Big Ten Basketball Weekend Recap: Terrapins Takedown Timid Tillman Team

Saturday, February 15

#9 Maryland Terrapins 67, Michigan State Spartans 60

DJ: Anthony Cowan dominated the beginning and end of the game, not so much of the first part of the 2nd half but the part of the 2nd half that matters. Mark Turgeon may not have called the most proficient offensive game but that’s not his arena. What he did do was make great defensive calls and defensive switches when it mattered. Turgeon swapped Darryl Morsell onto Cassius Winston in the last 4 minutes of the game, presumably to conserve Cowan’s energy down the stretch for what ended up being three 3’s to not only take the lead but solidify it. Rebounding, especially offensive rebounding in the first half, is what made Maryland in this game and defense solidified it. Jalen Smith had his 8th straight double double, Cowan scored 11 straight to end it, and that is that. Next up: Northwestern.

Andrew Shishefski: Goose egg from Gabe Brown, 4-11 from Henry, 2-8 from Watts. Can’t beat a team as good as Maryland with 2 guys showing up. Story of MSU’s season is their complete inability to replace Matt McQuaid, who would’ve thought.

#13 Penn State Nittany Lions 77, justNorthwestern Wildcats 61

PSU got out to a 15ish point lead by about 15 minutes in, and pretty much just cruised there the rest of the game. Lamar Stevens was really good, and a pretty well rounded game by the rest of the team. What’s up with Mike Watkins coming off the bench?

MNW: Oof. You never want to see a Todd Lickliter-coached team with a lead on your boys, but credit the Drake Bulldogs for putting together a second-half rally to see off the Evansville Purple Aces. Gets no easier, now, with Valpo coming to town midweek and the Bulldogs locked in a four-way tie for fifth at 7-7. The Valley is Northern Iowa’s to lose, but a little momentum toward Arch Madness couldn’t hurt.

But for real:

Lamar Stevens could’ve won this by himself. Northwestern has no answers, either offensively or defensively, for what Penn State is: A very athletic team with a marquee scorer and good defense.

On the offensive side if the ball, Stevens’ 23 points were enough, but Northwestern continued its trend of not running shooters off the three point line, allowing Myles Dread to chuck 11 threes and hit 4, including a late one when NU had clawed back to 9 points down.

Other end of the floor, same story. NU struggled to create shots against Mike Watkins et al, shooting 14% from deep and grabbing only 5 offensive rebounds. Only Pete Nance (!) did anything worth reporting, and cheering him going 6/7 for 12 and looking like he had a clue with a basketball in his hands is a damning indictment of where Nance and the ‘Cats are at this season.

There’s little to learn about Penn State, little to learn about Northwestern. We are now the conference free space. It’s 2007-08 again. Hooray.

roogster burgandy bannerets 72, #22 Illinois Fighting Illini 57

Thump: Ah fuckbuckets. So I think I at one point said Illinois could win this game without Ayo, but one of the keys to the game was “don’t shoot 28 threes” because that’s how we lost at MSU. we shot 28 threes. we made 8 of them, up from 3 in East Lansing, but when your lead ballhandler has one assist and is 2 for 13, you’re just not going to beat anyone in this league, not even The ‘Gers.

Roogster enthusiast Thump: The greatness of rugster cannot be denied. The Basketball Rugster Arena is the most feared venue in all of college hopps. Teams dread coming to Atlantic City because they know once they get inside the BRA there’s no way out for another forty minutes.

rugster proved this once again by handily defeating an Illinois team that knocked off #5 this season, nearly beat #4 on the road, and even defeated a team whose greatness is undisputed earlier this year.

An impressive showing, as a short handed rugster (with Giancarlo Bakerella still not 100%) took down a full strength illini squad, holding Ayo Dosunmu to ZERO points. Let’s see another team do that.

So long as the rest of the league remains behind rugster with respect to what constitutes an over the back foul, the burgundy bannerets will continue to secrete greatness.

Ohio State Buckeyes 68, Purdue Boilermakers 52

BMan: Let’s have a look at Purdue’s offense since last weekend:

wisconsin 81, Nebraska Cornhuskers 64

BRT: The Huskers responded fairly well to coming tantalizingly close to a big win at Maryland, hanging tight with Wisconsin through the first half. Unfortunately, as has been the case in nearly every game this season, the Huskers faced a devastating pause in scoring that buried them too deeply to get out of (Wisconsin, early in the second half, went on a 20-0 run, I believe, which does make for challenging conditions.) It’s interesting to think where this team could be if they could avoid such dramatic doldrums in each game, but sadly, they don’t seem to be able to.

Sunday, February 16

#21 Iowa Hawkeyes 58, Minnesota Golden Gophers 55

Luka Garza was plagued with foul trouble all game, and was limited to about 28 minutes, and eventually fouled out (on the bullshittiest of calls). But he still led everyone with 24 points. The dude is just incredible. Minnesota led the majority of the game, but down the stretch Iowa was able to force some turnovers and knock down a few big shots from Connor McCaffery, Garza, and Bakari Evelyn, who was really damn solid. It’s a conference road win and completes the season sweep of the gophers.

WSR: I hate losing to Country Mouse. That was one of the most impressive bed shittings in a very long time.

Michigan Wolverines 89, Indiana Hoosiers 65

Candy: Indiana is EXTREMELY below .500 in true road games coached by Archie Miller. Indiana played a true road game at Michigan, and after cutting the lead to 5 early out of halftime, Indiana lost by more than 20 points. There is definitely some discontent among the Hoosier fanbase, and the last game Archie coaches this season for the Hoosiers might be the last game he coaches for the Hoosiers period unless he turns things around in a hurry.

MNW: In case you want it, plenty of games on tonight. Here’s the schedule for the upcoming week: