Big Ten Basketball January 20 Recaps, Previews, and Open Thread

Happy 7th birthday to EvilBoilerUp89's favorite niece.

Sunday's Game (and also Michigan State/Washington)

Michigan State Spartans 80, Washington Huskies 63

EvilBoilerUp89: It's not that I'm lazy, it's that I just don't care. Also, I'm lazy.

Kind of...: To be fair, there are no Washington fans here to notice. And the MSU fans would find something else to be surly about. So, no harm, no foul, right?

HoustonBoiler: Definitely no harm, no foul.

Maryland Terrapins 96, Penn State Nittany Lions 73

EvilBoilerUp89: Maryland entered the game having kept zero Big Ten games within single figures. They still have yet to play a conference game that finishes by a margin of 9 or less because they fed the Nittany Lions to the woodchipper. Maryland won the rebounding battle 39 to 21 and senior David Coit tied the program record with 9 three pointers. Coit finished with 43 points.

Kind of...: Rutgers might be the worst team in the conference, but they're 2-5 thanks to home wins in OT over Oregon and Northwestern. KenPom gave Oregon a better than 75% of winning at one point in OT and Northwestern an almost 90% chance in the closing moments of regulation. Basically, among PSU, Maryland, Oregon, Northwestern, and Rutgers, one of those teams will avoid having to play on Tuesday at the BTT. But all of them deserve to have to play that day.

Tonight's Games

#61 Minnesota Golden Gophers (10-5, 3-4) at #41 The Ohio State Buckeyes (12-5, 4-3)

6:30 ET, BTN

MaximumSam: The Buckeyes face their biggest obstacle - beating two halfway decent teams in a row. Not counting the random game against Grambling State, they've done the perfect flip flop since losing to Pitt on November 28th. Or is that flop flip?

Kind of...: Ohio State is better than I give them credit for, evidently. They should win this game. Minnesota's only road win was @Northwestern, and that still feels like an upset, even with Northwestern at 0-7 in league play. (Long game, Gopher fans. Long game.)

#25 Indiana Hoosiers (12-6, 3-4) at #1 Michigan Wolverines (16-1, 6-1)

7 ET, Peacock

EvilBoilerUp89: Happiest person in Bloomington is coach DeVries who won't face nearly as much comparison to Dusty May as would have happened if Indiana fans weren't hungover and talking about football.

Kind of...: Michigan has decided to stop doing the "beat everybody by 30 thing," but this is still a huge mismatch personnel-wise. Indiana has no depth. They don't have the size to match up with Michigan's monster front court. And I don't see any way that Enright can keep Cadeau from getting to the cup at will. Other than that, total upset potential.

HoustonBoiler: Do Hoosier fans even know it's basketball season?

#181 Rutgers Scarlet Knights (9-6, 2-5) at #17 Iowa Hawkeyes (13-5, 3-4)

8:30 ET, BTN

Kind of...: Wisconsin played with their food and Rutgers cut a 25-point lead to 7. I'm sure Ben McCollum noticed. Iowa's system should prevent that. But the slow pace--and the fact that Rutgers might be improving--means that a quick Rutgers start isn't totally impossible. But I might just be grasping at straws here.

#12 Michigan State Spartans (16-2, 6-1) at #75 Oregon Ducks (8-10, 1-6)

9 ET, FS1

MaximumSam: Oregon was mildly competitive with Michigan minus Shelstad and Bittle. Sean Stewart had a season high 22 - he'll need to keep it going if they want to continue to be mildly competitive.

Kind of...: What a nightmare season for the Ducks so far. No sign of it letting up anytime soon. I never thought Tom Izzo could have a fringe Final Four contender that is also an under-the-radar team. But that's what it feels like so far this year.

#5 Purdue Boilermakers (17-1, 7-0) at #46 UCLA Bruins (12-6, 4-3)

10 ET, Peacock

EvilBoilerUp89: Purdue has been in Los Angeles longer than UCLA. The Bruins are an awful rebounding team without a center which should serve Purdue well. TKR needs a get well game in the worst possible way. I don't even care about the offense from him. The rebounding and defense have got to get fixed.

Kind of...: Ah the lamentations of a fan of a national title contender...

HoustonBoiler: Keep an eye on Braden Smith, who seemed to suffer a knee injury in Saturday's game at USC. I expect him to start and play, but how effective will he be and how long will he play? As for Purdue, I will once again be a broken record and say they need to rebound, limit their turnovers, and contain the dribble penetration.

Non-conference slate if mostly major conference heavy, but Akron at Buffalo should feature a lot of points and Saint Louis tries to avoid a bad loss at Duquesne. If you must care about other major conferences, SMU @ Wake Forest is important for the ACC pecking order (there is NO mushier middle mushier than the ACC's mushy middle), Clemson tries to move to 7-0 at Will Wade's expense (go Tigers!), and Iowa State tries to avoid three straight losses tonight at home against a feisty UCF squad