Big Ten Basketball Mid-Week Previews

Hi everyone! We are so late with these, I thought about not publishing them at all, but hey—this way, you get that sizzling hot-off-the-press photo from first half play at the top, and that’s pretty neat. Don’t say I’ve never done anything for you.

Anyway, sorry.

Tuesday, February 4

Ohio State Buckeyes at Michigan Wolverines

Earlier | Some Channel | Mich -2.5 | O/U IDK

No one offered any previews for this one. I guess we all were waiting to see just how great Rutgers was!

Rutgers Scarlet Knights (UNRANKED???) at Maryland Terrapins (#9)

Earlier | FS1 | Maryland -7.5 | O/U 131

The real interest of the evening! Here we go!

BrianB2, Real Journalist: Rutgers has beaten Maryland twice all-time. Once in the post-Bob Wade era dark ages, and once in 1951. They have never won in College Park, MD, and they have not defeated Maryland since both teams joined the Big Ten. Maryland’s average margin of victory in their seven Big Ten match-ups is 14. Maryland has won by double digits in their last six meetings. Perhaps the only thing Mark Turgeon has done well in his tenure is beat Rutgers, preventing Testudo Times from spiraling into the seventh circle of hell. Does this string of domination continue against the Scarlet Knights tomorrow? Since it is in College Park, I say, confidently, maybe. I am not particularly looking forward to March 3rd though.

Thump, Resident Rugster Enthusiast: rugster update: though they’ll be on the road, the entire east coast is the spiritual home of rugster. the dream of rugster lives in the hearts of every man, woman, child and other group of persons across the mid-atlantic. That being said, after struggling to deal with Jon Teske, rustger will be severely challenged by Jalen Smith on the boards. Coach Pikkon really needs to emphasize getting to the line in this one, because the ‘Gers is not gonna shoot itself to victory.Stick to what you do well. They’ve gotta hold on to what they’ve got. It makes a big difference if they make it or not. They’ve got a winning record, and that’s a lot for rugster. Select better shots.

Penn State Nittany Lions (#22) at Michigan State Spartans (#16)

7:00 central | BTN | Michigan State -8.5 | O/U 143.5

Penn State is leading 58-55 as I type this. Exciting! Let’s see what we thought would happen.

Aaron Yorke: Penn State is riding a four-game winning streak, while Michigan State is more talented and coming off a disappointing loss in Madison. The Lions excel on defense and have the perimeter defenders to force someone besides Cassius Winston to beat them. On the other end, offense could be a struggle. This team isn’t great at passing, so it will probably take a great individual performance to keep pace with the Spartans. Lamar Stevens is obviously the top candidate for one of those, but Myreon Jones has more range and can make a big difference if he gets hot from beyond the arc.

Andrew Kracklepopski, who has had quite a sports day already: MSU hosts what should be a very game Penn State squad on Tuesday night, needing a win to keep the pace at the top of the standings. It’ll be interesting to see how they handle Lamar Stevens, who’s a bit too strong for most wings but to quick for most post defenders. However they do it, I’d think the best strategy will be to let Stevens get his while clamping down on PSU’s shooters.

Iowa Hawkeyes (#17) at Purdue Boilermakers

6:00 central | BTN | Purdue -2 | O/U 137.5 (No idea if these are the right numbers, I don’t really get betting)

Boilerman31: Wanna get into the Dance? Protect home court. Simple as that. Given this is in Mackey, it should be a competitive game. Iowa isn’t the greatest matchup for Matt Painter’s crew but Mackey Magic has been quite the thing this season.

Wisconsin Badgers at Minnesota Golden Gophers

8:00 central | BTN | Minn -3 | O/U 124.5

WhiteSpeedReciever: wisconsin comes to Dinkytown. The goals are, as always: 1) Win. 2) Win big. 3) Don’t lose anyone to injury from that little piece of shit Davison. Failing any of the 3 would be a real punch in the balls.

What games that haven’t been played yet are you excited to see?