All over but the cryin': B1G Basketball Weekend Recaps

Michigan 82, #14 Purdue 70

DJ: Purdue lost and gave both Maryland and Wisconsin a chance to catch back up. They both lost and the top looks the same. Oh, you want to know about this game? Purdue lost, Michigan most likely locked a tourney bid up in the process, and the Big Ten continues to be a large tire fire in the process. Congratulations.

Iowa 83, #24 Maryland nice

Stew: That was a lot of fun! Jordan Bohannon did his best Chris Kingsbury impression by going 8/10 from 3, and thoroughly outplaying Melo Trimble. Tyler Cook also had his best game of his young career going for 21 points and 10 boards getting Damonte Dodd to foul out in just 17 minutes and doing this to him:

Overall, it was Iowa's best performance of the year. Maryland ran into a buzz saw, seeing the Hawks go 16/26 from 3 as a team, and Iowa's group of freshmen torching Maryland's counterparts.

Meanwhile, Maryland is doing it's best impression of Iowa from last year and is fading hard down the stretch.

DJ: The second half continues to plague Maryland. They’ve come out flat in the second half in each and every one of their losses while they also once again had no answer for the zone. Hold on, I think Maryland is taking another three they’re going to miss. Yep, they did. On the next possession down the court, Jordan Bohannon hit yet another three, probably.

Minnesota 81, Penn State 71

WhiteSpeedReceiver: Penn State did a good job of clogging things up defensively for a while in the first half, but we're just playing great basketball over the course of a full game. Reggie Lynch (9 pts 11 blocks) and Jordan Murphy (16 pts 15 boards) were just amazing inside, and Nate Mason (16 pts 10 boards) continues to be flat-out great this season.

I'm really happy we didn't have the money to fire Pitino in the offseason.

Indiana 63, Northwestern 62

MNW: Is this where I say I told you so? Do I do it somewhere else? Just let me know.

Michigan State 84, #16 wisconsin 74

Andrew K: This was a game MSU really needed to win after whiffing hard in both shots at Purdue, and their performance reflected that. The calls Nigel Hayes continues to get without deserving boggle the mind, and he got his points, but at a highly inefficient clip, as it took him 22 shots to manage as many points.

LLooking at the box score, the usual suspects will get the plaudits for MSU - Nick Ward was a monster, Bridges got his numbers, and another wing player (this time Matt McQuaid) had a great game in Eron Harris' absence.

But my praise on this day is going elsewhere, because with half of the MSU student body in foul trouble, former walk-on Kenny Goins once again punched above his weight and made the basket a lot harder to get to for both Hayes and Ethan Happ. His post moves aren't going to get him chatted up by the commentary, there won't be many highlight moments or even points altogether for him, but without his contributions, MSU would have been in a world of hurt, today and many other days this season.

Just a friendly reminder, I have as many wins in my basketball career at the Breslin as Hayes and Koenig do.

Illinois 73, Nebraska 57

Thump:

BigRedTwice: Uh, well. That was terrible. Nebraska's last best chance for a win this year ended in disaster for the boys in red. The first half had its problems, but Nebraska only trailed by one at half.

The second half though...oh my. The Huskers turned the ball over 12 times in the second half, making a bad situation far worse. For the third game in a row, the Huskers' offense struggled, as balls just didn't seem to fall and second-chance baskets were nearly a non-entity. Illinois had the opposite experience, exploding from beyond the arc, nailing a devastating 13-in-26 tries. It seems teams have figured out they can shoot threes at will against the Huskers, and predictably, that's ending poorly.

Oh, and I know MNW said we're not supposed to complain about refs anymore...but they really sucked in the second half of the game. Not enough to change the outcome, but enough to make a really frustrating game even more frustrating.