Big Ten Basketball December 3 Recaps, Previews, and Open Thread

Big Ten play started and Michigan State/Purdue took an early lead in the Big Ten title race.

All numbers via Torvik. All predictions not financial advice.

Last Night's Games

Penn State Nittany Lions 87, Campbell Fighting Camels 76

BoilerUp89: Campbell showed fight. The Fighting Camels outrebounded PSU by 9, but were done in by their 17 turnovers. This was still a 5 point game with under two minutes remaining.

Michigan State Spartans 71, Iowa Hawkeyes 52

BoilerUp89: Somewhere, Bo Ryan and Tony Bennett are smiling. I thought Iowa would slow things down to try and keep things within striking distance. While that was effective for the first ten minutes (it was 9-9 ten minutes in), Michigan State was able to get a run going to pull up by 14 by halftime. This Hawkeyes squad isn't build to mount massive comebacks and that was the game.

Michigan State outrebounded Iowa 37 to 18. Iowa doesn't have enough Big Ten quality level players to compete with the top of the conference yet. Expect more slow tempo ball when they play Michigan, Purdue, and Illinois. You've been warned.

Purdue Boilermakers 81, Rutgers Scarlet Knights 65

BoilerUp89: Purdue slowly build a decent halftime lead, stretched it to 25 in the second half and then let their foot off the gas to allow Rutgers to cut it back to 14 and threaten those that gave the 13.5 points. I didn't think Rutgers played particularly poorly. The Scarlet Knights shot 47% from three, but Purdue outrebounded them handily and got to the charity stripe 20 times.

HoustonBoiler: Since I will be harping on rebounding and turnovers all season, Purdue outrebounded Rutgers 36 - 25 and Purdue turned it over 9 times. When Purdue can produce these kind of numbers, they will usually win. And for those tracking assists, Braden Smith had 8.

Maryland Terrapins 89, Wagner Seahawks 63

BoilerUp89: Pokes with stick. Play someone.

USC Trojans 82, Oregon Ducks 77

MaximumSam: No Nate Bittle or his beautiful partial quiff of hair. Still, Oregon was at least competitive, though they now sit at 4-4 and it might be a lost season if nothing changes. USC continues to do just enough to win and no more. A team after my own heart.

Today's Big Ten Games

#20 Indiana Hoosiers (7-0) at #100 Minnesota Golden Gophers (4-4)

7 ET, BTN

BoilerUp89: The two Drake coaches face off against each other. Indiana has had a single neutral site game, but this is their first true road trip of the season. Perhaps the Barn's spacious confines throws off their shooting sightlines? I'll say this a few more times this season, but Indiana will beat some really good teams with three point shooting this season. They will probably also lose to some teams they shouldn't when they have a poor shooting night from behind the arc. This could be one of those games even if Minnesota played dead to Santa Clara last week.

#54 Northwestern Wildcats (5-2) at #37 Wisconsin Badgers (5-2)

9 ET, BTN

BoilerUp89: I know it's very early in the season still, but I think this is an important game for both teams. Both are likely to be part of the mushy middle of this conference and both haven't managed a statement non-conference win. That means they will have to scratch and claw themselves to a 10-10 or 11-9 B1G record. You do that one game at a time but winning the ones against the rest of the middle is critical. Whichever team's supporting cast provides their star with more help will win this game.

MaximumSam: The Detective takes on insufficiently fried cheese curds.

#22 UCLA Bruins (5-2) at #61 Washington Huskies (5-2)

11 ET, BTN

BoilerUp89: Steinbach returned to practice yesterday, but it's unknown whether he will suit up for Washington tonight. If he doesn't Washington will need to find a way to be competitive on the glass without him. UCLA has their own injury concerns but Bilodeau and Dent are both expected to be available.

Wednesday's Non-Big Ten Games of Interest

ACC/SEC Challenge

#8 Louisville Cardinals (7-0) at #23 Arkansas Razorbacks (5-2), 7:15 ET, ESPN
#33 Clemson Tigers (7-1) at #13 Alabama Crimson Tide (5-2), 7:15 ET, ESPNU
#34 LSU Tigers at #117 Boston College Eagles (4-4), 7:15 ET, ACCN
#47 SMU Mustangs (8-0) at #7 Vanderbilt Commodores (8-0), 9:15 ET, SECN
#36 NC State Wolfpack (5-2) at #27 Auburn Tigers (6-2), 9:15 ET, ESPN
#28 Virginia Cavaliers (6-1) at #35 Texas Longhorns (6-2), 9:15 ET, ESPNU
#80 Mississippi State Bulldogs (3-4) at #106 Georgia Tech Yellowjackets (5-3), 9:15 ET ACCN

Other

#147 Southern Illinois Salukis (4-4) at #86 High Point Panthers (7-1), 7 ET, ESPN+
#199 Marshall Thunderin' Herd (5-2) at #101 UNC Wilmington Seahawks (7-1), 7 ET
#285 Central Connecticut St Blue Devils (5-2) at #78 Seton Hall Pirates (7-1), 7 ET, ESPN+
#109 Richmond Spiders (6-1) at #90 Belmont Bruins (8-0), 7:30 ET, ESPN+

BoilerUp89: The ACC/SEC games start at 7:15 so everyone can watch the Jimmy V speech for the 30th time. I appreciate what Jimmy V did and it's for a good cause, but I'm not sure every game needed to be moved back 15 minutes. Run the early games at 7 and the late games at 9:30. Use the 30 minutes in between to replay the speech. As an added bonus, action won't be missed when games run over two hours.

Big Sky/Summit Challenge is also ongoing with 9 games but I got yelled at for including ASUN/SoCon Challenge games so just know those 9 games are happening if you are interested. Central Connecticut St shouldn't be competitive with Seton Hall but they've got two P5 scalps already so I might as well list it.