
Northwestern vs Rutgers Prediction 1/29/25 College Basketball Picks Today
Rutgers (10-10) vs. Northwestern (12-8)
January 29, 2025 9:00 pm EDT
The Line: Northwestern -6.5; Over/Under: 140.5
(Get latest betting odds)
The Rutgers Scarlet Knights and the Northwestern Wildcats meet Wednesday in college basketball action from the Welsh-Ryan Arena. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best bets for this game. Here’s a Northwestern vs Rutgers Prediction.
Rutgers Recap
The Rutgers Scarlet Knights come into this game looking to bounce back from an 81-74 loss to Michigan State last time out to fall to 10-10 on the year. After this game, Rutgers will head home for a game against Michigan.
Scarlet Knights Lose Back-To-Back Games
Ace Bailey leads the Scarlet Knights in scoring and rebounding with 19.8 PPG and 7.9 RPG while Dylan Harper has 18.6 PPG with 4.8 RPG and a team-high 4.1 APG to lead the Scarlet Knights in assists as the only other double-digit scorer for Rutgers up to this point in the year. Jeremiah Williams also has 7.1 PPG and Lathan Sommerville has 7.2 PPG with 4.1 RPG. Jordan Derkack also added 7.7 PPG, 3.7 RPG, and 2.2 APG as well on the year. As a team, Rutgers is averaging 76.5 PPG on 44.5% shooting from the field, 32.9% from three, and 69.9% from the foul line this season.
Why the Rutgers Scarlet Knights will win
- Rutgers has won eight of its last 10 games when playing with a rest advantage.
Northwestern Recap
The Northwestern Wildcats come into this game looking to bounce back from an 83-74 loss to Illinois last time out to fall to 12-8 on the year. After this game, Northwestern will head home for a matchup with Wisconsin.
Wildcats Looking For Consistency
Nick Martinelli leads the Wildcats in scoring and rebounding with 19.8 PPG and 5.2 RPG while Brooks Barnhizer also has 17.6 PPG and 8.8 RPG with 4.1 APG in 16 games played so far this season. Jalen Leach has added 13.9 PPG with 3.1 APG to cap off the trio of double-digit scorers for Northwestern so far this season. As a team, Northwestern is averaging 74.2 PPG on 44.4% shooting from the field, 33.2% from three, and 72% from the foul line this season.
Why the Northwestern Wildcats will win
- Northwestern has won each of its last 16 night games at Welsh-Ryan Arena.
- Rutgers has lost 10 of its last 13 games against the Big Ten Conference.
Northwestern vs Rutgers Prediction
I’m on Northwestern here. My thoughts about Rutgers this entire season have been that this isn’t the same Rutgers teams of years past, where this is a Rutgers program predicated on playing good defense. Also, after Bailey and Harper, there’s a huge dropoff in talent after the two top pieces. Northwestern usually plays their best basketball at home and Chris Collins has a way of bringing the best out of this Wildcat crowd at home I trust Northwestern’s defense to show up at home in this game on the way to a Northwestern win and cover when all is said and done so I’ll lay the points with the Wildcats in this one.