Friday had a couple of good games, but the results were not all that shocking. The power conference schools avoided the upsets even if they did struggle at times, they still ultimately won. It is the survive and advance portion of the schedule for most of the teams around the country. Villanova beat Wisconsin in Milwaukee. The Badgers need to find some solutions. The defense was much better tonight but the offense is still struggling in a big way. Villanova finally got a bubble worthy win and they may be a factor in the Big East race.
Staying in the Big East the Seton Hall Pirates moved to 11-1 with a win at Providence. Pirates basketball is never going to be a thing of beauty but they are physical and are an elite defensive team. The offense is better this season which is the main catalyst for the turnaround but they are going to win games because of their defense.
Welcome to the final Saturday of 2025 at least when it comes to the college basketball season and the college basketball schedule has to compete with college football again. That isn’t stopping the schedule from delivering though. There are a ton of huge games on the final college basketball Saturday of the year. Let’s highlight those games and provide some insight into who will win.
No. 22 St. John’s Red Storm vs Kentucky Wildcats- Two teams going in opposite directions meet in CBS Sports Classic
The Red Storm are averaging over 87 points per game and when you couple that with a Rick Pitino defense you have a team who is going to be terribly hard to beat. The only problem is that the Red Storm have not beaten anyone of note yet. While the win over Kentucky won’t move the needle, at least right now, the Red Storm need to win this game. Point guard Dylan Darling got going in a big way against DePaul and with Ian Jackson and Zuby Ejiofor playing at a high level the Red Storm are going to be hard to beat.
Kentucky hasn’t been the normal Kentucky, in fact the Wildcats have been downright bad against other power conference schools. They did just beat Indiana and maybe that win gets Kentucky going but the chemistry is still a problem for the Wildcats. Head coach Mark Pope doesn’t have any answers and if the Wildcats don’t figure it out quickly the season is going to be lost.
St. Johns 88 Kentucky 68
Ohio State Buckeyes vs No. 12 North Carolina Tar Heels - second game of the CBS Sports Classic
Ohio State has one of the best guards in the country in Bruce Thornton, but there are way to many times that he has to do way to much in order for the Buckeyes to win games. A lot of that comes down to coaching and players underperforming. Ohio State plays in the Big Ten so they are going to have chances at huge wins for the remainder of the year. A win against North Carolina would be huge for Ohio State but it may take Thornton having to go nuclear to win this game.
North Carolina looks like a second weekend team under head coach Hubert Davis, which is good for Tar Heels, because it didn’t look that was a possibility based upon how the first years of the Davis regime went. North Carolina is going to have the best player on the floor in Caleb Wilson. Ohio State doesn’t have an answer for Wilson and he is going to dominate. The big man dominating usually means that others like Henri Veesaar get better looks and help the Tar Heels win games.
No. 8 Houston Cougars vs No. 14 Arkansas Razorbacks- Two legendary coaches face off in Newark
I remember last year, everyone was having the same conversation about Houston, because they lost some games they shouldn’t have in the early part of the season. Then, once conference play started, the Cougars lost one game over 2.5 months and should have won the National Championship. Coach Kelvin Sampson still has an excellent roster, headlined by two top freshmen who have struggled on defense but are getting much better. Houston is going to take off and will probably go on another run like they did last year.
Arkansas has been a force in December. The Razorbacks are also led by two freshmen who have been playing at a level worthy of a lottery pick. Arkansas needs to get off to a better start this season than last, when they were one of the worst teams in the SEC in January. Houston needs this win a lot more than Arkansas does, but neither team will make it easy for the other.
No. 21 Auburn Tigers vs No. 6 Purdue Boilermakers - Top 25 matchup in Indy.
I still don’t know if Auburn is good. Yes, they have the win over St. John’s, but they have been blown out twice. Of course, everyone is getting blown out by Michigan and Arizona. However, there are times when Auburn is far too reliant on Tahaad Pettiford to make something happen. I know that Keyshawn Hall is the leading scorer, but Pettiford playing well would go a long way towards the Tigers having a chance to win this game.
Purdue has already been shell-shocked once this year by Iowa State, and I can promise you that it won’t happen again, especially in the state of Indiana. The Boilermakers have one of the best teams in the country, led by the future player of the year in Braden Smith. Smith and big man Trey Kaufmann-Renn make up the best duo in the country. The Boilermakers are not going to let Auburn beat them. In fact, it might get ugly.
No. 3 Duke Blue Devils vs No. 19 Texas Tech Red Raiders - Frontcourt battle of the ages at Madison Square Garden
Duke has the best freshman in basketball for the second year in a row in Cameron Boozer, and, believe it or not, there are people out there who think everything about him is a sham and that he won’t be good against good competition. The competition won’t get any better than what they'll face against Texas Tech and their big man, JT Toppin. If Boozer gets shut down, it will be interesting to see how Duke plays, but given that the Blue Devils have a deep roster around Boozer, they will be fine.
Texas Tech has not been nearly as good as projected this season. The Red Raiders have struggled to find any scoring outside of their stars, Toppin and point guard Christian Anderson. Those two players are going to have to be at their absolute best for the Red Raiders to have a chance in this game. Duke is just too good.