Monday Recaps

Nebraska Cornhuskers 66, #25 Indiana Hoosiers 51

BigRedTwice: Nebraska got off to a blistering start against the Hoosiers, racing to a 9-0 start. At one point, they led by 18, though the Hoosiers pulled to within six before the half, and three in the second half. But every time the Hoosiers came close, the Huskers distanced themselves again, and never trailed in the game. This was one of the big positives of the game to me--in previous conference road losses this season, it sometimes seems like the Huskers just ran out of steam, or the ability to step on the opponent’s neck--and tonight, they did that.

Glynn Watson, as he often does, stayed the course and made things happen for the Huskers during some rough patches. My crush on him continues unabated. Tanner Borchert had a really nice game off the bench. The Huskers played good defense, and in a night that lacked a single big contributor (no 20 point game from Palmer, for example), lots of guys pitched in to get this victory, which is what this team has to do.

This is an excellent win for the Huskers, who had a rough start to conference play, and struggled on the road. Hopefully going into Indiana and winning emphatically will help them get that road monkey off their back. Now that they’re on a two-game win streak and with a win over a ranked team in IU, they head back to the very friendly confines of PBA to face MSU--if they can manage to pull that one off, they’ll really start showing up on people’s radars.

Yay Huskers!!!

Maryland Terrapins 64, wisconsin badgers 60

If you didn’t tune in to last night’s Maryland-wisconsin game, you missed a doozy. The Terps held a 33-15 lead at halftime, then watched as wisconsin slowly shot themselves back into the game (61% from deep in the second half), taking a 60-59 lead with a minute and a half to play.

A late Anthony Cowan Jr. dagger from the top of the key put the Terps ahead, but a couple Yakkity Sax possessions ensued as Maryland held its two-point lead: The Terps politely declined to foul Ethan Happ, who held the ball with :11 and a three-point deficit—Mark Turgeon deserves to be fired for that decision alone—and then gave Nathan Reuvers a wide-open shot at the tying three...

But he missed. We’re still not sure if this could be one of the worst badger squads in recent memory, but it’s not pretty basketball.

The Week’s Previews

Tuesday January 15

Rutgers Scarlet Knights at Purdue Boilermakers

6:00pm CT | BTN | Purdue -14.5 | O/U 137.5

Boilerman31: It appears Purdue has Rutgers in its next game. Since it’s in Mackey, I think the Boilers will win. That’s about all I have to say about that.

Wednesday January 16

#23 Iowa Hawkeyes at Penn State Nittany Lions

6:00pm || BTN

Stewmonkey13: Iowa hasn’t won in the mausoleum PSU plays in since February of 2015. It’s a weird place to play because it feels like kind of a like a scrimmage with how little energy there is.

If Tyler Cook plays, I think Iowa should win by getting Watkins into foul trouble early and often. Without Cook, Luka Garza is going to have to do all the heavy lifting and I think Iowa’s road woes pop up again.

Minnesota Golden Gophers at Illinois Fighting Illini

8:00pm || BTN

WSR: We should probably beat the hell out of Illinois in Chambana on Wednesday, which means we’ll lose and then fire an assistant coach the next day. That’s how this shit works now, right?

Thursday January 17

#6 Michigan State Spartans at Nebraska Cornhuskers

7:00pm || FS1

Andrew: MSU travels to Nebraska on Thursday. On paper they should be favored, but the wing depth is a bit precarious and nobody seems to know when either Josh Langford or Kyle Ahrens will be back in action.

Aaron Henry in particular acquitted himself well at Penn State, but relying on big contributions from freshmen in what will be a much tougher environment than Bryce Jordan Mausoleum is dicey.

BRT: I am so bummed I can’t go to this one. Nebraska seems to have MSU’s number more often than they should since joining the Big Ten, and the Huskers are actually decent this year. I suppose that means they lose by 20, but here’s hoping for more PBA magic, and a really nice-looking win for the Huskers.

Here’s your open thread for basketball for the week. Boilerman31 will be back with Stock Report bright and early tomorrow, and we’ll see what we can do about cooking up another Power Poll for you sometime soon! In the meantime, behave.