City of Basketball Love

CoBL Staff (@hooplove215)
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Every day during the season on which there are games featuring the 10 Division I teams that CoBL features, we’ll have a Tipping Off running bright and early, letting you know everything you need to know about the match-ups.

As always, we’ll start with a wrap of the previous day’s action, followed by a look at the complete slate; as always, thanks to KenPom’s awesome site for his predictions--though keep in mind this early in the season, his predictions aren’t as reliable:

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Last night’s results

No. 7 Oklahoma 78, Villanova 55
-Quick report

Holy Family 90, No. 2 Southern Connecticut State 70
- With strong defensive effort, Holy Family knocks off SCSU

Tonight’s games

St. Joseph’s Hawks (5-2) vs. Princeton Tigers (4-1)
When: 7 p.m.
Where: Hagan Arena, Philadelphia, Pa.
Watch: N/A
KenPom prediction: 79-75, St. Joe’s (64%)

The skinny: Sandwiched between the Hawks’ two toughest Big 5 matchups, they get a pair of the better teams in the Ivy League. On Friday, St. Joe’s handled a road test from Columbia, leaving the Big Apple with an 80-78 victory. Now they get Princeton on their home floor before facing Temple at the Liacouras Center on Friday. The Hawks are as healthy as they’ve been all season as forward Papa Ndao returned against Columbia, giving Phil Martelli’s team a needed threat from the 3-point line. Out of Princeton’s five games, just one came against a team in the top 200 of KenPom’s rankings, and that was a 14-point loss to Stony Brook in the Tigers’ last game.

Penn State Nittany Lions (5-2) at George Washington Colonials (7-1)
When: 7 p.m.
Where: Charles E. Smith Center, Washington, D.C.
Watch: CSN Mid-Atlantic
KenPom prediction: 71-61, George Washington (86%)

The Skinny: George Washington is looking like one of the stronger teams not only in the A-10, but the entire Mid-Atlantic early in the season. The Colonials beat Virginia early in the season, and currently sit just four spots outside of the AP Top 25. Penn State beat GW last season, but that matchup was in Happy Valley, and the Colonials did not hit a 3-pointer. The Lions have won three in a row after an ugly home defeat to Radford, and the team got 30 points from Shep Garner last week against Boston College. But Penn State will need a lot to go right to pull off the upset in the nation’s capital.