No. 12 UNLV at No. 22 San Diego State - SportingNews.com

Your in-depth guide to the three biggest college hoops games of the weekend (all statistics related to points per possession [PPP] and national percentile rankings are courtesy of Synergy Sports Tech and its massive database of statistical information):

No. 12 UNLV at No. 22 San Diego State

When: Saturday, 4 p.m. ET

Where: Viejas Arena, San Diego

TV: NBC Sports Network

A UNLV strength that will matter: The Runnin’ Rebels get great production from secondary players, which is always important in conference road games. Four players â€" Quintrell Thomas, Carlos Lopez, Brice Massamba and Kendall Wallace â€" average between 14.3 and 16.8 minutes per game, and all of those except Wallace average more than 1.000 PPP. Lopez, a 6-11 sophomore, is highly effective around the basket. He’s shooting 82.4 percent on cuts to the paint and 76.9 percent on put-backs, and he is an effective finisher on break, too â€" shooting 81.8 percent in transition. Massamba (1.024 PPP) and Thomas (1.063 PPP) are both shooting better than 50 percent from the field. For every team playing on the road in conference play, it’s about maintaining the status quo when the stars aren’t on the floor. For UNLV, though, these secondary players have shown the ability to be much more productive than that.

A San Diego State strength that will matter: The Aztecs have a diversified offense. When looking through the “Play Types” charts on Synergy Sports, most teams have one or two types they use on more than 20 percent of possessions â€" typically spot-ups and transition. Well, the Aztecs’ largest chunk is transition, at 18 percent (at 1.031 PPP), followed by spot-up (17.7 percent, 1.027 PPP), pick-and-roll where the ballhandler finishes the possession (12.1 percent, 0.732 PPP) and cuts to the basket (10.3 percent, 1.192 PPP). Heck, they even run isolation plays 7.1 percent of the time. It’s this variety of offensive that helps their effectiveness. How does the UNLV defense fare in such situations? The results are mixed. The Rebels are well above-average vs. transition offense (93rd percentile nationally) and the pick-and-roll ballhandler (82nd percentile) but somewhat mediocre vs. spot-ups (62nd percentile), isolation (60th percentile) and cuts to the basket (47th percentile).

Bottom line: Amazingly, this is the Mountain West opener for both teams. Heading into conference play, these are considered the best two teams in the MWC, so the winner obviously takes a commanding advantage. San Diego State is at home, which helps, but the Aztecs haven’t played a decent team in a long, long time â€" of their past six games, two were against non-Division I opponents, and the others have combined for just 17 D-I wins this season.

Alabama at No. 20 Mississippi State

When: Saturday, 4 p.m. ET

Where: Humphrey Coliseum, Starkville, Miss.

TV: SEC Network

An Alabama strength that will matter: With an offense led by a couple of athletic â€" but not towering â€" forwards in 6-8 JaMychal Green and 6-6 Tony Mitchell, the Crimson Tide do an excellent job in the paint. On possessions close to the basket, not including true “post-up” plays, Alabama is averaging 1.304 PPP and shooting 62.5 percent from the field. Now, Mississippi State has a couple of towers on its front line â€" 6-10 Renardo Sidney and a transfer-of-the-year candidate in 6-11 Arnett Moultrie â€" but the Bulldogs have been much better defending true post-up possessions (allowing 0.783 PPP, 38.6 percent shooting) than in the around-the-basket possessions (allowing 1.064, 51.1 percent shooting). Look for the Tide to exploit that advantage, especially now that Green has three games under his belt after missing time with a shoulder injury.

A Mississippi State strength that will matter: If this game is close down the stretch, the Bulldogs have an enormous, overlooked advantage â€" they’re vastly superior out of timeouts. In 216 possessions in which opponents have inbounded the ball out of timeouts â€" situations where they’ve had a chance to draw up a specific play â€" State has allowed 139 points (0.644 PPP, which ranks in the 90th percentile nationally). Mississippi State’s defense has forced turnovers 17.6 percent of the time and held opponents to just 33.7 percent shooting in such situations, too. And Alabama has been one of the worst teams in the country coming out of timeouts â€" the Tide averages 0.676 PPP, which is just in the 22nd percentile. Alabama has turned the ball over 22.4 percent of the time and shot just 38.1 percent. For a comparison, Mississippi State’s offense coming out of time outs is much more impressive â€" 0.917 PPP (80th percentile), 46.1 percent shooting.

Bottom line: After losing 3-of-4 games to start December, Alabama has rattled off five consecutive wins, including two against SEC foes. Mississippi State, on the other hand, lost its conference opener at Arkansas and then barely held on to beat Tennessee at home Thursday. Both Alabama and Mississippi State are in the mix for second place in the SEC â€" and, remember, the No. 2 seed in the revamped conference tournament likely means avoiding Kentucky until the title game.

No. 7 Indiana at No. 5 Ohio State

When: Sunday, 4:30 p.m. ET

Where: Value City Arena, Columbus, Ohio

TV: CBS

An Indiana strength that will matter: In their first meeting, a 74-40 win for the Hoosiers in Assembly Hall, Indiana did a great job creating easy opportunities in transition. The Hoosiers had 13 transition possessions â€" as opposed to just six for Ohio State â€" and would be well-served to force those situations again on the road. The Hoosiers are good in transition â€" 1.182 PPP, which places them in the 86th percentile nationally â€" and their best transition finishers might be a bit surprising. Well, surprising if you haven’t watched Indiana this season. Big men Cody Zeller (1.667 PPP in transition) and Christian Watford (1.304 PPP) are best among IU regulars. Zeller, a deceptively fast and beyond-his-years wise freshman, is an unreal 17-of-18 in field-goal attempts in transition.

An Ohio State strength that will matter: It’s become clear that Zeller is the critical part of the Hoosiers’ revival. Look for the Buckeyes to mimic their strategy of the first matchup and attack the paint early and get Zeller in foul trouble â€" he has reached at least four fouls in 7-of-17 games; the only time he fouled out was against Ohio State. In that game in Bloomington, Ind., Ohio State went to true post-up situations in 17-of-80 possessions (21.3 percent), a significant increase from their normal approach. In Ohio State's 18 games, the Buckeyes have gone to post-up situations just 12.8 percent of the time.

Bottom line: Both teams could use a win. The Buckeyes were the prohibitive preseason favorite to win the Big Ten but are just 3-2 after being upset by Brandon Paul and Illinois on Tuesday. The Hoosiers have huge wins at home against Kentucky and Ohio State but are just 3-2 in conference play, too, after losing to Minnesota at Assembly Hall on Thursday.