Four close games and a blowout: A wild week of B1G Hoops

#17 wisconsin 68, Michigan 64

**Soliciting a Wisconsin bball writer if you’re interested

DJ: What a weird game. Wisconsin did all they could to lose this game until they didn’t. Up 26-21 at half and after scoring a FG to start the second half, Wisconsin allowed a 17-2 run to occur after Ethan Happ sat on the bench with his third foul, putting the 17th ranked Badgers in a situation they haven’t often faced this year. Somehow, in a slow, grueling pace to watch that generally favors the Badgers, Michigan was leading the game and looked poised to take a commanding lead. Wisconsin fought back into it but trailed 49-43 before the light turned on for Bronson Koenig. Koenig dropped 10 points in the last six minutes to secure the win for Wisconsin at home.

#21 Purdue 91, Illinois 68

Thumpasaurus: This team has been forged in Groce's image over the past four years. This is what we've been building towards. I'm so ashamed for ever buying in.

babaoreally: It was a good game for Purdue, but I have an irrational fear that the Boilers are wasting most of their good games against bad teams. No offense, Illini.

Indiana 78, Penn State 75

Candystripes: I had totally forgotten there was a basketball game tonight. It sounds like IU almost did the same.

Also, if OG is out for any length of time, we get a lot worse. DJ: He’s out indefinitely, ouch.

Aaron Yorke: Indiana controlled most of the second half. Missed three wide open threes that would have been daggers just to troll us before Blackmon finally crushed the winner

It was cool to see Tony Carr get to the rim a bunch and draw lots of fouls, though.

Ohio State 67, Nebrasketball 66

BRT: I wasn't able to watch Nebraska at all tonight, so I have no recap. They missed four free throws in the last two minutes though and lost by one, so that seems potentially significant.

Jesse Collins: Nebraska also allowed an offensive rebound with 1.7 seconds that led to a baseline play that led to an OSU game winning layup. Not having Morrow continues to be problematic especially on the defensive end.

#25 Maryland 84, Iowa 76

DJ: This game was the tale of two halves. Maryland owned the first half, breaking every zone thrown at them and every questionable foul call went their way. Flip to the second half and substitute Iowa in for Maryland (and Maryland now failing against the zone, shocker) and you get the second half. Melo Trimble nailed timely 3’s in the second half to keep the Terps in the game after blowing a 15 point lead in the second half. Maryland played lights out in the first half but made freshmen mistakes the entire second half passing the ball while Damonte Dodd spent most of his time on the bench in foul trouble. Maryland will need to improve its second half intensity and not get lazy as the season goes on if they’d like to continue winning in the Big Ten.

Stew: That was a weird, disjointed game with two very young teams. Iowa went down 15 fought their way back to take the lead, largely on the backs of the reserves while Peter Jok sat nursing a back injury. But Maryland was able to pull this out in large part due to Trimble’s ability to "draw" a foul (throw his head back) and nailing some clutch FTs. Still, though, Iowa didn’t give up like against jNW and clawed their way back to make this a game. This season is still about development and this was a decent showing, all things considered.