There were not a large quantity of games on Friday night but the quality was there. Marquette beat Villanova in the lone Big East game. The Big Ten dominated the night with three games, and the game that looked to be the game of the night saw Purdue destroy Michigan at Mackey Arena. Purdue was on a mission to prove the loss to Ohio State was a fluke. Michigan is a good team that got destroyed by the Boilers. Iowa got rolling from deep and hung on late to beat Penn State at Carver-Hawkeye. The Hawkeyes have to find some consistency to truly reach their ceiling.
I always like to look at the other results of the night in my recap. Long Island entered tonight 6-0 in the NEC and they lost to St. Francis on the road. Dayton held serve at home against Saint Joseph’s. The Flyers are playing much better than they were a week ago and starting to win tough games in the Atlantic 10 again. VCU beat St. Bonaventure in Richmond and the Rams look tough again. They are not a team you are going to want to see in March.
It is yet another Saturday of college basketball. The best college basketball day of the week. There are a lot of fantastic games today including a game between two of the top teams in the SEC. The top team in the Big Ten is on upset watch. An undefeated Summit League team takes their show on the road, and two undefeated MAC teams play each other in the battle for conference supremacy. That is just to name a few of the huge storylines for today. Picks for day 79 January 25, 2025, are below.
Winner | Loser |
|---|---|
NC State | SMU |
Hofstra | Campbell |
Stony Brook | North Carolina A&T |
Pitt | Syracuse |
Norfolk State | Howard |
Georgetown | Providence |
Mississippi State | South Carolina |
East Carolina | South Florida |
Indiana State | Northern Iowa |
Boston University | Bucknell |
Vermont | UMBC |
Wright State | Detroit Mercy |
Jacksonville | Queens |
UNC Greensboro | VMI |
The Citadel | Western Carolina |
Marist | Canisius |
Iona | Siena |
Rutgers | Michigan State |
Creighton | Seton Hall |
Iowa State | Arizona State |
High Point | Winthrop |
La Salle | Rhode Island |
George Washington | Saint Louis |
Bradley | Illinois State |
Loyola Maryland | Holy Cross |
Princeton | Cornell |
Yale | Harvard |
Columbia | Penn |
Brown | Dartmouth |
UMass Lowell | New Hampshire |
Bryant | Binghamton |
Robert Morris | Oakland |
Fort Wayne | IU Indy |
Drexel | Delaware |
William & Mary | Monmouth |
North Florida | West Georgia |
Lipscomb | Central Arkansas |
Akron | Miami Ohio |
Eastern Michigan | Buffalo |
Quinnipiac | Rider |
Niagara | Sacred Heart |
North Carolina | Boston College |
Kentucky | Vanderbilt |
Texas | Texas A&M |
Rice | Tulane |
UNLV | New Mexico |
Longwood | South Carolina Upstate |
Arizona | Colorado |
Illinois Chicago | Southern Illinois |
Stetson | Bellarmine |
Northern Arizona | Idaho |
Georgia Southern | Marshall |
App State | UL Monroe |
Arkansas State | Texas State |
Cleveland State | Green Bay |
Florida | Georgia |
UNC Asheville | Charleston Southern |
Western Kentucky | Sam Houston |
Oregon | Minnesota |
NC Central | South Carolina State |
UCF | TCU |
Temple | UTSA |
Delaware State | Maryland Eastern Shore |
Morgan State | Coppin State |
Valpo | Evansville |
Drake | Missouri State |
Murray State | Belmont |
Utah State | Air Force |
Alabama State | Prairie View |
Colgate | American |
Alcorn State | Florida A&M |
Albany | NJIT |
Weber State | Sacramento State |
Butler | DePaul |
James Madison | Georgia State |
Eastern Kentucky | Florida Gulf Coast |
Abilene Christian | UT Arlington |
ETSU | Chattanooga |
Mount St. Mary's | Manhattan |
Duke | Wake Forest |
Presbyterian | Radford |
Baylor | Utah |
Bethune | Jackson State |
Texas A&M Corpus Christi | Nicholls |
Southeastern Louisiana | Incarnate Word |
Furman | Mercer |
Ball State | Northern Illinois |
UT Martin | Tennessee Tech |
Western Illinois | SEMO |
Morehead State | SIU Edwardsville |
Lindenwood | Little Rock |
Eastern Illinois | Southern Indiana |
Clemson | Virginia Tech |
Alabama A&M | Texas Southern |
Portland State | Idaho State |
Eastern Washington | Northern Colorado |
Long Beach | Cal Poly |
North Dakota State | North Dakota |
UT Rio Grande Valley | McNeese |
Missouri | Ole Miss |
West Virginia | Kansas State |
Stephen F. Austin | Northwestern State |
Richmond | Davidson |
Houston Christian | New Orleans |
South Alabama | Troy |
Oregon State | Santa Clara |
South Dakota State | South Dakota |
Samford | Wofford |
Liberty | FIU |
Kansas | Houston |
Virginia | Notre Dame |
Southern | Pine Bluff |
Louisiana Tech | Middle Tennessee |
Colorado State | Fresno State |
Stanford | Florida State |
Grambling | Mississippi Valley State |
Lehigh | Lafayette |
Lamar | East Texas A&M |
Old Dominion | Coastal Carolina |
Elon | Charleston |
UNC Wilmington | Hampton |
North Alabama | Austin Peay |
Central Michigan | Western Michigan |
Merrimack | Fairfield |
San Jose State | Wyoming |
UConn | Xavier |
Louisiana | Southern Miss |
Washington State | Saint Mary's |
Gonzaga | Portland |
Kansas City | St. Thomas |
Omaha | Oral Roberts |
Auburn | Tennessee |
Alabama | LSU |
California | Miami |
Arkansas | Oklahoma |
Southern Utah | Cal Baptist |
Montana | Montana State |
Santa Barbara | Fullerton |
Grand Canyon | Utah Tech |
UTEP | Kennesaw State |
New Mexico State | Jacksonville State |
Bakersfield | Riverside |
San Diego State | Nevada |
UC Irvine | Hawaii |
UC San Diego | Northridge |
San Francisco | San Diego |
Pepperdine | Pacific |
Seattle | Utah Valley |
BYU | Cincinnati |
In a sea of huge games, Auburn and Tennessee stick out for all of the right reasons. A defensive-minded team in Tennessee goes to Auburn to face one of the country's best offenses. The Volunteers got beat by 30 the last time they met a high-powered offense. Will they fare better this time? The Tigers are one of the best teams I have seen in my many years of covering this sport. That game is going to be one of the best of the year and have Final Four energy.
In another game of the day, the Houston Cougars visit Phog Allen Fieldhouse and take on the Kansas Jayhawks. Houston is projected to win the rest of their games, according to KenPom, and with their defensive ability is no surprise as to why. Kansas is still a good team and a National Championship contender and could really use a win against one of the top teams in the Big 12. Enjoy the Hoops!