Big Ten Basketball, February 17th: Tuesday Night Quintuple Header!

Sunday

Illinoi Fighting Illini 71, Indiana Hoosiers 51

Kind of...: Went as expected.

AlmaOtter: It was fairly close at the half (Illini with a 7 point lead), but eventually the elastic snapped midway through the second. Illinois continues to bully teams that can't match their height, and that was at play here. I don't care to look up the actual stat, but I'm fairly certain that Illinois had a fuckin' bajillion offensive rebounds and two fuckin' bajillion points off of those rebounds. Also for funsies, let's take a look at the Wagler quasi-layup that scored the final points of the game.

Rutgers Scarlet Knights 68, Maryland Terrapins 57

Kind of...: Bucket crabs strikes again. Which of Oregon, PSU, NW, Rutgers, and Maryland will escape having to play on Tuesday at the BTT. KenPom currently says Rutgers. That's all you need to know about the (lack of) quality at the bottom of the conference.

Today

#1 Michigan Wolverines at #7 Purdue Boilermakers

6:30 pm, Peacock

MaximumSam: We have video of Yaxel Lendeborg talking about spanking Purdue. Why don't we have video of Oscar Cluff talking about stabbing Dusty May with a protractor? In the age of social media, I want more smack talk.

Kind of...: Outstanding! Truly. Lendeborg is #1 in KenPom's all-conference rankings, and Michigan is #1 in his national ratings. This is how you act the part of the heavy. Well done. And Braden Smith, #3 in B1G rankings, is certainly capable of being an irritant. With a charged up home crowd, this really could be a great game. TKR and Cluff need to come loaded for bear. So far, most of the big-time showdowns in conference play have lived up to the hype. Hopefully this one follows suit.

BoilerUp89: Big, big game. Not sure how Purdue deals with Michigans size but the 3 seniors had plenty of practice dealing with a dominant defensive center for two years playing with/against Edey.

HoustonBoiler: If Purdue wants a shot at the regular season title, this is a must win game. Purdue will need to bring defensive intensity and cohesiveness, rebound, limit their turnovers, contain the dribble, and make shots. Rebounding will be a challenge given Michigan's size, but Purdue has faced bigger teams in the past, such as last season. On paper, this game should be close, but that's not always how they turn out. One thing that surprised me yesterday was free throw shooting: Purdue is 12th in the B1G at 73.9% while Michigan is 13th at 73.2%. This could really bite one or both of these teams moving forward.

#38 UCLA Bruins at #17 Michigan State Spartans

8:30 pm, Peacock

MaximumSam: The Xavier Booker return game. Will he get a DNP for old time's sake?

Kind of...: These have combined to lose their last game by 51 points. Somebody's postgame press conference is going to be quite unpleasant. I'm guessing it will be UCLA's.

#23 Wisconsin Badgers at #39 Ohio State Buckeyes

8:30, FS1

MaximumSam: Well hey, the Buckeyes are playing a team with a pulse again. How will they fade down the stretch in this one?

Kind of...: Nice try at the reverse jinx. But this is clearly Wisconsin's big chance to escape the mushy middle. And we all know that there is no escaping the mushy middle. Wisconsin's bigs were uniformly excellent last time. With some expected regression, this feels like a close game. Nick Boyd has been alternately impressive and puzzling in late game situations. Probably due for another "puzzling" moment.

HoustonBoiler: Here's an opportunity for wisconsin to show some consistency. They've beaten Michigan, Illinois, and Michigan State, but have lost to Indiana, USC, Nebraska, and Purdue. As Kind Of... so eloquently stated, it's time for the Badgers to decide whether or not they belong in the mushy middle.

AlmaOtter: The popcornskunks confuse me.

#12 Nebraska Cornhuskers at #27 Iowa Hawkeyes

9 pm, BTN

MaximumSam: By Torvik, this is the toughest game remaining for the Huskers, though they still have a West coast swing at USC and UCLA. Bracketology currently projects them as a 3 seed.

Kind of...: Iowa is down to an 8-seed at BracketMatrix. They need to stop the bleeding. Problem is they're just not playing well. A big game out of Tavion Banks would help. Been a while since Nebraska beat an NCAA-caliber team. Indiana back on 1/10, to be precise. Huskers are clearly a very good team. But would be good to show that again so as not to be staring at an end of season swoon.

HoustonBoiler: Popcorn anyone?

#57 Minnesota Golden Gophers at #84 Oregon Ducks

10:30 pm, FS1

Kind of...: Minnesota probably won't finish in the bottom four. But if they lose this game, then it becomes more of a possibility. Not sure what Oregon's ceiling is with healthy Bittle but no Shelstad. But it's presumably higher than the rest of the basement dwellers.