Yesterday was a doozy for some fans across the country. Let’s start with the game of the night. Illinois beat Oregon by 36 points in Eugene. It is the biggest loss a top-10 team has ever taken at home in a conference game. The Ducks started out great, and it was unexpected. They are starting to come back to earth a little bit. The Illini looked like the best team in the Big Ten last night, are they? I don’t know but they are for sure one of the top three in the league.
Other results in the Big Ten saw Penn State beat Northwestern on a very controversial call late in the game. Northwestern even without Boo Buie or much depth appears pesky again. I don’t know how good Penn State is. Indiana beat Rutgers and survived Ace Bailey and his 39 points. He did need 29 shots to get there, but it was still a masterful performance. Rutgers has to find some other scoring besides Dylan Harper and Bailey. Purdue used a late 14-0 run to beat Minnesota at the Barn. Washington, fresh off a loss to Seattle University, beat Maryland in Seattle. That is a tough loss for Maryland.
In other results around the country. Gonzaga beat Portland, Saint Mary’s beat Pepperdine, and Loyola Marymount destroyed Oregon State. Memphis has zero quad 1 games remaining on the schedule. They held serve against Florida Atlantic on the road. Wright State beat Green Bay, and that means that talk show host Doug Gottlieb and his moonlighting job as the coach of Green Bay has not resulted in a win since November 19th.
Here are some things that surprised me yesterday. UC Irvine, who is the favorite in the Big West, needed overtime to win at Cal Poly. If you have been following along, the Cal Poly program has now lost 39 straight Big West games. Presbyterian who is much improved this year, beat Longwood at home. Longwood was one of the favorites in the Big South this year. The Blue Hose can really shoot the ball and have three unbelievable guards. Finally, North Dakota State, my favorite to win the Summit League, lost at home to St. Thomas to open league play.
The first Friday of the new year doesn’t have a high quantity of games but the quality is fantastic. MAAC play gets going again with an early afternoon game on the East Coast. MAC conference play gets started; NEC conference play gets going. There are also Big Ten, Big East, and Atlantic 10 conference games sandwiched in there as well. Most of the Midwest will be under a snow advisory starting today, so it is good that we have quality hoops on TV. Picks for day 57, January 3, 2025, are below.
Winner | Loser |
|---|---|
Merrimack | Fairfield |
Akron | Bowling Green |
Temple | Wichita State |
Wisconsin | Iowa |
Mercyhurst | Stonehill |
Long Island | Le Moyne |
Wagner | Chicago State |
Central Connecticut | St. Francis |
Iona | Marist |
Siena | Manhattan |
Saint Peter's | Quinnipiac |
Michigan State | Ohio State |
Georgetown | Xavier |
Marquette | Creighton |
Saint Louis | Saint Joseph's |
New Mexico | Nevada |
There are two storylines today that everyone is going to keep an eye on. The first one happens in the Big Ten. Wisconsin gets a home game against a good Iowa team. The Badgers enter the game 0-2 in the league and desperately need to get a win to avoid falling to 0-3. Iowa has been a lot different away from Carver. Can the Hawkeyes do enough to beat the Badgers?
The other storyline takes place in Milwaukee. Creighton comes to town, and ordinarily, this would be one of the best games of the night, but given how the Bluejays have looked outside of Omaha this year, this one might not be close. If Creighton has any hopes of making the NCAA tournament this year they are going to have to stay competitive on the road. Marquette is not the team to try and get right against. Can Creighton keep that one close? Enjoy the hoops.