Big Ten Basketball Weekend Previews: Can Thump Get On TV?

Friday, January 24

wisconsin at Purdue Boilermakers

6pm | FS1 | Purdue -4 | O/U 116.5

Fuck wisconsin.

BMan: Friday night B1G basketball in Mackey. Honestly, not a fan. Friday nights are for high school basketball. Granted, the way Purdue played defense in the second half, maybe it’s a good thing this game is on when most people won’t be watching. I have zero expectations for this game. If Purdue wins, I’ll be pleased. If it doesn’t, maybe it’s time to burn some redshirts and start working towards next year.

Saturday, January 25

#21 Illinois Fighting Illini at Michigan Wolverines

11am | FS1

Thumpasaurus: I’ll be six rows behind the hoop for this one, marveling at the sheer size of Kofi Cockburn with great seats to fully experience the awesome power of his girth. Illinois held Michigan to 62 in Champaign, but that was with Isaiah Livers playing 37 minutes. With his status up in the air, the Wolverines might not have much of an answer this time. It was Kofi who started the run on Big Ten centers eating Jon Teske alive, and there’s no reason he should stop. Ayo will have 15 points, and if the game’s in doubt in the last 3 minutes, he’ll rack ‘em up in that time frame. A stone cold assassin, a punishing beef monster, an Eastern European energy guy, and a dude in Trent Frazier that still has the ability to take over a game on the offensive end from time to time. Missing Alan Griffin will hurt a little bit, but Underwood was just going to keep him nailed to the bench for no good reason anyway. At least he has an excuse for not playing him.

Listen for me on TV. I’ll be the guy going nuts when Da’Monte Williams scores his first points of 2020.

Nebraska Cornhuskers at #24 rugster

1pm | BTN

Chief rugster correspondent Thumpasaurus: The Pickell Ricks have a two game home stand in Edison before a tough couple of road games. Big Teen is pretty good this year, but this is one of the few games they absolutely cannot afford to lose if they want to actually break the 29-year drought. The Huskers haven’t shown the ability to do to rugster what Iowa did, and without any zone busting shooters they’ll have to find some way to contend with Vin Baker Jr on the boards, and I don’t think Thorir Thorbjarnarson has a hammer strong enough to do that. Give me rugster to remain perfect in SHI Stadium.

Jesse: Nebraska and the fighting Hoibergs go to Rutgers this weekend, and while I’m sort of hopeful that the Huskers can pull off the mythical B1G Road Win, I also think this is basically a redux of the first matchup. But, here’s the thing. I still like watching this team. They fight hard, they’re playing really fun basketball, Cam Mack is delightful, Thor is a surprise, and honestly the style of ball Hoiberg cares about has all been great. I’m not sure we actually are that great yet, but we’re also not all that bad. Look for us to continue the ‘I dare you to shoot a ton of 3s’ defense and ‘the few times you miss we’re running’ offense and we’ll see what happens.

Sunday, January 26

#17 Maryland Terrapins at Indiana Hoosiers

12pm | CBS

BrianB2: Somehow Maryland is favored in this? At least according to ESPN’s superior all-knowing metric. Man, you sneak by Northwestern and everyone thinks your back to pre-season hype status. Maryland took care of Indiana with relative ease at Xfinity Center earlier in the season, but Maryland is an entirely different team on the road (Northwestern doesn’t count) and I wouldn’t expect Indiana to shoot 4-18 from three and 22-61 overall in the more comfortable confines of Assembly Hall. I am preparing myself for a real stinker from the Terps. Something resembling the “effort” they put forth against Iowa a few weeks ago.

Side Note: Who the hell is Simon Skjodt? How does someone pronounce “Skjodt”?

Candystripes: Skojdt is pronounced “Scott”, and the family is related to the Simons that own the Pacers and a bunch of shopping malls in the area.

On to the basketball, though, Indiana has been very good at holding serve at home against ranked teams, and while they looked pretty bad at Maryland, they managed to take the Spartans to the limit and sneak out a win on Thursday. Maryland has definitely been up and down this year, and if they happen to bring a down game to Assembly Hall on Sunday, they’ll likely be walking out with a loss. That said, Indiana has also had some periods of major struggle during the year, and if more than one of those shows up during the game, we might be looking at some awful, low scoring rock fight that doesn’t break 100 total points.

#11 Michigan State Spartans at Minnesota Golden Gophers

2pm | FOX

MSU is better, but it’s a road game. Can Oturu stay out of foul trouble and take on MSU by himself? Will some noble hero burn down the barn? On can only hope.

Ohio State Buckeyes at djustNorthwestern Wildcats

5:30pm | BTN

MNW: I’ll probably be at a funeral/celebration of life during this one. It almost feels preferable to watching Northwestern choke another one away.

Full Schedule