You can't attend most of the important games of the early college basketball season, as they're in much sunnier, warmer places, but the preseason tournament schedule is in full swing with three area teams playing early season tournament action on Friday, plus, a college hockey rivalry game. All times are Eastern.
↵College basketball: Boston College vs. Dayton, 2:30 p.m., ESPNU: The Eagles had a tough test yesterday in their first matchup of the Puerto Rico Tip-off they faced No. 16 Baylor, but they performed admirably against the Bears with a 25-point outing by Ryan Anderson keeping the game close into the second half. They'll have an easier time against Dayton, who lost to Colorado yesterday, but still will have to work to beat a decent Atlantic 10 squad.
↵No. 6 North Carolina State vs. UMass, 5 p.m., ESPN2: On the other side of the Puerto Rico bracket is UMass, who won for the second straight game on a buzzer-beater. First, Sampson Carter buried Harvard with a last-second three. Then on Thursday, Terrel Vinson's tip with the clock expiring gave the Minutemen a 77-75 win over Providence. No. 6 North Carolina State, led by Lorenzo Brown, will be their first ranked opponent of the season, and haven't struggled in the early going after dominating Penn State yesterday.
↵No. 23 UConn vs. Wake Forest, 5:30 p.m., CBS College Sports: The Huskies have started off the Kevin Ollie era with a pair of wins and gotten themselves into the top 25 after a disastrous finish to last season. Their first opponent in the Paradise Jam in the Virgin Islands is Wake Forest, who aren't expected to contend in the ACC
↵College hockey: No. 17 Harvard vs. No. 10 Cornell, 7:30 p.m., NBC Sports: There's no NHL, but hockey fans can still listen to Doc Emrick on the call for this game between Ivy League rivals ranked in an ECAC matchup.
↵Elsewhere:
↵NBA: Utah Jazz vs. Philadelphia 76ers, 7 p.m., ESPN
↵New York Knicks vs. Memphis Grizzlies, 9:30 p.m.
↵College basketball: No. 11 North Carolina vs. Long Beach State, 11 p.m., ESPN2
↵No. 20 Notre Dame vs. St. Joseph's, 9:30 p.m., TruTV
↵Colorado vs. No. 16 Baylor, 12:30 p.m., ESPNU
↵Oklahoma St. vs. Tennessee, 10:30 a.m., ESPNU
↵Purdue vs. Oregon State, 5 p.m., ESPN2
↵Villanova vs. Alabama, 7:30 p.m., ESPN2