B1G Basketball Weekend Recap: wisconsin continues to hate itself

Friday, November 15

Michigan Wolverines 70, Elon Phoenix 50

Michigan played an uncomfortably close first half, but eventually pulled away. Still, The offensive production is not great thus far. Though, Jon Teske has been

Iowa Hawkeyes 87, Oral Roberts Golden Eagles 74

Iowa is not good. They let Oral Roberts score 40 in the first half, only led by 8 with about a minute and a half left to go in the game. This despite Luka Garza scoring a career high 30 points, and Jack Nunge showing up for the first time with 14 points. Jordan Bohannon looks a bit better, but still only playing about 20 minutes. This is just a not very good team.

Nebraska Cornhuskers 90, South Dakota State Jackrabbits 73

BRT: I did not watch Nebraska’s game, as I was attending a history lecture. On a Friday night. Adulthood is pretty cool! (It was actually a fascinating lecture, for what that’s worth.) Anyway, it appears the Huskers won! Yay! They haven’t done that yet this season!

Jesse: I actually think that was the best team we’ve played all year. We just finally hit shots. I need to rewatch the game but seeing Nebraska actually have an offensive plan was wonderful. It’s also jarring seeing Doc on the sideline again.

Utah Utes 73, Minnesota Golden Gophers 69

WSR: Minnesota jumped out to a -14 point lead and made it interesting more than a few times, but never led Utah. Oturu had 21 points and 18 rebounds, but he just can’t do it all on his own. Starting PF Jarvis Omersa listened to what I said about staying out of foul trouble and responded with 4 fouls in 5:07 of playing time.

Oh, and the 3 starting guards (Kalscheur, Carr, & Willis) went 6/20 from 3. Perfect.

Saturday, November 16

#7 Maryland Terrapins 80, Oakland Golden Grizzlies 50

DJ: MD was up 25 or whatever at the U12, Turgeon is now in his favorite part of the game: lineup experimenting. Turgeon clearly asked Gary Williams for advice. They’re practicing Gary’s full court press in this game much to Oakland’s displeasure. Woooo walk on 3!

Purdue Boilermakers 93, Chicago State Cougars 49

Boilerman: Well, this was a game that happened. Purdue decided its best course of action in the first half was jack a bunch of 3’s. The shooting chart from the first half was literally everything from outside and a couple of dunks and layups. Purdue actually trailed 28-25 at one point. Fortunately, they seemed to remember they’re a B1G team playing one of the worst teams in D1 and corrected things in the second half.

St. Bonaventure Bonnies 80, Rutgers Scarlet Knights 74

MNW: Hello, it is me, your Rutgers basketball correspondent who regrets to inform you “I told you so.”

OK, not really “regrets”, but definitely warned that St. Bonnie’s was not as bad as its 0-3 record indicated. Most notably, the Bonnies found their shooting legs and still managed a strong 38.7% oreb rate (though Rutgers did best them with a ridiculous 51.3% rate on their misses), getting looks at will and keeping the Knights neutralized on the inside despite foul trouble and C Myles Robinson having a season-high 12 for Rutgers. The Scarlet Knights forced Bonnies standout Kyle Lofton into a rough 5/15 day from the office, but G Alejandro Vasquez was ON for the Bonnies, and there’s no one answer for RU when Geo Baker (4/11, 3/10 from deep) is just not efficient.

Ultimately, this isn’t a catastrophic loss for Rutgers--St. Bonaventure’s could be a bubble team and it’s a neutral court loss. But it’s a reminder that the rebuild might not be complete as quickly as some had hoped.

Indiana Hoosiers 100, Troy Trojans 62

Candystripes: Well, at least something went right on Saturday. I not only didn’t watch any of this game, I forgot it was even on TV until midway through the second half. Despite not having Rob Phinisee for the game, the Hoosiers finally got off to a faster start, and cruised to an easy win. 4 players scored in double figures, and on the other end of the stat line, junior walk-on Cooper Bybee put up a 2 Trillion, his second Trillion of the year.

Sunday, November 17

Wisconsin Badgers 77, Marquette Golden Eagles 61

MNW: We talked about it briefly in the gamethread, but Marquette needs consistent production outside Markus Howard. Koby McEwen had a beautiful game, but Brendan Bailey and Sacar Anim going 0/9 combined from the field for 3 points shows just how thin this Golden Eagles team is.

And it’s a credit to the badgers for finding ways to harass Howard and get production across the board (all five starters in double figures, I believe), including from previously anonymous Brevin Pritzl and high-flying Aleem Ford. The badgers played a coherent, consistent game inside and out, and if you’ll excuse me I’m going to go shower now.

MC ClapYoHandz: What a breath of fresh air this game was. The crowd was strong, the offense attacked throughout the game, shots were falling, Markus Howard was held in check (perhaps his own doing), and the defensive effort was fantastic. Brevin Pritzl looked aggressive! I’ve always lamented how timid he is, and this game was a revelation.

I didn’t think this team had this type of performance in them after the first few games, but it is more than welcome.