USC vs Northwestern Prediction 2/4/25 College Basketball Picks

The USC Trojans and the Northwestern Wildcats meet Tuesday in college basketball action from Welsh-Ryan Arena. Here’s a USC vs Northwestern prediction. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best USC vs Northwestern pick. We will examine: 

The USC Trojans’ recent form and player performance

The Northwestern Wildcats’ recent form and player performance 

Recent betting trends and streaks involving the USC Trojans

Recent betting trends and streaks involving the Northwestern Wildcats

Recent betting trends in games played between USC and Northwestern

A summary that ties it all together and produces a favorable betting outcome for the USC vs Northwestern game

USC Trojans Betting Preview

This year the Trojans have a couple of bad spots in the record books but overall they’re not doing too badly—especially considering their difficult Big Ten schedule this year. USC opened on a 5-1 run with a loss to California amid wins over Chattanooga, Idaho State, Texas Arlington, San Jose State, and Grambling. Losses to Saint Mary’s, New Mexico, and Oregon came next, then wins over Washington, Montana State, and Cal State Northridge. Since then it’s been a .500 run at 4-4 overall. The Trojans have losses to Michigan, Indiana, Wisconsin, and UCLA in that time alongside wins over Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, and Michigan State. The result so far has been a 13-8 overall record through the first 21 games of the season for USC. 

In the Michigan State matchup back on Saturday, the Trojans came out of the break with a 35-32 edge. USC posted that exact mark in the second half, eventually rolling to a 70-64 win in the end. Tops in scoring was Desmond Claude with 19 points, six boards, and three assists. Wesley Yates added 15 points with five rebounds in 40 minutes, and Chibuzo Agbo had 14 points with five rebounds. Josh Cohen chipped in with seven points off the bench as well. 

Northwestern Wildcats Betting Preview

Over on the Northwestern side, they opened on a pretty nice run over their first 13 games. Since the calendar year flipped over to 2025 however, the Wildcats only have a couple of wins amid a tough schedule. Northwestern beat Lehigh, UIC, Eastern Illinois, Montana State, Pepperdine, UNLV, Illinois, Georgia Tech, DePaul, and Northeastern in their first 13 games. Since then it’s been a 2-7 stretch. The Wildcats have losses to Penn State, Purdue, Michigan State, Michigan, Illinois, Rutgers, and Wisconsin in that time, giving the team a 12-10 overall record so far this season. 

Matched up against Wisconsin on February 1, the Wildcats hit a 31-25 run in the first half. Northwestern was outpaced from there 50-38 however, and eventually lost 75-69 in the end. Tops in scoring was Jalen Leach with 23 points, seven rebounds, and seven assists. Nick Martinelli added 15 points with seven rebounds, two assists, and two steals. Ty Berry put up 14 points with four rebounds, one assist, and one steal in 27 minutes of work as well. 

Why the Northwestern Wildcats will win

• Northwestern has won 14 of its last 15 night games at Welsh-Ryan Arena against non-AP-ranked opponents.
• USC has lost the first half in three of its last four games against Conference opponents.

Why the USC Trojans will win

• Northwestern has lost four of its last five games against the Big Ten Conference.
• The road team has won three of USC’s last four games.

USC vs Northwestern Prediction 

I’m going to stay with USC. The Trojans have knocked off a few big-time squads this year, one of them being Michigan State in their latest outing. USC shot 42.1 percent from the field in that one (as did the Spartans) with 33 rebounds and a tepid nine assists. The Trojans hit 15-of-19 (78.9 percent) from the line, however, and also bagged 12 points off 13 Spartans turnovers. That gives USC a 4-2 run over the last six games, which is pretty impressive against the quality of opponents they’ve been facing since January began. 

As for Northwestern, they’ve lost three straight games (two of them at home) but they’re still scoring well. The Wildcats have 69 or more points in six straight (a 2-4 run), however, they’ve given up 70 or more in nine straight. USC should have plenty of room to score in this one, and I like the Trojans to power it out.