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CAL STATE FULLERTON (4-17, 1-11) at UTAH STATE (18-4, 10-3), 7--Fullerton has not won since Jan. 19 when the Titans upset Utah State, 65-51, at Fullerton. Utah State probably won’t be looking past Fullerton this time after moving into a first-place tie in the Big West Conference with a 62-61 victory over UC Irvine on Saturday. Fullerton is coming off a 70-58 loss to UC Riverside. Center Babacar Camara tied a conference record with eight blocked shots.

LONG BEACH STATE (8-16, 4-9) at PACIFIC (14-8, 6-6), 7, KRLA (870)--Long Beach has struggled this season, but the 49ers occasionally show signs of being a team that could make a run in the Big West tournament. Long Beach lost to Utah State, 60-53, on Thursday. On Friday, the school announced that Coach Wayne Morgan was resigning effective at the end of the season. A day later, the 49ers lost to Idaho, 64-62. Pacific is happy to be home after losing at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, 84-79--the Tigers’ sixth consecutive road loss.

UC RIVERSIDE (7-13, 4-8) at IDAHO (8-14, 5-8), 7, KPRO (1570)--Riverside is not eligible for the Big West tournament, but the Highlanders are enjoying some success against Southland conference members. They ended a six-game conference losing streak Saturday with a 70-58 victory at Fullerton. Idaho is coming off victories at Fullerton and Long Beach State.

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LOYOLA MARYMOUNT (9-15, 2-8) at GONZAGA (22-3, 9-1), 7, KXLU (88.9)--With Gonzaga scheduled to play Pepperdine on Saturday in a nationally televised game, Loyola is hoping to catch the Bulldogs looking ahead. Loyola has lost seven games in a row. The Lions were defeated by St. Mary’s and San Francisco last weekend. Gonzaga defeated Loyola, 94-60, on Jan. 19 when guard Dan Dickau scored all 34 of his points in the first half.

UC Irvine (17-7, 10-3) at Cal State Northridge (8-13, 7-5), 5:30, Fox Sports Net 2, KUCI-FM (88.9), KCSN-FM (88.5)--Northridge ended Irvine’s school-record 19-game home winning streak on Jan. 19, but the Matadors have lost three in a row. In those three road losses, they didn’t shoot better than 37% from the field. Guard Markus Carr had a career-high 31 points against Irvine in that 73-72 overtime victory. The Anteaters are coming off a 62-61 loss to Utah State on Saturday and are tied for first with the Aggies. Irvine leads the conference in field-goal percentage at 48.2%, which also ranks 14th in the nation.

Pepperdine (17-6, 10-0) at Portland (5-19, 1-9), 7, KPLS (830)--The Waves are tied with Western Kentucky for the longest active winning streak in the nation at 12 games. They continue to hold a one-game lead over Gonzaga for first place but must not get caught looking ahead to the anticipated nationally televised showdown Saturday in Spokane. Senior center Cedric Suitt needs one blocked shot to break Geoff Lear’s career mark of 153. Portland, in its first year with Michael Holton as coach, has lost 15 of its last 16 games. Pepperdine won, 109-88, at Firestone Fieldhouse in January.

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WOMEN

UCLA (7-16, 3-11) at Arizona (12-12, 8-7), 7, KACD (850), KEWS (1350)--This is a potential pairing in the first round of the Pac-10 tournament. Arizona is the second highest-scoring team in the conference at 75.2 points a game. The Wildcats are led by forward Elizabeth Pickney (17.1 points). With a 21-point effort against USC, guard Whitney Jones has become UCLA’s leading scorer (9.1).

USC (13-10, 9-5) at Arizona State (19-7, 10-5), 7--This is the biggest game of the season for USC (at least until next week’s showdown against Stanford). The third-place Trojans trail the Sun Devils by a half-game in the conference standings, and are a half game ahead of Oregon State. Guard Tiffany Elmore did not score against UCLA last week, but her return to the lineup after missing six games with a sprained ankle gave the Trojans a needed lift.

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Compiled by Gary Klein, Eric Stephens and Mike Terry

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