Moments after leading Baylor back from the brink of what would have been a crushing home loss to Colorado, LaceDarius Dunn had the sound of a guy who was confident all along.

But he admitted that when the Bears faced a 14-point deficit at halftime in Waco, potential reality set in: The reality that a home loss on Saturday could be brutally damaging to Baylor's NCAA tournament hopes.

Instead, Dunn scored a game-high 26 points, including 17 after the break, in leading Baylor to a 70-66 victory.

"No doubt, we had (the consequences of a loss) it in our minds," Dunn said by phone after the game. "We did a better job of just playing defense in the second half.

"The first half, we weren't really playing the ball we wanted to play. Me, having to be responsible, being a senior and the leader of the team, I had to start it up on the defensive end."

The Bears did lock down on the Buffaloes after the break, holding them to 32.4 percent shooting in the final 20 minutes. But Baylor was also an

If you're trying to weed through the mass amount of games on Saturday's college hoops slate, here are six worthy of your consideration ...

No. 9 Syracuse at Marquette — 3 p.m. EST

Both teams need this one, but the host Golden Eagles need it badly. Their 4-4 Big East record could easily look much better, but in the last two weeks, they've let late leads over UConn, Notre Dame and Louisville all turn into losses. After this game, Marquette heads on the road for its next three. As for the Orange, since winning 18 straight to open up the season, they've dropped three in a row, with the latest setback being a humiliating 90-68 home loss to Seton Hall on Tuesday night. This is the start of a 3-game road swing for Syracuse, who is at UConn on Wednesday. If a return trip to the NCAA tourney is what Marquette wants, winning this game might be a necessity.

No. 9 BYU at New Mexico — 4 p.m. EST

Do the Cougars have an emotional hangover looming after Wednesday's monster home triumph over No. 4 San

On a night where two Mountain West programs stole the nation's attention, North Carolina preseason All-American wing Harrison Barnes buried two clutch shots to propel the Tar Heels to a 74-71 win at Miami.

UNC typically is at the forefront of the college hoops landscape, but maybe its spot just off of the radar in recent weeks isn't the worst thing in the world.

It certainly appears to be helping the frosh at least a little bit. His offensive struggles since being tapped as the first ever freshman preseason AP All-American have hardly gone unnoticed.

The 6-foot-8 Barnes is shooting just 37.3 percent from the floor, 31.5 percent from deep and has yet to score 20 points in a collegiate game.

But he's found a knack of late for delivering in the clutch.

After dropping some big late scores earlier in the month in a 64-61 come-from-behind victory over Virginia Tech in Chapel Hill, Barnes scored the final five points in Wednesday's win that bumped the Heels to 14-5 overall and a quiet 4-1 in

San Diego State finally lost.

Go ahead, drop the fourth-ranked Aztecs in your poll. Rip them. Say they just weren't ready for primetime on Wednesday night, fading late in a 71-58 loss at No. 9 BYU with much of the nation — or at least the percentage that actually gets the CBS College Sports network — watching.

SDSU was all the rage during its rise up the rankings, stemming from a resounding, season-opening win at pre-crumble Gonzaga. Once they topped out and there was nowhere to go but down, though, it seemed like everyone was just waiting for that win streak to snap.

The Aztecs are now 20-1, but just because they've been replaced by the Cougars and rockstar Jimmer Fredette as America's darlings for the moment, it doesn't mean that their run of abnormal national relevance is done.

Expect to hear from SDSU again.

While BYU has quite possibly the nation's finest player, SDSU has a better collection of talent from top to bottom, and is still the more well-rounded team on a neutral floor.

We'll put it this way: Ohio State's Jared Sullinger, Aaron Craft and Jon Diebler are brave souls.

Why? Well, it takes guts to know that you're going to be attached to an, um, off-key rendition of Miley Cyrus's pop smash 'Party in the U.S.A.' for the rest of time.

Ladies and gentlemen, here are three key pieces of your top-ranked college hoops squad in the land …

The video is part of a series of shorts airing during TV timeouts this season on the video board at Value City Arena.

Really, what you saw is pretty self-explanatory and doesn't need much more commentary here.

Diebler yells, while Craft's falsetto is admirable.

The MVP of this clip has to be Sullinger, who simply steals the show in a 40-second solo run to close it out that is nothing short of glorious.

Ryan Greene covers UNLV and the Mountain West Conference for the Las Vegas Sun. Read his Rebels coverage and follow him on Twitter.

With the first of two highly-anticipated San Diego State-BYU regular season clashes less than 24 hours away, The Dagger asked a Mountain West Conference assistant coach who has faced both several times a few questions to draw up a bit of a game plan on both sides. The coach was granted anonymity to assure honesty.

RG: With BYU, it obviously all starts with Jimmer Fredette. How do you even begin on a game plan for him?

Coach: "Well, what he does to anybody is extend their defense much further than they're probably usually comfortable defending. His range makes you pick him up so much earlier, so once you've done that, you've become a little more vulnerable to some other things. I would assume that San Diego State will use their length, maybe be a little more comfortable making some switches on the ball and just trying to either get the ball out of his hands or make someone bigger guard him and make him shoot over the top. Their depth and length, all of that, they'll make it a challenge

Jimmer Fredette is a very real contender entering February for National Player of the Year honors, and the recognition is completely deserved.

The BYU senior guard has it all — a top 10 team, the nation's highest scoring average (26.7 ppg) and the innocent, baby-faced assassin appearance that America just cannot help but love (Could he even pry the moniker away from Steph Curry?).

But will he be the Mountain West Conference's Player of the Year?

The only other name in that conversation right now is San Diego State's Kawhi Leonard. The 6-foot-7 Aztec sophomore is the best player on the nation's fourth-ranked team and the toughest match-up not named Jimmer for opposing league coaches.

So, if you had to build a team from scratch and could pick only one of the two to start with, which direction would you go in?

I posed the question to Colorado State's Tim Miles, who on top of having one of the MWC's sharpest basketball minds, has had to plan for both several times in recent years.

"Wow,

No streak can last forever.

Kansas's 69-game home win streak came to a halt on Saturday thanks to a monster of a second half from Texas.

Behind the Jayhawks, after Saturday, no team in America has a streak even half as long as theirs was.

But which of the longest current runs has the most staying power for the rest of the season? Let's examine the top 10 … with odds!

1. Duke - 30 games — Next: Thursday vs. Boston College

There's a very strong chance that this streak is still intact when the 2011-12 season tips off, as the ACC is beyond down this year. Plus, the Blue Devils have only five homers remaining in league play (BC, N.C. State, North Carolina, Georgia Tech, Clemson). They also host a non-con game against Temple in late February. Nothing too scary here. Odds - 5:3

2. Kentucky - 28 games — Next: Saturday vs. Georgia

The Wildcats have already flirted with fire a handful of times this season, and the SEC right now might be the most unpredictable league in America. Like Duke, they