Big Ten Basketball, February 27: You Can Learn Serbo-Croat, but You Can't Teach Tall

Last Night's Game

Michigan State Spartans 76, Purdue Boilermakers 74

BoilerUp89: Purdue outrebounded Sparty. Purdue shot 48% from three. Purdue still lost. Why? Michigan State shot 64% from two. Have to be much better on defense and find a way to contest shots without fouling.

Kind of...: Both of these teams are looking at 2- or 3- seeds for the NCAA tournament. Which means a strong, but possibly mine-laden, path to the Sweet 16 and then a close to 50/50 game against a fellow 2- or 3- seed. Both are matchup dependent. For example, I would like Purdue over Gonzaga, but Gonzaga over Sparty. But I think Sparty would have a better shot against Florida. I might be entirely wrong with those statements. The point is, beyond Duke, Michigan, and, maybe, Arizona, there are 8-10 teams who form a high-quality bucket of crabs, and which one or two find their way to the Final Four will really depend on where the wheel lands.

HoustonBoiler: With respect to this game, three things jumped out at me (if you haven't already noticed, I look closely at the box score):

1) Rebounding - as BoilerUp89 already said, Purdue outrebounded Michigan State 27-25. To have a shot, Purdue had to keep up on rebounds.

2) Points in the Paint - One thing I learned from all the analytics talk has been either shoot 3-point shots or 2-point shots close to the basket, i.e., avoid long 2-point shots. Well, Michigan State scored 40 points in the paint (close to the basket) whereas Purdue scored 32. Taking high percentage 2-point shots is particularly important when you don't make as many 3-point shots. This is how to shoot 64% (23 of 36), as BoilerUp89 already said, from two.

3) Turnovers - Purdue had 9. While this number is generally okay, not great mind you, it was not in THIS game. Why? Because Michigan State turned those 9 turnovers into 19 points. Meanwhile, the Spartans only turned the ball over 6 times, off which Purdue scored 5 points.

These are two pretty evenly matched teams and the game reflected that. Each team led for a while but neither could fully separate from the other. Fortunately for Sparty, they led at the end. For non-partisans, this was probably a great game to watch. Absolutely wonderful if you're a Michigan State fan. For Purdue fans, not so much.

Tonight's Game

#1 Michigan Wolverines (26-2, 16-1) at #5 Illinois Fighting Illini (22-6, 13-4)

Kind of...: With Michigan already clinching a share, it really feels inevitable that Illini wins tonight and makes a lot of noise about being the better team. Though, I might just be having flashbacks to 2021. If Illini wins, it will be because they shot great and rebounded Michigan's misses. If Michigan wins, it will be because Illinois doesn't make teams uncomfortable on defense and Cadeau was efficient. Don't know what to expect, but I do think Illinois will come out with more energy/urgency.

HoustonBoiler: This game has lost a little in terms of urgency given Michigan has already secured at least a share of the regular season title. That said, I still expect both teams to really want this game. This has B1G game-of-the-year potential given these are the top two teams in the B1G, two of the five according to Bar Torvik, and we're at the end of February.

AlmaOtter: Illinois has not lost to Michigan since January 10, 2019. Ayo Dosunmu was a freshman in Champaign. Kofi Cockburn was a senior in high school. John Beilein was on the opposite sideline. I was clean-shaven and completely lacking in gray hairs. It's been a while.

Long live the streak.

Non-B1G Games of Interest

#74 Akron Zips (23-5, 14-1) at #159 Kent State Golden Flashes (21-7, 12-3), 8ET, ESPNU

There's also Ivy League action.

Kind of...: Akron/Kent State doesn't really "matter." Neither is getting an at-large and they're very likely to meet again at the MAC tournament in a 2 vs. 3 semifinal. But it could just be a really good game (that overlaps with Michigan/Illinois).