Undefeated Syracuse opened their 2011-12 Big East campaign with a trademark, 75-49, victory over Seton Hall in which the Orange deployed coach Jim Boeheim's 2-3 zone defense to force 23 turnovers, 17 steals and 15 blocked shots.Sophomore center Fab Melo collected 10 of those blocks, a school record, to go with his 12 points on 6-for-9 shooting for his first career double-double. The 7-foot Brazilian also added seven rebounds in the rout of the Pirates, which shot just 32% from the field.
Syracuse, ranked #1 in the AP Poll, improved to 14-0. The win was the 870th for coach Boeheim, leaving him in fifth place all time, six behind Kentucky's Adolph Rupp and nine behind North Carolina's Dean Smith.
#2 Ohio State was also opening conference action, theirs the Big Ten, and the Buckeyes responded with an 87-54 trouncing of Northwestern.The Buckeyes shot 48% while holding the wildcats to 32% shooting for the game. Ohio State made 10 of 20 3-pointers, including 5-for-7 by senior guard William Buford, who led all scorers with a career high 28 points on 9-for-14 shooting.
Sophomore Jared Sullinger tossed in 17 points and grabbed 14 rebounds as the Buckeyes held the top two scorers in the conference - John Shurna and Drew Crawford - to a combined 24 points on 9-for-30 shooting.
The 6'6" Buford continues to move up the Buckeye's career scoring leaders list, chasing Dennis Hopson's 2,096. Buford is averaging 16.6 points per game and needs 439 to catch Hopson.
The Buckeyes are 13-1 and favored to capture the Big Ten championship. Their win over Northwestern was the 31st straight time the Buckeyes have downed the Wildcats in Columbus, dating back to 1977.
Conference play opened in the Big Ten and the Big East on Tuesday, and the spotlight fell on the St. John's Red Storm, at home in Carneseca Arena to face Providence, which came into the game sporting a gaudy 10-2 record.
There were only four college basketball games played on Christmas, all of them out on the island of Hawaii, in the Diamond Head Classic at Honolulu.
Reserve guard
For West Virginia, a 9-3 team that didn't receive a single vote in the latest AP Top 25 poll, the narrow loss was bittersweet, at least proving that the Mountaineers could go toe-to-toe with one of the best teams in the country.
On a night in which three starters - Dee Bost, Rodney Hood and Jalen Steele - were a combined 8-for-31 from the field, Mississippi's State's junior forward,
Vanderbilt junior guard 
When it comes to winning conference championships and making deep runs in the NCAA tournament, depth is a key ingredient, which includes having a solid sixth man coming off the bench to add a spark to the offense.
Even though they've dropped two games already, the North Carolina Tar Heels are still a force with which to be reckoned, especially when their twin towers, John Henson and
Cal's Golden Bears improved to 8-0 at home and 9-2 overall, as they held the nation's leading scorer, Weber State's Damian Lillard, to a season-low 14 points, with a
Charleston forward
Like his father Michael, UCF junior
With no Top 25 teams in action on Monday, one meaningful game was played in the Pacific Northwest, as the Oregon Ducks improved to 6-2 with a
The Memphis Tigers are almost certain to fall out of the Top 25 in Monday's polls after losing its third game of the season, dropping their record to 5-3 with a
With only the Army-Navy game and some Division 1 playoff games on tap Saturday for college sports fans, attention turned to college hoops as ESPN presented back-to-back "road test" games featuring the two top teams in the AP Poll, #1 Kentucky and #2 Ohio State.
In the second game, unranked Indiana remained unbeaten at 9-0, knocking off the #1 Kentucky Wildcats,