Maryland’s luck runs out; who gets the most home calls in the B1G?

Another weekend in the books, and we have to ask: Who do you think gets the most home calls in their favor in the Big Ten? Our reasons will be made readily apparent below...

#23 Purdue 73, #17 Maryland 72

Sixth-highest scorer in the ACC Melo Trimble and his 14/15 day at the line couldn’t snap Maryland back into this one, as Caleb Swanigan’s 26 points and 10 boards powered the Boilermakers to a road win at wherever it is Maryland plays.

Carsen Edwards’ two free throws with :02.1 left put Purdue over the top and an Isaac Haas travel could not gift the Terrapins the game, as the Boilers move their way back toward a 4-seed in the NCAA Tournament. Maryland shot an abysmal 21.1% from deep, and though Michael Cekovsky swatted 6 shots and netted 10 points in just 13 minutes, it remains to be seen whether we’ll see the air starting to leak out of the Maryland balloon or the Terrapins will rebound over their next four games, three of which are on the road.

rutger 70, Penn State 68

Before we get to the actual recap: No, rutger fan, it will not happen because of this win. Moving on.

Aaron Yorke: Penn State lost to Rutgers in a game that dealt a serious blow to the Nittany Lions' postseason hopes. It was nice to see Shep Garner show up and carry the offense, but there was nary a soul to help him out. Tony Carr scored 17 points despite not hitting on a field goal until late in the second half, Lamar Stevens took a step back after a marvelous performance at Indiana, and Julian Moore continued to be nearly useless at center.

Head coach Pat Chambers needs to find a way to get guys like Stevens and Josh Reaves more involved in the offense, especially if Mike Watkins is going to continue to play fewer than 25 minutes each game.

For Rutgers, it was the program's first road Big Ten win ever and the first road conference win of any kind since the Knights beat terrible, horrible, no good South Florida in 2014. Corey Sanders hasn't consistently played like a star this season, but he came up big on Saturday, just like he did in Rutgers's other conference win against Nebraska.

Minnesota 68, Illinois 59

Minnesota used a 7-0 run out of a tied ballgame at halftime to craft a lead Illinois would not be able to erase. The Gophers kept their turnovers in check (just 5), harassed the Illini into a 4/22 day from behind the arc (shoutout to Jalen Coleman-Lands’ 0/10, 0/8 performance), and got at least 13 points each from Nate Mason, Dupree McBrayer, Reggie Lynch, and Amir Coffey.

Thump’s Musings of the Week:

6 for 7 betting against Illinois vs the spread. Damn. My bovada account is lookin healthy.

Didn't watch but I'll assume this had something to do with it

Ohio State 70, Michigan 66

Derrick Walton Jr had 25 and 10, but it still wasn’t enough for the Wolverines, who took an ugly home loss to the Marc Loving-led Ohio State Buckeyes. A 48.5% Oreb-rate for the Buckeyes (16 offensive boards on 33 opportunities) brought Michigan’s same-old troubles screaming back, as the lack of interior presence for the Maize meant Trevor Thompson racked up 13 points and 11 boards.

Ohio State’s constant yo-yo act keeps them in the running for the NIT and maybe the bubble of the Dance, while Michigan’s tourney hopes were dealt a serious blow (they sit at 4-6 in the conference).

#10 wisconsin 65, Indiana 60

Candystripes: Having not seen or heard most of the game, I immediately went to the box score for some idea of how this game went. Wisconsin made almost twice as many free throws as Indiana attempted. #WelcomeToTheKohlCenter [ed. note: "Clearance Rack"]

Good on the Hoosiers for keeping it close, but if you want to know why IU doesn't win at Wisconsin, just look at the free throw disparity. Then look at the year before. Then the year before. Tells you a lot.

AY: Tells you that IU settles for too many jump shots

CfB: 20 more per game than Wisconsin? Color me skeptical.

I look forward to hearing what’s new with Bender and the gang in this week’s comments. In the meantime, I enjoy a Hall of Calls fan’s complaints.

Iowa 81, Nebrasketball 70

I dunno. Iowa won. BRT took her niece to the Iowa-Nebrastics meet and it looked cute, so we’re pretty absent whatever else happened.

Looking at the boxscore, Nebrasketball still can’t shoot from deep, were foul- and turnover-prone, and couldn’t keep the Hawkeyes out of good shooting situations. Iowa’s looking alive for the NIT at this point, and Nebraska...well, is Ed Morrow back yet? Tim Miles doesn’t think he’s out for the year, but the Huskers are running out of time to salvage much else.

Stew: Oh hey, I suppose I'll drop a nugget about the game.  Jok looked rusty coming back from injury.  Iowa mostly went back to the motion offense instead of sets that they've been running since Jok's been out.  The young guys still aren't terribly sharp running it, but they did enough to pull away late as UNL ran into foul trouble.