Tuesday Lay-up Lines

The biggest game of the night will be taking place in Gainesville as the South Carolina Gamecocks (16-4, 5-2) take on the Gators (18-4, 5-2). South Carolina is all of a sudden looking like they may be the favorite to take the SEC crown. They are currently tied for second in the conference (with Florida and Kentucky), but are on a four game winning streak in which they have beaten both Florida and Kentucky (at Rupp) on last second shots. They also own a non-conference win at Baylor, and their only two conference losses are on the road to Tennessee and LSU, which aren't terrible losses by any stretch of the imagination. If USC can pull out this win at Florida, then they will be (at least in this man's opinion) the favorite to win the SEC East.

The rest of Tuesday's college hoops games:

• 7:00 PM: Purdue (17-4, 6-2) @ Ohio State (15-5, 5-4): Purdue, despite being beat up of late, is starting to really find a groove. The Boilermakers have won six in a row after dropping their first two in conference play. On the other hand, Ohio State looks to have righted the ship as they have won their last two. The Buckeyes could really use this win, not just as a resume booster but as a confidence booster as well. OSU has some really good perimeter play, and BJ Mullens and Dallas Lauderdale form a good frontline that should give the smaller, weaker Boilermakers some trouble, but with a suspect PG play the Buckeyes get, I see them having a ton of trouble scoring on Purdue's defense.
• 7:00 PM: Rutgers (10-12, 1-8) @ Georgetown (12-8, 3-6): I'll be at this game. Looking forward to getting a chance to see Rutgers freshman Mike Rosario play.
• 7:00 PM: Mississippi State (14-7, 4-2) @ Kentucky (16-6, 5-2): Both of these teams have been sputtering recently. MSU just lost to Ole Miss, while Kentucky is coming off of back-to-back losses after to Ole Miss and South Carolina after finally cracking the top 25. Clearly, the key to this game is going to be how well the Bulldogs control Jodie Meeks. There should a fun match-up to watch inside between Jarvis Varnado and Patrick Patterson.
  
• 8:00 PM: Maryland (14-7, 3-4) @ UNC (19-2, 5-2): If the Heels decide to play, the Terps have no shot of keeping with them. They have no one that can slow down Lawson, and with their smaller front line, look for Hansbrough/Thompson/Davis to put up numbers.
  
• 8:00 PM: BYU (16-5, 4-3) @ Air Force (9-11, 0-7)
• 8:00 PM: Iowa State (12-9, 1-5) @ Kansas State (14-7, 3-4)
• 8:05 PM: Northern Iowa (15-6, 10-1) @ Bradley (13-9, 7-4)
• 9:00 PM: Marquette (19-2, 8-0) @ DePaul (8-14, 0-9): Wouldn't it be ironic if the last winless team in the Big East beat the last undefeated team?
• 9:00 PM: San Diego State (15-5, 5-2) @ UNLV (17-4, 5-2)