Northwestern beat the tar out of undersized and undermanned Chicago State last night; how was your Big Ten basketball weekend?
...ah. I see. Maybe we shouldn’t talk about it.
Saturday
#5 Michigan Wolverines 70, Western Michigan Broncos 62
Yeesh. But surely just a blip for a John Beilein team? Charles Matthews got to the line a ton, going 11/16 from the stripe as part of his 25, and the Wolverines forced 16 turnovers to hold the Broncos at arm’s length. Lots of baskets for the Broncos around the basket, though, and a 32-32 rebounding draw was a surprise. The Wolverines’ big men—Jon Teske and Ignas Brazdeikis combined for 7 points—need to wake up, and fast.
#15 Ohio State Buckeyes 73, Bucknell Bison 71
Let’s, uh...let’s move on.
#22 Iowa Hawkeyes 77, Northern Iowa Panthers 54
Creighton M: [Extremely Harry Caray voice] Hawks win Hawks win!
State champs, and the Big Four Classic is finally six feet under.
[A brief debate over Harry Caray versus Hawk Harrelson broke out that was much more interesting than this game.]
#25 Indiana Hoosiers 71, Butler Bulldogs 68
Candystripes: ROB. MOTHERFUCKING. PHINISSEE!
The from @robphinisee1 for the win! pic.twitter.com/7OSm6H0TU9
— Indiana Basketball (@IndianaMBB) December 15, 2018
"Is that the biggest shot you've hit in your career?"
— CBS Sports (@CBSSports) December 15, 2018
"Yeah, so far." pic.twitter.com/lkdQtet9k0
That’s a helluva quote right there, kids.
Notre Dame Fighting Irish 88, Purdue Boilermakers 80
Boilerman31: Yeah, we suck away from Mackey.
Illinois Fighting Illini 73, East Tennessee State Buccaneers 55
Surely Thump and the rest of Illinois fans are fine now that they’re cruis—
Coach’s son checks into the game while the 5 star PG continues to sit after being a little late for shootaround
— The Champaign Room (@Champaign_Room) December 15, 2018
Neat
—oh. Moving on.
N.C. State Wolfpack 89, Penn State Nittany Lions 78
Ever see a mangled guard rail like, 4 days after an accident? Treat this game like that.
Seton Hall Pirates 72, Rutgers Scarlet Knights 66
Nah.
Sunday
#9 Michigan State 104, Green Bay Phoenix 83
Nebraska Cornhuskers 79, Oklahoma State Cowboys 56
Jesse: This was a really close game and then all of a sudden it wasn’t. I’m still not used to a team that can pull away like that.
[It was very, very impressive.]
Monday
Northwestern Wildcats 88, Chicago State Cougars 46
Chicago State’s coach is not attention whore Mark Titus, but is rather a guy with AAU ties to the city who was...previously an assistant coach from 2012-18...at Morgan Park High School.
I hope he turns it around, because that beatdown was uncomfortable.
Previews!
Tuesday
#15 Ohio State (9-1, KP 25) vs. Youngstown State Penguins (4-8, KP 322)
6pm | BTN | OSU -26.5 | O/U 145
#23 Iowa (8-2, KP 35) vs. Western Carolina Catamounts (3-0, KP 309)
8pm | BTN | Iowa -23.5 | O/U 157
#22 Indiana (9-2, KP 24) vs. Central Arkansas Bears (4-6, KP 272)
6pm | BTN
Penn State (5-5, KP 43) at Duquesne Dukes (8-2, KP 153)
6pm | CBSSN
Just pretend I inserted a “Is Pat Chambers on the hot seat?” take here.
Poll
Is Pat Chambers on the hot seat?
This poll is closed
-
32%
Sure.
-
19%
Nah.
-
47%
Who?
Thursday
Purdue (6-5, KP 17) vs. Ohio University Bobcats (7-3, KP 155)
6pm | BTN
Ohio really pushes the pace and plays decent defense but is abysmal on offense. This should be a good chance for Purdue and Carsen Edwards to get right.
Also, maybe Purdue fans can help me out here: What the hell has happened to Matt Haarms? He’s been nowhere near the force in the paint that I expected him to be against some of the lesser competition the Boilers have faced, and surely that’s not all because of the emergence of Evan Boudreaux as...well, whatever the hell Evan Boudreaux is?
Poll
Who would win this if it was a football matchup?
This poll is closed
-
32%
Purdue
-
67%
Ohio — wouldn’t it be the most Purdue thing ever to beat Ohio State and lose to Ohio?
Here’s an open thread if you’d really like it for the week’s basketball games. Feel free to tell me what the hell went wrong with your favorite squad’s cagers over the weekend.
Oh, right, before I forget, let’s all laugh at this dumbass tweet from Tom Shatel:
Iowa may have backed out of a special series against in-state opponents, but #Nebrasketball won't be backing out of that Creighton game anytime soon
— World-Herald Big Red (@OWHbigred) December 17, 2018
More from @tomshatelOWH in his First Downs and Second Guesses column
SUBSCRIBER PLUS: https://t.co/0UW3yA2sEj pic.twitter.com/3ocg2BlCa0
Someone take the keyboard away from this fuckhead.