B1G Talking Points
- Congratulations on your newfound ignominy, Jae'Sean Tate.
- There's a lot of uncertainty with how good Maryland actually is, and I don't know if any level of "Give a fuck" is going to prevent the Terrapins from failing to make the Sweet Sixteen.
- Michigan will get an NCAA Tournament participation ribbon, and maybe nothing more, but according to Graham that's OK. What the hell do I know about the Big Dance, anyways?
- Indiana and Purdue only playing once in a year is incredibly stupid and needs to be corrected immediately, Delanybot9000.
- The Hoosiers showed us that the book is essentially written on beating the Boilers: Pressure, pressure, pressure the guards and hope you don't get beat too badly on the inside.
- Could there be multiple B1G teams in the NIT this year? Penn State is a couple wins away from playing themselves onto the bubble, Northwestern still isn't out of it just yet, and Ohio State and Wisconsin might still be just one bad loss away.
- Speaking of...oh man, Illinois.
- Someone tell Nigel Hayes he can reclaim his talent at Reception.
- I'm still a little mad at Minnesota for denying us OH-AND-28-PALOOZA, but given just how terrible Buttgers is...we've probably dodged a bullet.
Saturday
Penn State 70, Rutgers 58
Aaron Yorke: In the least exciting game of the weekend, Penn State defeated Rutgers 70-58 to start a winning streak in conference play for the first time this year. It was nice to see Shep Garner stay hot from three-point range (5-for-9) and lead the team in scoring with 20 points. Donovon Jack continued his solid play with 12 points in just 18 minutes, while Josh Reaves set a career high with 12 points to go with six rebounds, four assists, and two steals.
Now we just need to figure out what happened to Payton Banks (five straight games with fewer than 10 points) and we might have a cast of characters worthy of supporting Brandon Taylor.
As we stand, Penn State got a win that won't help its NIT resume too much, but will move the Lions past Illinois in the conference standings. If they can defeat Northwestern and Illinois at home later this season, they could avoid the first round of the Big Ten Tournament for the first time ever.
Penn State (14-13, 5-9): vs. Nebraska (Thursday, 6pm, ESPNU)
Rutgers (6-21, 0-14): at Minnesota (Tuesday, 6pm, BTN)
Ohio State 65, Nebraska 62 (OT)
Jesse Collins: Nebraska played Ohio State. The game was close. The officials called a lot of fouls. Nobody could score efficiently. Nebraska lost...
I realize that this is not a great recap but after watching the first half of this game live and the rest in replay - the in-laws gave my wife and I a night to go out to eat without baby so... you take those opportunities - I don't think that this game deserves much more of a recap. It was an ugly affair that a team had to win. OSU ended up being that team.
Stewmonkey13: To go along with that game, this happened:
Cool floor slap bruh pic.twitter.com/pqTjW9XiuV
— Big Ten Geeks (@bigtengeeks) February 21, 2016
Jesse Collins: That's still hilarious. Tai is a decent ball handler, but not like... super fast.
And to all the OSU bros who are all like, "It didn't cost us the game!", well, I mean... you went to OT, fouled the shit out of our PG on the final possession - which randomly didn't get called after all of the foul calls - and escaped by 3 in OT. Sure, you won, but uh... that's not good at all.
Ohio State (18-10, 10-5): vs. #6 Michigan State (Tuesday, 8pm, ESPN)
Nebraska (14-14, 6-9): at Penn State (Thursday, 6pm, ESPNU)
#22 Indiana 77, #17 Purdue 73
(Rankings are pre-today's AP Poll.)
Candystripes for Breakfast: Indiana had exactly the week they needed to stay near the top of the conference. With three games remaining, all the Hoosiers need to do is take care of business at least two of those three times, and they'll secure at worst a share of the conference.
Of course, the easiest of their three remaining games is their Thursday night showdown at the other Assembly Hall, and since winning on the road in the Big Ten is never a thing you can take for granted, "taking care of business" is far from a sure thing. If IU can survive Illinois and a trip to Carver-Hawkeye, the only thing remaining in the regular season is Yogi Ferrell's Senior Night and the chance to sweep the home schedule against Maryland.
A terrible run means the Hoosiers drop all three, an OK run means one out of three, a decent run means two out of three ain't bad, and a spectacular finish would be the championship clinching three for three. Hopefully, Robert Johnson will be healthy enough to appear in at least two of those games, as his presence might tip the scales in Indiana's favor in games that might otherwise be unfavorable.
Well, anyway, the only meeting between Indiana and Purdue in basketball this season (a circumstance which both fanbases agree is not ideal) looked at times like it might turn into a blowout, before Purdue finally started hitting shots and crawled back into the game. A heavily disputed goaltending on Yogi Ferrell's layup with 7 seconds to go sealed the Indiana victory, but Robert Johnson going down with an apparent left ankle injury may hurt the Hoosiers more going forward.
Indiana (22-6, 12-3): at Illinois (Thursday, 8pm, ESPN)
Purdue (21-7, 9-6): vs. #10 Maryland (Saturday, 3pm, ESPN)
Sunday
#6 Maryland 86, Michigan 82
Graham Filler: Mark Donnal went hard in the paint, but it wasn't enough for Big Blue. Michigan is a tough matchup for Maryland, as we've seen twice this year, so that's always a good positive sign for Michigan.
Anyways lets talk about the future. 19-9 (9-6) looks a bit bubbly now. Winning 2 out of the final three will be a great move toward solidifying a 10 spot.
But I think you'll continue to see support for Coach B, as his team played extremely well against a better opponent, and although it's a slow slog, Michigan hoops tends to be trending up a tad as the year goes on.
DJ Carver: Maryland, settling down after the first 2-3 minutes, went on a run where they couldn't miss a thing and went up in this game 28-12.
Game over, right?
Of course not, Maryland can't actually blow someone out. This game became a game of runs alternating between the two teams, which kept things close until the final few minutes and even then Michigan kept it close with its :fire: three point shooting. In the end Maryland put together a great performance to win 86-82.
Michigan played great and kept making Maryland pay for deciding to guard the three when they used Donnal on the high pick and roll. They literally kept running variations of the same play and Maryland simply chose not to guard it. It was a great second half adjustment that B made when they realized Maryland was selling out to guard the three.
What did I love the most though? The team looked like they actually gave a shit for once this season. Too many times has Maryland played close games because it looked like they didn't care that they were playing the game.
Maryland also got key contributions from its bench in the form of defense. Damonte Dodd was throwing a block party and Jaylen Brantley was stealing things like he was Joseph Randle in an underwear store (OK, not really, but his two steals came at amazing times and one was to seal the game).
Next up: Purdue on Saturday. An entire week of rest will be welcome
Maryland (23-5, 11-4): at #20 Purdue (Saturday, 3pm, ESPN)
Michigan (19-9, 9-6): vs. Northwestern (Wednesday, 6pm, BTN)
Wisconsin 69 (nice), Illinois 60
Speth: Wisconsin played horribly for large stretches last night, much like against MSU. However unlike against MSU, they were not playing a top 10 team (thanks Captain Obvious) so the like 10 minutes they decided to play well resulted in them completely erasing a 13 point deficit and winning a game they absolutely could not lose.
Nigel Hayes continues to audition for the Space Jam sequel as he has lost all ability to play basketball the last two games. Fortunately Ethan Happ made another case for Freshman of the Year by scoring 20 and grabbing 12 boards.
Wisconsin (17-10, 9-5): at #8 Iowa (Wednesday, 6pm, BTN)
Illinois (12-15, 4-10): vs. Indiana (Thursday, 8pm, BTN)
New B1G Rankings in the AP Poll
#6 Michigan State
#8 Iowa
#10 Maryland
#18 Indiana
#20 Purdue