As you can see below, there are A Lot of Big Ten games to be played on Friday. Some of them are even important.
There’s no time to waste. Let’s talk about them.
Arizona Wildcats at UCLA Bruins
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Time/TV: 10 p.m. on Peacock
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KenPom Spread: Wildcats by 2
It finally happened: UCLA notched a convincing victory in a buy game.
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The downside? Well, the team the Bruins dispatched, West Georgia, is a recent addition to the Division-I ranks that has had a less-than-great go of it. Well, a win is a win, right? A win on Friday would be huge for this program, for a few reasons.
Enter Arizona, an old Pac-12 rival whose roster features one of the best freshmen in the country. Mostly. Koa Peat has been a bit quiet since his 30-point debut against defending national champion Florida. But both of those games were wrapped up pretty early, so he wasn’t exactly needed. He will be against the Bruins.
Donovan Dent was sidelined with an injury against West Georgia, so we’ll see if he suits up against the Wildcats. If he doesn’t, this could go poorly.
Lehigh Mountain Hawks at Rutgers Scarlet Knights
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Time/TV: 6:30 p.m. on B1G+
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KenPom Spread: Knights by 18
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The task is simple for Rutgers. Win and defend well. The Knights rather easily dispatched Rider and had a bit of a game against Maine, but they should be able to cover the spread here. Right?
Illinois State Redbirds at USC Trojans
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Time/TV: 7:30 p.m. on Peacock
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KenPom Spread: Trojans by 16
This is a bit of an interesting one worth having on if you have Peacock. USC has gotten off to a hot start to the season with blowout wins over Cal Poly and Manhattan, but Illinois State is better than both of those teams. Mind you, the Redbirds lost to Ohio, but they’re still solid.
USC should win this and almost certainly will, but Illinois should put up more of a fight.
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Xavier Musketeers at Iowa Hawkeyes
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KenPom Spread: Hawkeyes by 11
Oof. Year one of the Richard Pitino era is not looking particularly promising. The Musketeers flirted with losses to Marist and Le Moyne before Santa Clara, a top-75 team in KenPom, put them away by NINETEEN on their own home floor.
Iowa should win and do so by a considerable amount,
Northwestern Wildcats at DePaul Blue Demons
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Time/TV: 8:30 p.m. on TruTV
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KenPom Spread: Wildcats by 6
Northwestern has looked pretty good through three games while DePaul is coming off of a loss to Buffalo. Chris Holtmann has brought the Blue Demons out of KenPom’s basement, but it’s a long road back to winning for that program.
The ‘Cats should win this one, but I’m not writing off DePaul from making it a bit interesting.
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Michigan Wolverines at TCU Horned Frogs
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Time/TV: 9 p.m. ET on ESPN2
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KenPom Spread: Wolverines by 7
Well, TCU lost to New Orleans. That’s not ideal. That loss sent them tumbling onto the fringes of the top-100 in KenPom.
Michigan is good. Even on the road, I think the Wolverines handle the Horned Frogs by more than the projected 7-point spread. Yes, the game at Wake Forest was shaky, but that’s a better team than TCU.
Colgate Raiders at Illinois Fighting Illini
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KenPom Spread: Illini by 26
Illinois scored 113 points in each of its first two buy games before dispatching Texas Tech at the State Farm Center on Tuesday night. Colgate already has losses to Michigan State and Northeastern, so Illinois should be able to hand them another.
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Washington Huskies at Washington State Cougars
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Time/TV: 11 p.m. on ESPN+
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KenPom Spread: Huskies by 9
Oooooo, an out of conference in-state rivalry. Wazzu got a victory over St. Thomas after opening the season with back-to-back losses to Idaho (ooooof) and Davidson (eh), whereas Washington gave Baylor a bit of a game on the road.
So, Huskies should win.