Big Ten Basketball January 17 Recaps, Previews, and Open Thread

Wednesday's Games

Purdue Boilermakers 79, Iowa Hawkeyes 72

Kind of...: Iowa looked good enough that their B1G record might surprise you. And Purdue looked susceptible enough that their overall record might surprise you. But Iowa is a good team with an apparently hard ceiling. And Purdue is an excellent team that still is not what it could be. Iowa posed a test and Purdue passed it.

BoilerUp89: Iowa shot 58% from three. Purdue's defense and effort were pretty big questionmarks for 28 minutes and they found themselves down 9 at home. The Boilers would finish 11 of their final 13 from the field as the completed the comeback. Braden Smith had all 16 points in the second half.

Illinois Fighting Illini 79, Northwestern Wildcats 68

Kind of...: Not a surprise, but Northwestern has pulled off this surprise before. Northwestern's lost season continues. Illinois is up to #5 in KenPom, but it still seems like plenty of folks aren't sure how good they really are. Well, they should be 16-3/7-1 when they head to West Lafayette next Saturday. THAT should tell us something.

UCLA Bruins 71, Penn State Nittany Lions 60

Kind of...: A loss would have been horrible, but only mildly surprising, for UCLA. Congrats on avoiding the landmine. Now split @Ohio State and vs. Purdue and you might really have something considering the Bruins will probably be favored in each of their next five after that.

Michigan Wolverines 82, Washington Huskies 72

Kind of...: A solid road win is nothing to scoff at, but clearly the "invincible Michigan" narrative can be shelved for a while. Still, nothing wrong with being an elite team and legitimate national title contender, which the Wolverines still are.

Today's Games

#65 Minnesota Golden Gophers (10-7, 3-3) at #6 Illinois Fighting Illini (14-3, 5-1)

Noon ET, BTN

MaximumSam: The Illini seem to have figured some things out since losing to Nebraska. They are on a six game winning streak that includes straight up murders of Missouri and Rutgers. They had better keep at it - they still have to visit Purdue, Sparty, and the Huskers.

Kind of...: With an 18-team league, it's too easy to overreact to a two or three game trend. So let's say this right now: Medved has the Gophers ahead of schedule. They could very easily be 5-1 in league play right now. In which case I would say "pump the breaks, they're ahead of schedule but..." However, they're 3-3, so that preface is unnecessary and I can just pick up with the meat of what I would've said anyway: "there's a brutal stretch for the Gophers ahead: @Illinois, @Ohio State, vs. Nebraska, @Wisconsin." If, two weeks from today Minnesota is 10-11, 3-7, they'll STILL be ahead of schedule. Give it time Gophers fans.

#46 UCLA Bruins (12-5, 4-2) at #47 The Ohio State Buckeyes (11-5, 3-3)

1 ET, CBS

MaximumSam: The Midfest in the Midwest. Also, former Tar Heel and Nit Puff Johnson has apparently been ruled eligible by a local judge and is now part of the Buckeye team. Which is good, because they have no bench and a few injuries. Lebron should also sue.

Kind of...: Great name for today's game MaximumSam! OSU is #40 in NET; UCLA is #44. So, whoever gets the win (especially if it's the road Bruins) will get a great addition to their resume and whoever loses will only lament the missed opportunity, but not get dinged too bad. Pure upside game.

BoilerUp89: No Skyy Clarke for UCLA. The Buckeyes meanwhile have added Puff Johnson (former Nit) for a 6th year effective immediately after a judge granted them a temporary restraining order. The judge issuing the restraining order is in fact a graduate of The Ohio State University (not just once, but twice: undergrad and law school). This is due a longer form article by me as it involves many of my least favorite things, but why does Diebler even want Puff in the first place? Besides the fact that's he's 25.

#176 Rutgers Scarlet Knights (9-8, 2-4) at #35 Wisconsin Badgers (12-5, 4-2)

2 ET, BTN

Kind of...: If Wisconsin loses this, it will be as if they didn't beat Michigan. Maybe worse. Don't lose this Wisconsin.

#19 Iowa Hawkeyes (12-5, 2-4) at #23 Indiana Hoosiers (12-5, 3-3)

2 ET, FOX

MaximumSam: Both of these teams could use a win. Iowa has lost three straight and Indiana has lost two. Iowa at least has six pretty winnable games after this one, while the Hoosiers have to visit Michigan.

Kind of...: Iowa is sitting at #22 in NET and #21 in KenPom. Everybody's numbers love them. And the schedule really breaks wide open for them after this game (KenPom has them favored in their next six games, only one of which with a win probability below 67%). Indiana's next six involve two road games in LA, going to Ann Arbor, and hosting Purdue. So, despite Iowa's worse conference record, the home Hooisers need this game more.

BoilerUp89: I think these might be the 6th and 7th best teams in the conference. Wisconsin certainly has an argument as well and both these teams lost to fellow former Drake HC led Minnesota but on a game by game basis they've been near the top of the mushy middle.

#1 Michigan Wolverines (15-1, 5-1) at #90 Oregon Ducks (8-9, 1-5)

4 ET, NBC

MaximumSam: Three of the contenders visit the Left Coast today. Will one of them leave sad? Nate Bittle and Jackson Shelstad are out today for Oregon, so unlikely the sad team will be Michigan.

Kind of...: The Ducks were already cooked. Now Bittle is out for at least a month. Ignore what I said above. The 40 points victories have returned for Michigan. At least for today.

#16 Nebraska Cornhuskers (17-0, 6-0) at #62 Northwestern Wildcats (8-9, 0-6)

4 ET, BTN

MaximumSam: The Detective takes on the case of the Corn Cob Streaker.

Kind of...: The Detective takes on the cases of "What happened? We were almost exactly equal last year." (2025 Northwestern #44 in KenPom, 7-13 in B1G; 2025 Nebraska #46 in KenPom, 7-13 in B1G.)

#13 Michigan State Spartans (15-2, 5-1) at #50 Washington Huskies (10-7, 2-4)

6 ET, BTN

Kind of...: I don't think Washington can match MSU's physicality, but if the Huskies get out to a fast start, then the upset is possible. MSU may be the team I have the hardest time calibrating right now. Some really good wins. Both losses are elite. And yet they don't strike me as a Final Four contenders. Even though I've been an adult for the entire Izzo era. Time will tell, but history suggests that 3pt shooting and turnovers be damned, when Izzo has a really good PG, they do stuff in March.

BoilerUp89: Des Claude has been playing on an ineffectively healed ankle and in tremendous pain. As such he is now stepping away for health reasons for awhile.

#5 Purdue Boilermakers (16-1, 6-0) at #57 USC Trojans (14-3, 3-3)

6 ET, Peacock

Kind of...: USC is athletic and Purdue will have traveled a ways. Seems like reasonable upset potential. And the Boilers have taken to playing with their food a bit the past three games. Still, I'm not seeing it. And a USC loss puts them on thinner ice. They're pretty clearly 11th in the B1G pecking order right now. (Bracketmatrix has them a 9-side, but that will slide in next week's brackets if they lose.)

BoilerUp89: The west coast swings are always a challenge. Even though Purdue is the better team and this doesnt feel like a nightmare matchup, USC will presumably be excited for this game and Purdue had a long flight.

Non-B1G Games of Interest

#8 Virginia Cavaliers (15-2, 4-1) at #34 SMU Mustangs (13-4, 2-2), Noon ET, ESPN2
#40 Kentucky Wildcats (11-6, 2-2) at #17 Tennessee Volunteers (12-5, 2-2), Noon ET, ESPN
#11 Florida Gators (12-5, 3-1) at #7 Vanderbilt Commodores (16-1, 3-1), 2 ET, ESPN
#110 St. Thomas Tommies (15-4, 4-0) at #126 North Dakota State (15-5, 5-0), 2 ET
#32 Miami Florida Hurricanes (15-2, 4-0) at #24 Clemson Tigers (15-3, 5-0), 2:15 ET, the CW
#143 Quinnipiac Bobcats (12-5, 5-2) at #241 Merrimack Warriors (10-6, 6-1), 3 ET, ESPN+
#2 Arizona Wildcats (17-0, 4-0) at #43 UCF Knights (14-5, 3-1), 4 ET, ESPN
#27 Arkansas Razorbacks (13-4, 3-1) at #36 Georgia Bulldogs (14-3, 2-2), ESPN2
#152 UT Arlington Mavericks (12-5, 4-1) at #78 Utah Valley Wolverines (14-4, 4-1), 4ET, ESPN+
#131 Arkansas State Red Wolves (12-6, 4-2) at #116 Troy Trojans (12-6, 5-1), 4:30 ET, ESPN+
#232 Lindenwood Lions (11-7, 5-2) at #250 UT Martin Skyhawks (14-4, 6-1), 4:30 ET, ESPN+
#15 Duke Blue Devils (16-1, 5-0) at #63 Stanford Cardinal (14-4, 3-2), 6 ET, ACCN
#31 Saint Mary's Gaels (17-2, 6-0) at #39 Santa Clara (15-5, 6-1), 7 ET, ESPN+
#160 Austin Peay Governors (11-5, 5-0) at #168 Lipscomb Bison (11-7, 4-1), 7 ET, ESPN+
#18 BYU Cougars (16-1, 4-0) at #22 Texas Tech Red Raiders (15-4, 3-1), 8 ET, ESPN
#44 New Mexico Lobos (14-3, 5-1) at #41 San Diego State Aztecs (12-4, 6-0), 8 ET, CBSSN
#20 St. John's Red Storm (12-5, 5-1) at #30 Villanova Wildcats (14-3, 5-1), 8 ET, Peacock
#174 Montana Grizzlies (9-8, 3-1) at #136 Montana State Bobcats (9-8, 3-1), 8 ET, ESPN+

BoilerUp89: Threw in some low and mid-major top of the conference battles.

Kind of...: I'll be paying close attention to Florida/Vandy. The analytics love Vandy, but Florida looks like they've evolved into an elite team lately. Huge SEC battle. Duke and Arizona both cross the country today. Don't see an upset in either game, but possible. Santa Clara is still in the at-large conversation, but really needs to hold serve at home against Saint Mary's tonight. BYU/Texas Tech is a good one. Dybantsa. Toppin. B1G action will be finished by tip. If you're ride-or-die with mid-majors, then check out New Mexico/SDSU instead. Winner is #2 in MWC pecking order. Loser still looking okay. For now.