What a night for the Maryland Terrapins! Maryland likely secured their spot in the NCAA Tournament bracket, at least for now, with a 20-point road win over Illinois. The knock on Maryland was their inability to win on the road. They got that monkey off their back in a big way last night with a huge win. The committee will likely want to see one more road win, which will help their seeding, but a 20-point win against a ranked team in their building will do nothing but help the case for the Terps.
In the Summit League, Omaha beat St. Thomas. The Mavericks move to 6-0 in the league and put themselves firmly in the driver's seat for the top overall seed in the Summit League tournament and their first NCAA tournament appearance. UC Irvine lost at UC Riverside. The Highlanders have now clipped UC Irvine and UC San Diego in the last two weeks. Riverside could be a team to watch come Big West tournament time.
There are not many games on Friday, but the quality is excellent. There are a lot of games in the Big Ten, including one game between two top-25 teams. There is a huge game in the Big East featuring a ranked team. The rest of the schedule is in the MAC, NEC, Horizon, and Atlantic 10. Picks for day 78, January 24, 2025, are below.
Winner | Loser |
|---|---|
Toledo | Bowling Green |
Marquette | Villanova |
Long Island | St. Francis |
Mercyhurst | Wagner |
Stonehill | Chicago State |
Central Connecticut | Le Moyne |
Milwaukee | Northern Kentucky |
Ohio | Kent State |
Dayton | Saint Joseph's |
Purdue | Michigan |
VCU | St. Bonaventure |
Iowa | Penn State |
UCLA | Washington |
There is a huge game taking place in West Lafayette, Indiana, tonight. Purdue, who just saw their 26-game home winning streak come to an end against Ohio State, looks to right the ship at home tonight against a Michigan team that can beat them. The Boilers are not going to let a home loss happen again, and it will likely blow out Michigan, but if the Wolverines hit threes and do not turn the ball over, they can stay in this game. Mackey Arena will be rocking tonight, which makes it so much harder to win at. Enjoy the Hoops!