Last night was a perfect example of why we all love College Basketball. There were great games all over the schedule last night. In the Big 12, Houston jumped out to a huge lead at halftime, then struggled on the offensive end in the second half against West Virginia. Houston still won the game by 14 points, but West Virginia made the Cougars very uncomfortable for the first 15 of the second half when the lead was cut to 4 points.
The SEC delivered again. Auburn won by 13 points and used 20 LSU turnovers to turn that into 22 points. The Tigers took 80 shots last night and only allowed 51. Any time that happens, you are going to win. Alabama and Mississippi State were excellent from the tip. Josh Hubbard scored 38 points in a narrow loss to Alabama. Let’s break down the last 30 seconds of the game. Alabama was ahead by 1 point going to the free throw line. Grant Nelson missed both free throws, Alabama got the offensive rebound and missed the front end of a 1 and 1. Then Mississippi State big man Keshawn Murphy missed a wide-open layup. That missed layup forced the Bulldogs to foul Alabama and put them at the line, which proved to be the deciding points in the game. It was a tough loss for the Bulldogs, but they are still in prime position to make the NCAA tournament.
In the Big Ten, Maryland beat Wisconsin in College Park. The Terrapins are rolling right now and are no longer on the bubble. They will hear their name called on Selection Sunday if they stay on their current course. Rutgers super freshman Ace Bailey went for 37 points in an upset win over Northwestern. The Scarlet Knights may be out of the NCAA tournament or any postseason, but Bailey is a lot of fun to watch and is putting up huge numbers every night.
We made it to Thursday, and the schedule is light compared to the rest of the week so far. Light means that only three ranked teams play today, and all of them are on upset watch. The rest of the games today are all in the mid and low-major ranks. Here are my picks for the straight-up winners of each game for January 30, 2025.
Winner | Loser |
|---|---|
Maine | New Hampshire |
Charleston | Stony Brook |
Vermont | Binghamton |
Penn State | Ohio State |
Youngstown State | Wright State |
Delaware | Towson |
Stonehill | Wagner |
Mercyhurst | St Francis PA |
Fairleigh Dickinson | Le Moyne |
Central Connecticut | Long Island |
UMass Lowell | NJIT |
Bryant | UMBC |
Marshall | Georgia State |
Troy | Georgia Southern |
James Madison | Coastal Carolina |
Robert Morris | IU Indy |
Northern Kentucky | Detroit Mercy |
Oakland | Green Bay |
UNC Wilmington | North Carolina A&T |
William & Mary | Campbell |
Drexel | Monmouth |
Elon | Hofstra |
Hampton | Northeastern |
Jacksonville State | FIU |
Morehead State | Tennessee Tech |
Middle Tennessee | New Mexico State |
South Alabama | UL Monroe |
Texas State | Louisiana |
Lipscomb | Eastern Kentucky |
Austin Peay | Bellarmine |
UT Arlington | Southern Utah |
Tarleton State | Utah Tech |
North Dakota State | South Dakota State |
Little Rock | Tennessee State |
Western Kentucky | UTEP |
Liberty | Kennesaw State |
SEMO | UT Martin |
Nebraska | Illinois |
Lindenwood | SIU Edwardsville |
Western Illinois | Eastern Illinois |
Memphis | Tulane |
Montana State | Sacramento State |
Weber State | Idaho |
Montana | Portland State |
Eastern Washington | Idaho State |
Fort Wayne | Cleveland State |
Kansas City | Denver |
Bakersfield | Cal Poly |
Riverside | UC Davis |
Santa Barbara | Northridge |
UC Irvine | Long Beach |
Pepperdine | San Diego |
LMU | Portland |
Washington State | Pacific |
Cal Baptist | Abilene Christian |
UCLA | Oregon |
Grand Canyon | Seattle |
UC San Diego | Hawaii |
The Big Ten has games every night, and with the new version of the Big Ten, they have a lot of good games. The best game of the day takes place in the Big Ten between two former Pac-12 conference teams when Oregon travels to Pauley Pavilion to take on UCLA. UCLA already beat Oregon in Eugene this year on a Dylan Andrews buzzer beater and the Bruins look like the team who is going to win this game as well.
Oregon is a very interesting team to me; they have great wins, and they have been ranked most of the year. The guards are fantastic, they have a big man who can spread the floor, yet I still don’t think they are great even if Nate Bittle and Jackson Shelstad are two of the better players in the country. UCLA should win this game. Enjoy the Hoops!