Big Ten Basketball: November 5 Recaps, Previews, and Open Thread

The Big Ten stayed undefeated for another night thanks to a late game winner. #1 got into action but without their top scorer. Iowa was quicker than expected.

Just two B1G teams in action tonight and the level of competition doesn't inspire much confidence that they will be entertaining games. Should still be interesting to see how Rutgers and Indiana are rebuilding.

All numbers via Torvik. All predictions not financial advice.

Last Night's Games

1 Purdue Boilermakers 82, Evansville Purple Aces 51

HoustonBoiler: Fletcher Loyer had a career best 30 points, making 7 of 10 3-point shots, while Braden Smith had 11 assists to lead the Boilermakers to a comfortable win. At one point in the second half, they lead by 38 points. Purdue also played without Tre Kaufman-Renn due to a hip injury. In his place, redshirt freshman Jack Benter started and performed admirably with 11 points, connecting on 3 of 6 3-point shots, 6 rebounds, 2 assists, and 1 block. Purdue protected the ball well in only turning it over 7 times, but did not dominate the glass as both teams had 40 total rebounds. This will be something to keep an eye on going forward if Trey Kaufman-Renn is out for an extended period and when Purdue faces better competition.

BoilerUp89: 20 offensive rebounds for Evansville was concerning but otherwise saw a lot of other things to like. Defense looked better and had some possessions where they were very good with rotations. Offense was fine although it was a very quite night for Harris and Cox. Some things to clean up for the Boilers but Evansville's inability to make shots turned this one into a blowout.

Iowa Hawkeyes 101, Robert Morris Colonials 69

MaximumSam: Not an excruciatingly slow pace for the first game, at least.

BoilerUp89: Surprise for me but Kind of... has been calling it all offseason. Bennett Stirtz was amazing. The rebounding numbers weren't good but Iowa also forced 23 turnovers which makes up for that somewhat.

Oregon Ducks 60, Hawai'i Rainbow Warriors 59

MaximumSam: Shout out to me for missing not one but two big contributors in my Oregon preview. Wei Lin, who joined the team last month, started the game in the absence of Jackson Shelstad. The other is walk-on guard Drew Carter, who I can barely find any information about at all. He did play 20 minutes and provide zero points and one assist. Not ideal! But we do at least have late game excitement.

Tonight's Big Ten Games

#315 Rider Broncs (0-1) at #97 Rutgers Scarlet Knights (0-0)

6 ET, BTN, SPREAD Rutgers -20.5, O/U 142.5

Kind of...: Tough night for hoops. Can't all be winners in the non-conference season, but this is definitely a comedown.

MaximumSam: Rider already got clubbed by Virginia. They do have a couple name guys in Zion Cruz and Flash Burton. Get ready to learn elbow, guys.

AlmaOtter: Yeah, this might be a night for MACtion football. Tough slate.

#283 Alabama A&M Bulldogs (1-0) at #40 Indiana Hoosiers (0-0)

8 ET, BTN, SPREAD Indiana -26.5, O/U 145.5

MaximumSam: The Bulldogs sport a win over Blue Mountain. Was that the actual school in Blue Mountain State? Look out for guard Sami Pissis. At least, I'm sure the announcers are looking out for him and locking down that pronunciation.

BoilerUp89: I think that was Blue Mountain Christian University, a 450 student school that was previously an all women's school until 2006. The Bulldogs beat them by just 20 so I expect Indiana to cover the spread.

Non-Big Ten Games of Interest

North Dakota State Bison (0-1) at UC Davis Aggies (1-0), 9 ET, ESPN+
Eastern Washington Eagles (0-1) at Loyola Marymount Lions (1-0), 10:30 ET, ESPN+