Hopefully, you all like comebacks. Last night was full of them and nearly every power conference game had a comeback. The game of the night was Arizona and Iowa State. The Wildcats blew a lead late, and then Caleb Love hit a half-court three at the buzzer to send the game to overtime. In overtime, Arizona hit a lot of threes to win by 11 points. That game was one of the best games of the entire season. Arizona moves to 8-1 in the Big 1,2, and Iowa State falls to 7-2 in the Big 12.
Then there was the surprising game in the ACC. NC State came out firing at Cameron Indoor and got out to a 13-point lead before the game shifted. Duke, behind Cooper Flagg was able to overcome the Wolfpack making 10 threes and keeping this game close most of the night. The Blue Devils earned that win last night. Michigan had to use a late 9-0 run to beat Penn State by 4 points in Ann Arbor. Tre Donaldson was excellent at the end of the game.
Monday had some excellent games, but it was all a primer for a loaded Tuesday of games. There are 8 ranked teams in action today. Two of them play each other, three are on the road in games they could lose. In non-ranked games, there is a huge battle in the West Coast Conference, a huge game between two ACC bubble teams, and two huge games in the Atlantic 10 that will help determine conference seeding. Picks for day 82 January 28, 2025, are below.
Winner | Loser |
|---|---|
St. John's | Georgetown |
Tennessee | Kentucky |
Louisville | Wake Forest |
South Florida | Rice |
Providence | Seton Hall |
Georgia | South Carolina |
Ball State | Western Michigan |
Ohio | Toledo |
Miami Ohio | Eastern Michigan |
Central Michigan | Buffalo |
Kent State | Bowling Green |
Akron | Northern Illinois |
Morehead State | Southern Indiana |
Michigan State | Minnesota |
Kansas | UCF |
VCU | Saint Louis |
St. Bonaventure | Dayton |
Valpo | Southern Illinois |
Marquette | Butler |
Wyoming | Fresno State |
Texas A&M | Oklahoma |
BYU | Baylor |
Arizona State | Colorado |
Pitt | North Carolina |
Notre Dame | Georgia Tech |
Colorado State | Air Force |
Utah | Cincinnati |
San Diego State | San Jose State |
Gonzaga | Oregon State |
There are two giant games today and the first one is in the SEC between Kentucky and Tennessee. The Volunteers looked very impressive on the road against Auburn over the weekend. They have a lot of talent, and they are going to slow the game down and guard the three-point line. Kentucky relies on threes and getting out and running to win their games and score most of their points. Tennessee took that away from Auburn in a narrow loss, they are going to take it away from Kentucky and with the game being in Knoxville that should be good for the Volunteers.
The other huge game is the nightcap in the West Coast Conference. Oregon State travels to Spokane to take on the Gonzaga Bulldogs. Oregon State beat Gonzaga at Gill Coliseum earlier this month. Rest assured that Gonzaga will not let the Beavers beat them again. Oregon State loves to get the ball inside to their two athletic bigs, mainly Michael Rataj. Gonzaga needs to counter that by making threes and letting their point guard, Ryan Nembhard, go to work. Oregon State did a fantastic job of limiting Nembhard in the first matchup. Enjoy the Hoops!