Big Ten Recaps
Penn State Nittany Lions 72, Mercyhurst Lakers 57
Indiana Hoosiers 90, Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles 66
Minnesota Golden Gophers 91, Southern Tigers 61
Friday Night Previews
#335 Bryant Bulldogs (1-3) at #77 Rutgers Scarlet Knights (2-0)
6 pm, B1G+
#148 Sam Houston State Bearkats (2-1) at #7 Illinois Fighting Illini (2-1)
7 pm, B1G+
MaximumSam: Sam Houston with a Name of the Year Candidate in forward Yoda Oke. Do or do not, Brad Underwood.
BoilerUp89: It's Brad Underwood versus his former school.
#122 Northern Iowa Panthers (2-1) at #6 Michigan State Spartans (3-0)
7 pm, FS1
BoilerUp89: Northern Iowa is a solid MVC team but Sparty just beat Duke. They should still roll so long as they don't overlook the Panthers.
#193 Ohio Bobcats (2-0) at #31 Purdue Boilermakers (1-2)
7 pm, B1G+
BoilerUp89: Both my sisters went to OU. I could use a win Boilers.
#27 Ohio State Buckeyes (2-1) at #8 UConn Huskies (3-0)
7:30 pm, TNT
MaximumSam: The Buckeyes can't sort out their defense for anything. UConn very much has sorted out their defense, so a pretty good chance they suplex the Buckeyes through a table.
glass: Looking like Purdue will no longer be lonely as the only team in the league with at least two losses.
#5 Virginia Cavaliers (4-0) at #51 Maryland Terrapins (1-1)
8 pm, Peacock
MaximumSam: No rest for the Terps. Fresh off a loss to Georgetown, they welcome in Ryan Odom and Virginia. The Cavaliers have put a whooping on everyone they've played, including John Calipari and Arkansas.
glass: Virginia might be final four good. Maryland is not.
#68 Depaul Blue Demons (3-0) at #76 Northwestern Wildcats (3-0)
9 pm, BTN
MaximumSam: The War For the Purple Line brings Chris Holtmann and Depaul back to the B1G. They play a bunch of guards but also throw in a couple seven footers in Fabian Flores and Magoon Gwath.
BoilerUp89: Mayor's Key!
MNW: WHO'S READY FOR THE GODDAMN MAYOR'S KEY???
...uh, I really hope the 'Cats. Because there aren't a TON of shots at a Good Win on the calendar, and this is one they need to hold serve on.
Neither team has left home or played anyone of note; DePaul tried to choke away a 15-point halftime lead to South Florida and won by 2, but given who Northwestern has played, I'm not gonna pooh-pooh that. They're functionally even.
What I'm curious about are three things:
- Can the 'Cats cope with the Blue Demons' size two seven-footers (including Magoon Heath!) on the inside?
- Will the Chris Lowery trap-happy D work against DePaul's talented roster of guards and small forwards?
- Can Jake West and LA Pratt get open looks against larger, more talented teams?
If the 'Cats can Meatloaf those three questions, I think they can sneak out a win and put us on a course for daring to dream about the utmost and the highest: an invitation to The Crown.
Saturday Preview
#88 Washington Huskies (2-0) at #113 Utah Utes (3-0)
7 pm, ESPN+
MaximumSam: The Utes are undefeated but were pushed pretty hard by Towson and Long Beach State. But they do have Old Friend and former Buckeye Taison Chatman. Washington is still searching for proof of life, and a road win would be worth something.
Other Games of Note
a whole bunch
Friday
#67 Georgetown Hoyas (3-0) at #58 Clemson Tigers (3-0) 6 EST, ESPNU
#87 Pittsburgh Panthers (3-0) at #95 Butler Bulldogs (2-1) 630 EST, Peacock
#48 Georgia Bulldogs (3-0) at #45 North Carolina Tarheels (3-0) 7 EST, ESPN2
#132 Harvard Crimson (0-1) at #71 George Washington Revolutionaries (3-0) 7 EST, ESPN+
#9 Arizona Wildcats (2-1) at #35 Auburn Tigers (2-0) 9 EST, ESPN2
#62 Mississippi St Bulldogs (3-0) vs #36 Xavier Musketeers (3-0) 9 EST, FS1 Greenbrier Tip-off
#91 Stanford Cardinal (3-0) at #107 UNLV Rebels (2-0) 9 EST, CBSSN
#75 Seton Hall Pirates (3-0) at #22 Alabama Crimson Tide (3-0) 9 EST, SECN
#103 UIC Flames (2-0) at #66 St Mary's Gaels (2-1) 10 EST, ESPN+
#119 UC San Diego Tritons (1-0) at #63 Utah St Aggies (3-0) 10 EST, CW
glass: GW is well on its way to once again beguiling me in the non con with many wins and good computer numbers before inevitably going 8-10 in the A10.
UNLV is the 4th best team from a 2 big league but that still might be enough to beat the... 15th best team? from an... 8 bid league? Good God super leagues have sucked so much of the fun out of this.
UIC's ascent to the top of the MVC has been coming and this trip to a slightly down but still maybe tournament worthy St Mary's should tell a lot about whether the flames finally make the leap.
UCSD spanked a bad Pac 12 earlier this week so let's see how they do against a good Pac12 team.
I used too many abbreviations.
Sickos Special:
#169 Florida International Panthers (1-0) at #218 Florida Gulf Coast Eagles (0-2) 7 EST, ESPN+
glass: Is this a rivalry? Fort Myers is only about 2 hours from Miami so... maybe? Let's call it a rivalry, Anyhow, old friend Pat Chambers is already in his 5th season at FCGU and even though they've started 0-2 the losses were both on the road in very competitive games to UCF (96-65 in OT) and Georgia (80-72).
Saturday
#29 LSU Tigers (3-0) at #10 Gonzaga Bulldogs (2-0) 330 EST, USA
#94 Colorado Buffaloes (2-1) at #57 Providence Friars (2-1) 6 EST, Peacock
#133 Penn Quakers (1-2) at #125 St Joe's Hawks (3-0) 630 EST, ESPN+ Big 5 Classic
#40 Cincinnati Bearcats (2-1) at #100 Dayton Fliers (1-2) 730 EST, ESPN+
#121 Furman Paladins (3-0) at #126 Belmont Bruins (1-1) 830 EST, ESPN+
#65 New Mexico Lobos (3-0)) at #78 Santa Clara Broncos (4-0) 10 EST, ESPN+
#124 Utah Valley Wolverines (1-0) at #81 Nevada Wolfpack (2-1) 10 EST, MW+
glass: The Big 5 will continue to be fun for many years once Villanova abandons the tournament after this season.
Dayton stinks and this is the 3rd year in a row that I have said it needs to be Anthony Grants last. With the Fliers fanbase and resources there is no excuse to miss the tournament as often as they do.
Furman is the best team from the SoCon by a wide margin and anyone seeing them on the 13 or 14 seed line opposite their school should be very concerned.
Convincing Jake Hall (30.7 ppg through 3) to return to Albequerque is going to get Eric Olen PAID somewhere (else) next season. That kid is absolutely electric and the Lobos may need every bit of 30 points from him if they want to leave the Bay Area with a win.
Sickos Special:
#99 Miami OH (2-0) at #289 Evansville Purple Aces (1-1) 2 EST, ESPN+
glass: Last season the Redhawks seemingly had about a dozen games where they struggled against clearly inferior competition and still managed to win under improbable circumstances. This has the potential to be another one of those games and I will be fascinated to see if Miami can continue to walk that fine line between "good team" and "not passing the eye test" that they stuck with through 2025/26's 28 game win streak.
