Off Tackle Open Threads: February 20 Basketball

Wednesday

Illinois Fighting Illini 101, USC Trojans 65

MaximumSam: The whole gang was back for Illinois and seven (!) guys scored in double figures. They are two games back of Michigan with four to play, but they do play Michigan on Friday at home.

HoustonBoiler: Illinois is getting healthy and playing better. Good thing because they have no margin for error. Even if they beat Michigan next Friday, Illinois will still be a game back. Perhaps Sparty can do the Illini a solid?

Kind of...: Look at @MaximumSam and @HoustonBoiler taking that game seriously. We all know it's all fake. Having Illinois show such a balanced attack once "the gang is back together" is great script-writing, I'll concede. B1G must have farmed this game out to a recent USC Film School grad. Wonder if he/she/they were in the stands to admire their work the other night?

Rutgers Scarlet Knights 85, Penn State Nittany Lions 72

HoustonBoiler: Rutgers appears to be picking up speed. Will they reach escape (the bottom 4) velocity?

Kind of...: Rutgers does seem likely to escape the bottom four, but not because they're any good. They're still the lower rated B1G team per KenPom. See next entry below...

Northwestern Wildcats 78, Maryland Terrapins 74

HoustonBoiler: Both of these teams now have 3 wins and, barring a Rutgers nose-dive, will finish in the bottom 4.

Kind of...: Consider the five bottom-feeders looking only at games among themselves:

Rutgers 4-0 (3 home, 1 road; second games remaining vs. PSU and @MD)

Oregon 2-1 (1 home, 2 road; yet to play Northwestern (road))

Northwestern 2-1 (2 home, 1 road; yet to play Oregon (home))

Maryland 1-3 (2 home, 2 road; yet to play Rutgers (home))

Penn State 0-4 (1 home, 3 road; yet to play Rutgers (road))

Penn State has wins vs. Minnesota and @Washington. Maryland has wins @Minnesota and vs. Iowa. Northwestern won @USC. But Rutgers, helped by a majority of home games, has taken care of business against their fellow dregs and thus has the inside track at avoiding Tuesday.

Today

#26 Indiana Hoosiers at #8 Purdue Boilermakers

8 pm, FOX

MaximumSam: Friday night B1G basketball might be sticking around. Ratings are up and it's beating NBA games. Thank you to all the degenerates with nothing better to do on Friday night.

HoustonBoiler: There have been some good B1G games on Friday nights this season and next Friday's game, Michigan at Illinois, will likely be the best.

As for tonight's contest, Purdue needs to come out with some intensity and maintain it for the full game. Purdue seemed to sleepwalk through a good portion of the earlier game, waking up too late. Indiana is going to shoot a lot of 3s, it's what they do. Purdue needs to rebound, limit their turnovers, and contain the dribble. Making shots would also be nice.

Kind of...: Purdue is 21-5/11-4, so it's a little harsh to say it hasn't quite been the season hoped for. But, technically, it's true. Still, they're a better team than Indiana. They should be motivated to avenge the earlier loss. And they've won four straight against teams that aren't terrifying destructive forces.

BoilerUp89: Defend the three, force someone other than Wilkerson to beat you, and punish Indiana inside due to their lack of size in the post.