The Big Ten, as they often do, had the best games of the night. I highlighted the Oregon and UCLA game as a potential big-time battle. The Bruins blew out Oregon and the Ducks could never get into a rhythm all night long. UCLA looks like a completely different team than the one that last 4 in a row to open January. Eric Dailey, Tyler Bilodeau, and Dylan Andrews are all playing fantastic basketball and the Bruins look like one of the best teams in the Big Ten again.
The other huge game in the Big Ten took place at Pinnacle Bank Arena. Nebraska finally got a win and broke their six-game losing streak after beating Illinois in overtime. The Illini are having a terrible time shooting the ball and are now in the bottom third of the country in three-point percentage. Brice Williams was fantastic again for Nebraska and took the game over in Overtime going on a 6-0 run by himself to seal the deal. He was back to getting to the rim and getting fouled. Over the six-game losing streak he was settling for a lot of contested jumpers. This could be the start of the Husker run as the rest of the schedule is favorable with a lot of winnable games for Nebraska.
There are only 14 games on Friday, and of those 14 games, only two are from the power conference ranks. One ranked team plays against a in state rival. There is a huge game in the Ivy League to get the day started. There is an undefeated MAC team that is on upset watch with a tough road game. Picks for January 31, 2025, are below.
Winner | Loser |
|---|---|
Princeton | Yale |
Georgetown | Butler |
Manhattan | Iona |
Saint Louis | Dayton |
Brown | Penn |
Columbia | Harvard |
Cornell | Dartmouth |
Akron | Kent State |
Quinnipiac | Fairfield |
Merrimack | Mount St. Mary's |
Rider | Saint Peter's |
Niagara | Canisius |
Purdue | Indiana |
Marist | Siena |
Let’s focus on the ranked team today. Purdue plays in-state rival Indiana at Mackey Arena. Purdue is a much better team than Indiana is and when you play the Boilers in their home arena, barring a miracle, they are almost impossible to beat. Indiana is going to have to try to use their bigs to neutralize the Purdue offense. The problem is that the Hoosiers don’t defend the three-point line very well, and Purdue likes to shoot threes. This one could get ugly, which means the Indiana fans are going to be calling for Mike Woodson’s head even more. Enjoy the hoops!