Big Ten Basketball February 1 Recaps, Previews, and Open Thread

Yesterday's Games

Wisconsin Badgers 92, The Ohio State Buckeyes 82

MaximumSam: Christoph Tilly went o-8 from the field and 0-6 at the rim to finish with zero points. Impressive.

Kind of...: Me, yesterday: "Solid bet that whoever's bigs are less ineffective will probably win." See above RE: Tilly. For Wisconsin, who was demoted from the starting lineup in early December, decided to score first half points while his teammates were taking a while to get going.

Indiana Hoosiers 98, UCLA Bruins 97 (2OT)

MaximumSam: Five guys fouled out, Indiana looked helpless against the press, UCLA wouldn't guard the three point line. A wild and wonderful game.

Kind of...: Me, yesterday: "Metrics like Indiana a lot. UCLA hasn't lost as [sic] home this year. Interesting game." How about well beyond interesting. Random quick hitters:

1) Mick Cronin's mad scientist project with Xavier Booker continues; 2) Tucker DeVries only scored 9 points, but chipped in 10 boards and 7 assists. He's really developed; 3) 72 FTs and, really, it didn't seem all that excessive...quality perimeter defense was pretty rare; 4) that said, there were 89 possessions...even with some indifferent defense, the offenses weren't really firing on all cylinders.

This battle proved that a game can be high-scoring AND choppy

USC Trojans 78, Rutgers Scarlet Knights 75

MaximumSam: USC was up 19 in the second half before Rutgers frantically cut the lead to three. Then they turned the ball over and lost. Should have had more Jersey Meats.

Kind of...: USC doesn't have the quality victories necessary to be #teamchaos. They're more #playswithfire. One possession wins over Troy, Minnesota, and Rutgers...

Washington Huskies 76, Northwestern Wildcats 62

MaximumSam: The Detective considers whether he would rather be a school resource officer.

Kind of...: I'll handle the wrap up this time, Nick..."You see, the truth has been staring us in the face all along. Coach Collins has shifting to giving his youngsters more minutes. It worked well enough two win tow of their last three (and put a scare into UCLA). But last night, the youngsters looked inexperienced. A combines 52 minutes for West, Green, and Kropp, with nary a point to be found. Basically, Detective Martinelli is the victim in this case, but what court in the land will declare and organizational restructuring to be a crime? In this moment, the impulse of some will probably be to blame the immigrant who tuned up the Wildcats for 22 points and 14 rebounds, but we know the truth. Not everything is a conspiracy; sometimes things just happen."

Today's Games

#10 Purdue Boilermakers (17-4, 7-3) at #124 Maryland Terrapins (8-12, 1-8)

1 ET, CBS

BoilerUp89: Purdue has seriously faltered the past three games. Will they be able to turn things around? Everyone has got to be better - the players and the coaching staff haven't been doing a good job for most of January.

HoustonBoiler: If Purdue wants a shot at the B1G regular season championship, this is a must win game. TBF, all of their remaining games have pretty much become must win games. Purdue needs to do better at everything, particularly rebounding, communication, and executing on defense.

Kind of...: Not going to try to take any shine away at what our BoilerBot friends have to say. It really speaks for itself.

#54 Minnesota Golden Gophers (10-11, 3-7) at #135 Penn State Nittany Lions (9-12, 0-12)

2 ET, Peacock

BoilerUp89: Minnesota is better than their record. Penn State may go winless in conference play. Now that I've said this Penn State will probably win this game.

HoustonBoiler: Minnesota is the better team and should win this one.

Kind of...: Minnesota should win. But Penn State will get somebody (USC? Probably just Rutgers.) I've counseled patience RE: Medved's rebuild all year. And a loss today really doesn't change next year's potential. Still, win this one, Gophers, or face unnecessary anxiety.

#6 Illinois Fighting Illini (18-3, 9-1) at #11 Nebraska Cornhuskers (20-1, 9-1)

4 ET, FS1

BoilerUp89: Massive game for 1st place. A little disappointed I'll miss most of it taking the youngest nephew to his first "professional" hockey game. It's just minor league hockey, but still a fun time and he won't know the difference.

MaximumSam: Will Hoiberg have 400 runzas delivered to the Illini locker room before the game? If the Ivisics are two steps slow you know what happened.

HoustonBoiler: The second of this weekend's two battle for first place games. Nebraska won the earlier matchup in UC. Can they do it again or will Wagler have another 46 point game?

Kind of...: It's just 12 guys from my neighborhood swatting a raquetball around with tree branches, but he won't know the difference...Oh where was I? Okay, Huskers try to avoid a losing streak and Illini try to avoid getting swept. Bad feeling right now for the Huskers. Both Mast and Frager seem like game-time decisions. And Illinois hasn't lost since the first matchup with Nebraska. Love Nebraska as a story, but like the Illini today.

#20 Iowa Hawkeyes (15-5, 5-4) at #88 Oregon Ducks (8-13, 1-9)

8 ET, FS1

MaximumSam: Man, I had to look up Oregon's roster just to name someone on their team that still plays. Wei Lin. He plays for Oregon.

Kind of...: Sean Stewart was supposed to be a potential huge add in the portal, but his efficiency is the same as it was last year in Columbus. Probably needs to be Kwame Evans's team going forward. But it's a lost year whoever is using most of the possessions at this point. Still, Iowa's pace means this could stay close. And while plenty of B1G teams have size this year, Iowa is not one of them, so Oregon could play a little bully ball in theory. In reality, I'm just seeing the Ducks making the crucial mistakes and Stirtz keeping an overmatched backcourt on a string.

Non-B1G Games of Interest

#15 Alabama Crimson Tide (14-6, 4-3) at #7 Florida Gators (15-6, 6-2), 1 ET, ABC
#96 Wichita State Shockers (13-8, 5-3) at #55 Tulsa Golden Hurricane (18-3, 6-2), 2 ET, ESPNU
#158 East Tennessee State Buccaneers (15-7, 7-2) at #215 Wofford Terriers (15-7, 7-2), 7 ET, CBSSN

BoilerUp89: Battle atop the SEC, Tulsa tries to keep their at-large hopes alive at home against a decent Wichita State team, and Wofford has a chance to grab control of the SoCon race with a win. The Terriers play just two remaining games against the other three contenders moving forward and would take a 1 game lead with a victory here.

Kind of...: I'm not ride-or-die or anything, ETSU had a run in the last 80s/early 90s making the tournament four straight years, the first three behind a 5'7" PG named Keith "Mister" Jennings. In their '89 appearance, they lost a 16/1 game to Oklahoma by a point. Two years later, they almost beat Iowa in the first round. After Jennings graduated, they pulled a 14/3 upset over Arizona in '92 before falling to the Fab Five. So, anyway, I have a soft spot for the Buccaneers. Go Bucs!

Tulsa might go all year without playing a NCAA tournament team. They definitely won't play an at-large worthy team this year. The American has really fallen off.

Sorry to be that guy, but you need to beware of Florida. KenPom has them #7 despite six losses. Three of those were Arizona, UConn, and Duke (all currently 1-seeds at bracketmatrix), all away from Gainesville. They beat Vandy (#13 in KenPom) on the road, and that's one of only two single-digit wins they have all year. It sucks, but they haven't gone anywhere. But Alabama was good enough to beat Illinois and hang with Purdue, so could be a great game today...if you can bear to watch.