USC men’s basketball delivered back-to-back Big Ten victories this past week. After upsetting No. 13 Illinois on the road Saturday, the Trojans took down Iowa at home Tuesday night. The fun ended on Saturday in a loss to Wisconsin,

Wisconsin and USC are set to tip-off at 3 p.m. ET, 2 p.m. CT on the Big Ten Network. The Badgers are in search of their seventh consecutive victory and fifth-straight in conference play. They may need their top form in order to achieve that result.

One storyline to follow with UCLA is the emergence of 7-foot-3 Spaniard Aday Mara. The behemoth is coming off his two best games in a Bruins uniform, collecting 22 points without missing a shot against Wisconsin and then playing a career-high 30 minutes against Washington and notching 12 points, seven rebounds, and five blocks.

BOTTOM LINE: No. 4 USC aims to keep its 14-game win streak intact when the Trojans take on Minnesota. The Trojans are 9-1 in home games. USC scores 83.8 points and has outscored opponents by 29.6 points per game. The Golden Gophers are 6-3 in conference games. Minnesota is 14-1 in games decided by at least 10 points.

The 2024 college football season may have just ended, but it is never too early to start thinking about 2025. Following Monday's national championship game, ESPN released its way-too-early top 25 for next season.

The Trojans visit the Cornhuskers as we continue our college basketball odds series with a USC-Nebraska prediction and pick.

Freshman Avery Howell scored a season-high 18 points, JuJu Watkins added 16 points as No. 4 USC easily defeated Purdue.

After the Michigan State basketball team won their 13th straight game, it marks a first for Tom Izzo in his 30 years with the program.

Oregon made a big move up for the five-star athlete from Spring Valley (Calif.) Mount Miguel after a weekend visit, especially as he met with coach Dan Lanning and also defensive coordinator Tosh Lupoi, who talked about helping develop Patrick Surtain, Christian Gonzalez and others.

The Big Ten schedule is nearing the halfway point as January winds down. One team has separated itself at the top of the conference standings, but the league race is far from decided.

Illinois is getting exceedingly difficult to evaluate from an Associated Press Top 25 perspective. The Illini are basically computer darlings. They rank 10th in the NET, 10th in KenPom and sixth in Torvik and probably () aren't computer trickers.