Important games tonight

William and Mary at Old Dominion- The Tribe who locked down opponents defensively and hit from long distance appeared to be on their way to a special season.  With impressive road wins at Wake Forest and Maryland, William and Mary was ready to take charge in the Colonial Athletic conference.  But it's been tough sledding lately for the Tribe losing 3 straight in conference in the middle of January.  Now tied for 5th in the conference, William and Mary will face preseason favorite Old Dominion on the road.  ODU holds an impressive 19 game winning streak on their home floor.  The Monarchs lead the nation in scoring defense.  Offensively, they are led by the versatile Gerald Lee, a 6'8 forward who is both a playmaker and a bruiser inside.  Obviously, this a critical game for both teams in the CAA.  Another loss by William and Mary will further damage their hopes at an NCAA berth. 
Marshall at Tulsa -Tulsa's slow first half against UAB, where they trailed by as many as 16 points was too much to overcome as UAB hung out for a 5 point win.  The race in Conference USA is far from over though as Tulsa will face Marshall, Memphis and UTEP in the coming weeks.  It all starts tonight against the Thundering Herd who have been one of the pleasant surprises of the conference.  Led by shot blocking machine, Hassan Whiteside, Marshall will get a taste of its own medicine as the Golden Hurricane's Jerome Jordan is one of the best shot blockers in the country.  Tulsa will need to hold serve to stay in the NCAA conversation rather than the NIT one. 
UAB at Memphis - The days of Memphis running over Conference USA are over but the Tigers are still alive just one game behind current leader UAB at 5-2.  Thus tonight's game is huge for the face as well as for Memphis's resume which is quite barren.  Memphis needs to rebound from a bad game against 7th place SMU where the Mustang duo of Papa Dia and Derek Williams combined to score 48 points in the upset.  Memphis will get 2 shots at a marquee win when it faces UAB tonight and Gonzaga on Saturday both at home. 
Wichita State at N Iowa - Simply put this is the biggest game of the year for Wichita St.  A sweep of N Iowa would be a huge feather in the cap for their resume.  The Panthers have payback on their minds from the January 19 loss in Wichita 60-51.  Wichita St will need to duplicate its superb defensive efforts that limited the Panthers to 40% from the field.  A win by N Iowa would stretch the conference lead to 3 games over the Shockers as well.