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

All numbers via Torvik. All predictions not financial advice.

Last Night's Games

THE Ohio State Buckeyes 64, Notre Dame Fighting Irish 63

BoilerUp89: Neither team played great, but OSU got the win thanks to just 60% free throw shooting for the Irish on 20 attempts and poor end of game decisions by Notre Dame. Christoph Tilly hit the game winner with 13 seconds remaining for the Buckeyes. Notre Dame declined to use a timeout and settled for a fadeaway contested three pointer as time expired.

MaximumSam: Not the most beautiful outing for anyone, though getting a tough win is better than the alternative. Christoph Tilly was actually quite good, and the Buckeyes having a big man who can walk and chew gum is a new experience. Freshman Amare Bynum also looked the part - he's all arms and legs but seems like he can actually bother the other team.

Kind of...: Losing would've been worse for Ohio State than winning was good. But...they didn't lose. And that's the important thing.

Indiana Hoosiers 69, Incarnate Word Cardinals 61

BoilerUp89: We have our answer on what happens when IU doesn't shoot well from three. The Hoosiers were still able to grind out a win over Incarnate Word thanks to the excellent play of Sam Alexis off the bench (16 points, 8 rebounds).

Kind of...: Yeah...yikes. Not a lot of margin of error for the Hoosiers. Which isn't too surprising given how thin the bench is. But good things have happened with seven-man rotations before. Stay healthy fellas. Stay healthy.

Purdue Boilermakers 97, Akron Zips 79

BoilerUp89: Akron kept it close for most of the first half by using timely three point shooting. Three double-doubles for the Boilermakers: Smith (points/assists), Cluff & Kaufman-Renn (points/rebounds). Purdue had 19 more rebounds and 46 points in the paint as they overwhelmed the Zips inside. Matt Painter secured his 500th career victory.

Purdue's offense has been elite. Despite playing at a deliberate pace (334th in tempo nationally), they've scored 82, 87, 87, and 97. The defense still has some work to do as they give up a lot of open looks from three. Opponents are attempting over 50% of their field goal attempts from three.

Kind of...: This wasn't a buy game, so Akron could've, on the right day, pulled this off. But the way this played out was pretty much right in the middle of the distribution curve. KenPom predicted 89-73, so props to Purdue for the exquisite offense and being two points better than expected.

HoustonBoiler: Drawing fouls really allowed Purdue to separate in the latter port of the first half. At one point, the foul disparity was 8-1 in favor of Purdue and resulted in some key players for Akron having to sit. If you're covering Braden Smith, don't leave your feet ... ever.

Purdue could have taken their foot off the gas early in the second half when they were comfortably ahead, but they didn't. They continued to go hard and ran the lead up to 26 before backing off.

Monday's Big Ten Games

#218 SIU Edwardsville Cougars (3-1) at #27 Wisconsin Badgers (3-0)

8 ET, BTN

BoilerUp89: The Cougars made their first NCAA tournament last March after winning the Ohio Valley Conference tournament. This year's team can't shoot straight, but have shown a solid defense against mid and low majors. I doubt it slows down Wisconsin though.

Kind of...: SIU-E has a win over recent MVC powerhouse Drake...but 1) Drake may not be very good this year, and 2) SIU-E also has a loss to Indiana State, an MVC school who almost certainly is not very good this year. The Badgers should roll.

#114 Oregon State Beavers (3-0) at #36 Oregon Ducks (3-0)

10 ET, FS1

BoilerUp89: Rivalry game time! Oregon's offense has been clunky early on this season and the Beavers have a trio of respectable wins over North Dakota State, Illinois Chicago, and North Texas. All three of Oregon State's wins have been one possession games.

Kind of...: Oregon has been VERY shaky so far. KenPom has them down at 56 (after starting the year at 35). The Ducks desperately need a third scorer. Bittle and Shelstad are great. The rest of the team would project somewhere in the 275-325 range in terms of offensive ranking. Gotta assume Oregon State will be fired up. Let's see if Oregon shows any improvement.

MaximumSam: Name Alert - Oregon State has a backup center from Australia named Yaak Yaak. There are actually a lot of Big Beavers, including Johan Munch. The Ducks better be prepared for the Beaver Munch.

Today's Non-Big Ten Games of Interest

#58 VCU Rams at #35 North Carolina State Wolfpack, 7 ET, ACCN
#146 Drake Bulldogs at #145 Charleston Cougars, 7 ET, FloSports
#120 Saint Joseph's Hawks at #298 Penn Quakers, 7 ET, ESPN+
#191 Oakland Golden Grizzlies at #81 UCF Knights, 7 ET, ESPN+
#132 Tulsa Golden Hurricane at #76 Kansas State Wildcats, 8 ET, ESPN+
#133 Southern Illinois Salukis at #226 North Dakota State Bison, 8 ET
#110 Loyola Marymount Lions at #111 UC Santa Barbara Gauchos, 9 ET, ESPN+

Kind of...: VCU/NC State is by far the most intriguing...unless you're ride or die Big Five. Maybe keep an eye on Loyola Marymount/UCSB, though. The Lions are already 5-0 and currently ranked as the fifth best team in a pretty good WCC (which now contains Oregon State and Wazzu). The WCC is not getting five teams to the Big Dance, but three, well that's a possibility. Is Loyola Marymount better than Santa Clara and San Francisco (they're definitely NOT better than Gonzaga or Saint Mary's)? Probably not. But keep an eye open just in case.

Southern Illinois had a tough road loss to Nevada last week. MVC is a one-bid league this year, for sure. But, still, losing to NDSU would be a bad look for a team allegedly in the upper echelon of the MVC this year.

BoilerUp89: WCC isn't a 5 bid league but four isn't completely out of the question if Santa Clara/San Francisco/LMU continue to win in the noncon. If one of them can earn an at large and one can steal an auto bid... here's hoping anyway.