Big Ten Basketball January 25 Recaps, Previews, and Open Thread

Yesterday's Games

Nebraska Cornhuskers 76, Minnesota Golden Gophers 57

Kind of...: NATION'S LONGEST WINNING STREAK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It wasn't the game of the day, and it wasn't almost doubling up a hapless opponent, but Nebraska still showed out yesterday. Trailing by 8 early in the second, the Huskers outscored Minnesota 35-9 over the next twelve minutes. Neither team shot great from three, but Nebraska hit 60% from 2 and ended five fewer possessions with turnovers. Next week features a visit to Ann Arbor and a visit from Illinois. Idiots who haven't been paying attention will vomit forth platitudes about "finding out of if Nebraska is for real," but wins over Illinois and MSU already proved that. Next week will give further evidence of just how good Nebraska is: second-weekend caliber (as the advanced numbers suggest) or Final Four quality (as the 20-0 indicates).

HoustonBoiler: Nebraska was down 6 at the half, but absolutely blew Minnesota out in the second half. A win in Ann arbor will put the Huskers on the inside track for the B1G regular season championship.

Michigan State Spartans 91, Maryland Terrapins 48

Kind of...: As others have noted, if the B1G had kept the 15 team conference tournament, the bottom of the conference would be really interesting. Not Maryland, though. They don't have the worst metrics (that's Rutgers). They're not dead last (that's Penn State). They're not the hard luck case (that's Northwestern). And while they're certainly missing Pharrel Payne, they can't complain about injury luck in Oregon's presence. They're just a bad team with a terrible offense.

Sparty had jumped all the way to #4 in KenPom, but other results caused the Spartans to fall back to a very close #6 (#4 Illinois 31.25, #5 Iowa State 31.24, #6 MSU 31.23). I'm not seeing anybody treat Michigan State as on the same level as Michigan, Nebraska, Illinois, and Purdue, but why not? Since a TWO POINT LOSS IN LINCOLN in a game where MSU turned it over ON 32% OF THEIR POSSESSIONS, the Spartans have won six straight by an average of 23 points. The offense can look a little rough, but this wouldn't be the first team to round into form and become special as this season wears on.

Illinois Fighting Illini 88, Purdue Boilermakers 82

BoilerUp89: Keaton Wagler scored 46 points for Illinois and the Illini dominated the boards. Combined with a 47% outing from three for them, I'm surprised Purdue kept things this close.

Purdue has to figure out the defense. The hard hedges are putting Kaufman-Renn & Cluff in terrible positions where they leave opposing 4s and 5s wide open for threes and can't recover. Maybe you can do that against teams without shooters at the post positions, but UCLA and Illinois were not that. Fletcher Loyer can't stay in front on anyone.

Kind of...: Obviously the game of the day. And the performance of the year from Wagler. @BoilerUp89 knows his team and his diagnosis is incisive. Part of what it shows is just where the sport is at, now. Once upon a time, you could hide a Fletcher Loyer on defense. Because once upon a time the court wasn't filled with guys looked to shoot from three. EVERYBODY WHO PLAYED MORE THAN A MINUTE FOR ILLINOIS YESTERDAY ATTEMPTED AT LEAST THREE 3's.

TKR and Cluff grabbed six rebounds...combined. So they're being put in a position where their assignments are getting open looks, AND Illinois is grabbing almost half their misses. Not good, Bob. Purdue was 26/39 from 2, and had a 19:3 Asst/TO performance. And they lost at home. Wild.

HoustonBoiler: Look, Keaton Wagler was hotter than the sun (9 of 11 on 3-pt shots and 11 of 13 FTs), but an opposing player sometimes goes nuclear. It happens. Not often, but it does on occasion and you need to do the other things well, i.e., limiting turnovers and rebounding, to overcome it when it does. Purdue did the first (only 3 turnovers), but not the second. The difference in this game was Illinois out rebounding Purdue 33 - 19. Illinois is perhaps the best offensive rebounding team in the country and it really showed as they had 13 offensive rebounds. Note, Purdue is a good rebounding team but only had 3 offensive rebounds. This disparity resulted in 18 second-chance points for Illinois while they limited Purdue to 2. There's the ballgame.

UCLA Bruins 71, Northwestern Wildcats 64

Kind of...: Not these teams' fault this game felt like an afterthought. Wildcats played respectably, but lost. Lather. Rinse. Repeat. Tyler Bildeau continued his run of steady play. Bruins head to Eugene next, then get three straight at home, so could be 10-3 in B1G play before a terrifying stretch: @Michigan, @Michigan State, vs. Illinois.

Plenty of time for Mick to work up a new whinge.

Non-B1G Games of Interest

UConn Huskies 75, Villanova Wildcats 67 (OT)

HoustonBoiler: This game was tight. Villanova had a 4 point lead at halftime while UConn came back in the second half, leaving it tied at 61 at the end of regulation. Villanova's Tyler Perkins hit a 3-pointer to open overtime, but that was the last Villanova FG as UConn took over to win it at home.

Today's Games

#72 Oregon Ducks (8-11, 1-7) at #53 Washington Huskies (10-8, 2-6)

3 ET, Peacock

Kind of...: Gotta wonder how Hannes Steinbach feels when he sees all the fun Illinois' Euros are having. And Rienk Mast in Lincoln. But he and his supporting cast are good enough that they should have some fun today against an injury-depleted Ducks squad. If not, things might start to get uncomfortable for Danny Sprinkle, and nobody want a coach that hot to be uncomfortable, right?

#57 USC Trojans (14-5, 3-5) at #32 Wisconsin Badgers (14-5, 6-2)

4 ET, Peacock

Kind of...: Bracketmatrix has the Trojans in the field as a 10-seed, but they can feel real comfortable. Seton Hall is the only win of note, and without some OT luck, they could easily be 12-7/2-6 with a bad loss to Troy on the resume. But with road games against Wisconsin and Iowa on tap, there's a chance to burnish the profile with a Quad 1 road win.

As for the Badgers, it was easy to leave the for dead after blowout losses to BYU, Nebraska, and Purdue (I would know because I did so), but the steadied the ship by beating UCLA, then pulled off the best win all season to date by beating Michigan in Ann Arbor. With the next three games in Madison, there's a chance (though 2-1 seems much more likely) that the Badgers could be sitting at 9-2, and tied for 3rd or something, this time next week. If so, sell high. The Badgers are tournament worthy, but certainly not among the league's best.

Non-B1G Games of Interest

#85 FAU Owls (14-6, 6-1) at #69 USF Bulls (12-7, 4-2), 1 ET, ESPN2
#348 Saint Francis Red Flash (6-14, 4-5) at #337 New Haven Chargers (9-11, 4-3), 1 ET
#356 Chicago State Cougars (2-18, 0-7) at #284 Mercyhurst Lakers (9-11, 4-3), 2 ET
#158 Southern Illinois Salukis (8-12, 2-7) at #283 Evansville Purple Aces (5-15, 1-8), 4 ET

BoilerUp89: If you play today you made the list. I will say I'm a little surprised that Evansville is hosting a game today.

Remember when SIU fired their head coach Bryan Mullins after the Salukis finished just 11-9 in MVC play while their stars from the previous year Lance Jones and Marcus Domask were tearing it up in the B1G? Scott Nagy was a decent coach at South Dakota State and Wright State but maybe firing the guy who identified that level of talent was a bad idea.

Kind of...: SIU has had some bad luck this year and is definitely better than their record. But, yeah, if you hire a 30-something as your head coach, why not show some patience? Especially, you know, an alum? Odds are he gets another job somewhere. I'll be betting on him.

As for the Valley...Murray State just went 0-2 in Iowa, falling into a time with fellow (relative) newbie Belmont. If you want a traditional Valley team to win the league, Bradley and Illinois State are your best bets, though both have been hot-and-cold this year.

And, hey, give FAU/USF a look. An important American game. Two the three best teams in the conference (along with Tulsa) showing down with first place on the line. And both are in the top 40 in terms of tempo. Should be a treat.