fourth-ranked Michigan looks to pick up where it left off in 2018 when it resumes Big Ten play at home against Penn State on Thursday. The Wolverines, who are one of four undefeated teams left in the nation, have won 27 of their last 28 games - including 13 straight to start the 2018-19 campaign - and hope to extend their home winning streak to 16 games by taking down the Nittany Lions for the seventh consecutive time. 

A prime letdown spot was indeed last Saturday as Arizona State fell to visiting Princeton and out of the national rankings. A clean slate, though, awaits the Sun Devils as they tip off Pac-12 play Thursday night by hosting Utah.

No. 23 Wisconsin hopes to learn from a tough road loss that ended the non-conference portion of the schedule as it resumes Big Ten play Thursday night against visiting Minnesota. The Badgers won their first two conference games and had only lost against two ranked teams (Virginia, Marquette) before allowing 55.2 percent shooting from the field en route to an 83-76 setback at Western Kentucky on Saturday.

It was anything but easy, but Arizona closed out a 9-4 non-conference schedule with a 70-68 home win over UC Davis on Dec. 22. Now, after a 12-day layoff, the two-time defending Pac-12 regular-season champions open conference play Thursday night by hosting Colorado.

Wichita State returns from an extended 12-day holiday break Thursday to begin its American Athletic Conference schedule on the road against Memphis. The Tigers have won five of six as they finish off a seven-game homestand Thursday, with their only blemish a 102-92 setback to then-No. 4 Tennessee on Dec. 15.

After battling injuries and inconsistency throughout non-conference play, USC is trending upward ahead of Thursday’s Pac-12 opener against visiting California. The Trojans have won two straight following a four-game losing streak and figure to be favored against the rebuilding Bears, who were 2-16 in conference play last season and have no seniors on the roster.

Eager for a fresh start following four straight losses, UCLA dismissed coach Steve Alford ahead of Thursday’s Pac-12 opener against visiting Stanford. Murry Bartow was named interim coach for the Bruins, who were picked to finish second in the Pac-12 preseason poll but have dropped six of their last nine games – including last Saturday’s stunning 15-point loss to Liberty.