Big Ten Basketball January 2 Recaps, Previews, and Open Thread

Tuesday's Games

Nebraska Cornhuskers 86, New Hampshire Wildcats 55

Northwestern Wildcats 80, Howard Bison 60

Wisconsin Badgers 80, Milwaukee Panthers 60

BoilerUp89: Three games that happened.

Kind of...: Oooooh, look at Nebraska. Can't win 80-60 like everybody else. Gotta show off, score a few more points, allow a few less. You're soooooo special Nebraska. [This is in no way motivated by the fact that Nebraska only beat New Hampshire by one more than they throttled Wisconsin. No way at all. No connection whatsoever. And don't put in the paper that I got mad!]

HoustonBoiler: The combines keep rolling in their final tune up before facing Sparty.

Tonight's Games

#40 USC Trojans (12-1, 1-1) at #1 Michigan Wolverines (12-0, 2-0)

7 ET, Peacock

BoilerUp89: USC makes their first trip east of the Rocky Mountains of the season. Last season they only won at Illinois and at Nebraska when flying over the mountains. Playing at the juggernaut Michigan seems like an unlikely way to get over their Midwestern road woes. Although the Trojans have some guards that could get hot from three, they've generally struggled on the glass while Michigan is big and pretty good.

Kind of...: Let's try to force a meme...USC isn't bad, but this has the look of an Alabama/Indiana football game.

#59 Oregon Ducks (7-6, 0-2) at #110 Maryland Terrapins (7-6, 0-2)

7:30 ET, Peacock

BoilerUp89: Both teams' tournament hopes are on life support. Neither can afford to start 0-3 in Big Ten play. Which coach has pulled the right strings during the holiday break? At least both of them get to participate in the Big Ten tournament this year! Participation ribbons for everyone!

Kind of...: The two most reprehensible collections of sartorial stylings meet what ought to be a relegation matchup.

HoustonBoiler: Kind of... nailed it. My eyes were never great, but I will spare them from seeing the unis in this matchup.

#36 The Ohio State Buckeyes (9-3, 1-1) at #194 Rutgers Scarlet Knights (7-6, 0-2)

8 ET, Peacock

BoilerUp89: “I'd like to get a 36-year-old with four kids and is hungry for a job, I'd like to get one of those guys.” - Steve Pikiell.

I don't think that would really help out this year's roster, Steve. Ohio State is the better team, but the Buckeyes have had a nasty habit of dropping games to teams they shouldn't the past few years. For their sake I hope this isn't one of them or Diebler is going to be fired faster than Ryan Day.

Kind of...: Does being hungry for a job make one a better shooter? Oh wait, that's never been Pikiell's main concern. Long winter ahead. Maybe for OSU, too.

#16 Michigan State Spartans (12-1, 2-0) at #26 Nebraska Cornhuskers (13-0, 2-0)

9 ET, Peacock

BoilerUp89: Game of the night as two of the conference's five 2-0 teams go at it! Nebrasketball and the nation's longest active winning streak vs. the reigning Big Ten champs. Nebraska shoots a lot of threes and neither team runs opposing shooters off the three point line very often. This could turn into a fast paced game with three-pointers flying.

Kind of...: Say it with me: NATION'S LONGEST WINNING STREAK!!! I know what the front of the jersey's say, but the Huskers already won in Chambana. Nebraska doesn't jus give away games (anymore), Sparty is going to have to take it. Of course, if any program knows something about winning games through sheer force of will, it's Izzo's charges.

Wait, it's on &^#$#(!@ Peacock!!!

HoustonBoiler: The combines have already rolled through Chambana so we'll see if they can hold off Sparty at home. Checks TV schedule ... oh wait, so I will not see this game.

Non-B1G Games of Interest

#144 Sam Houston Bearkats (8-4) at #154 Western Kentucky Hilltoppers (7-5), 5 ET, ESPN+
#162 Siena Saints (9-4) at #164 Iona Gaels (9-5), 7 ET, ESPN+
#161 Kennesaw State Owls (8-4) at #105 Liberty Donkeys (9-3), 7 ET, ESPNU
#11 Louisville Cardinals (11-2) at #84 Stanford Cardinal (11-3), 8 ET, ACCN
#55 West Virginia Mountaineers (9-4) at #8 Iowa State Cyclones (13-0), 9 ET, ESPN2
#107 Seattle Redhawks (12-3) at #5 Gonzaga Bulldogs (14-1), 9 ET, ESPN+
#70 Notre Dame Fighting Irish (10-4) at #76 Cal Golden Bears (12-2), 11 ET, ESPN2

BoilerUp89: I'm not super excited about most of tonight's selections. Stanford gets included because they played an easy non-conference slate and their record looks better than their team is - this will probably be one of their last appearances in this section this season. Seattle at Gonzaga is an interesting WCC matchup and in-state game. I don't think they can take down the Zags on the road, but I'll keep an eye on the scoreboard to see whether WCC play might have some challenges this season. Otherwise, we've got an undefeated Iowa State at home and some conference games between teams with winning records that are also in the top half of college basketball. Friday night brings a low bar to clear.

Kind of...: Six unbeatens left. Three are in action tonight (Michigan, Nebraska, Iowa State). The others (Miami (OH), Vandy, Arizona) go tomorrow. BoilerUp89 is good at this, so I'll save any Miami commentary for tomorrow's writeup, but they're worth watching.

I won't actually watch, but Louisville/Stanford is worth noting. The CardinalS look to be a top-15 team, but they're only 1-2 in true road games. That said, the win was a 20-point blowout at Cal Tuesday night, who look to be marginally better than the (singular) Cardinal, so maybe it won't be close. Yeah, pretty thin.

HoustonBoiler: The Louisville/Stanford matchup features birds versus a color. Given that the Cardinal have basically only beaten Chartreuse thus far, I expect the birds to win in spite of their long flight to Palo Alto.