Some games happen this weekend, and honestly, if you thought I was phoning it in last Friday with the preview piece...
Friday, February 12
#6 Illinois Fighting Illini 77, Nebraska Cornhuskers 72 (OT)
Thumpasaurus: we’re on to cincinnati
Saturday, February 13
#4 Ohio State Buckeyes 78, Indiana Hoosiers 59
Heard nothing out of Indiana (stay warm, Candystripes!), so here’s a Purdue update:
BoilerBettor: Purdue landed in this weird Thursday-Tuesday scheduling spot (what up with that?) proving once again that Purdue is the center of the B1G Shootyhoops universe. That or the schedulers just are Purdue grads who are pissed off at the rest of the B1G for their football teams.
#15 Iowa Hawkeyes 88, Michigan State Spartans 58
Stewmonkey13: Iowa gave Izzo his worst home loss of his career, and that without CJ Frederick. Also, lol:
Enoch Boakye tells SI that the rationale for his decommitment is the number of big men set to be on MSU's roster: "It looks like they will have a lot of guys staying. I want to go to a place where I have the opportunity to make an impact right away." https://t.co/0jYWS8AlEH
— Kyle Austin (@kylebaustin) February 15, 2021
Green Akers: Yeah, God knows none of these schmucks are leaving for the draft. Also, the greatest team and individual player season in Iowa history are going to result in a 5th place finish in the conference. So get your shots in if it makes you feel better.
Beez: Cannot believe Fran just hangs around.
Stew: It’s far from the greatest team in Iowa history. Individual maybe. But yeah, Fran ain’t lighting the world on fire.
WSR: The best Iowa team of all time was probably 1997, which came in 2nd in the B1G, had the 2nd-best player in the B1G, and lost in the 2nd round of the NCAA Tournament.
#25 Rutgers Scarlet Knights 64, Northwestern Wildcats 50
Sunday, February 14
#3 Michigan Wolverines 67, #21 Wisconsin Badgers 59
Nebraska 62, Penn State Nittany Lions 61
Nebraska won a game, securing its first conference win in over a year AND winning at Penn State for the first time in conference history. Also, this season should still not be happening as it stands but kids want to play.
So you know, that’s what really matters.
Maryland Terrapins 72, Minnesota Golden Gophers 59
WSR: Nothing happened in basketball this weekend. Everything was cancelled because it was too cold.
Poll
Who had the best weekend?
This poll is closed
-
32%
Michigan: Right back to it.
-
27%
Iowa: uh...sure
-
28%
Nebraska: A win!
-
11%
Someone else.
Poll
Who had the worst weekend?
This poll is closed
-
25%
Penn State: Lost to Nebraska.
-
50%
Michigan State: 30-point home blowout to Iowa, Izzo slumping
-
17%
Indiana: Got a Purdue recap
-
5%
Someone else.
Big Ten Basketball Previews
And there’s basketball in the middle of this week! How exciting!
If you’re wondering if there are any seedings or positions or Big Ten Tournament slots at stake here, you can check out our Big Ten bracketology roundup that I posted yesterday. That might be a better use of your time than this.
Here we go.
Tuesday, February 16
{WBB} Michigan State at #11 Michigan
3:30pm | BTN
Green Akers: I told myself this would be the year I earnestly followed women’s hoops more closely. It’s not The Year. It’s never The Year.
Nebraska at Maryland ROUND ONE
6pm | BTN | MD -10 | O/U 135.5
Michigan State at Purdue
6pm | ESPN | Purdue -6 | O/U 136.5
BoilerBettor: I question if this game actually happens. Most of Indiana got socked by 6-14” of snow last night and Purdue cancelled in-person classes today. LOL, I know, I know, why would we be concerned with silly things like player safety. These are athlete-stud...er, uh, student-athletes we’re talking about here.
As to the actual game, Izzo seems to choke at Mackey Arena and given the state of this Sparty team right now, Painter should be drooling at the chance to get back in the winning column.
Green Akers: Izzo’s running out of tired platitudes, and giving away the last matchup right before a 3-week pause still feels like the back breaker this season won’t come back from. Can’t wait to watch Joey Hauser and Thomas Kithier take a belting from Williams again.
Northwestern at #5 Illinois
8pm | BTN | Illinois -12.5 | O/U 144
I teach until 7:15 and if there was a way I could make this class last an addition hour so I didn’t have to watch the start of this, I would.
Instead, I’ll watch my favorite team get absolutely pounded by Kofi Cockburn and Ayo Dosunmu. And then go to the Northwestern blog and watch the same four jackasses turn every game into a referendum on Chris Collins, head coach.
Thumpasaurus: Ok, so you lost to Illinois once already, but you know who else did? Duke. The difference is that Northwestern actually beat Michigan State. The student has surpassed the master.
Illinois has used up all its margin for error by losing to Maryland. Despite that, they were still one Ayo Dosunmu away from losing to Nebraska. If they want to keep pace with Michigan, they can’t afford to drop any of these kinds of games and also maybe should re-assess their COVID preparedness ahead of their game against Ohio State or something.
Wednesday, February 17
{WBB} Illinois at #9 Maryland
12pm | BTN
Thumpasaurus: Nancy Fahey is now 5-58 in Big Ten games as the head coach of the Fighting Illini.
Nebraska at Maryland ROUND TWO
6pm | BTN | MD -10.5 | O/U 134.5
If this game is anywhere near as ugly as it was last night, go find something better to do. I’d recommend cleaning your oven or doing your taxes, but it’s also Ash Wednesday and goodness knows y’all need Jesus.
Minnesota at Indiana
8pm | BTN | IU -4.5 | O/U 137
WSR: I mean, it’s on the road so we’ll lose. Badly. But can we talk about how Gable Steveson is the best wrestler in the NCAAs right now? Or maybe how Motzko looks like he’s got Gopher Hockey living up to the old moniker of Pride on Ice? And Gopher Volleyball beating Penn State twice over the weekend?
Plenty of great things going on for Gopher fans, as long as you’re not paying attention to basketball on the road.
Thursday, February 18
{WBB} #11 Michigan at #14 Indiana
TBD | BTN
#11 Iowa at #21 wisconsin
6pm | ESPN3
Stew: Iowa plays wisconsin. Fuck wisconsin.
Will CJ Frederick play? /shrug
Will they look worn down and not be able to shoot (previous two weeks), or have they rested and have fresh legs (like against Sparty)? Who knows?!
Will I watch in utter frustration? Yes.
Will I still crow about it if Iowa wins? Also yes.
#4 Ohio State at Penn State
7pm | BTN
Rutgers at #3 Michigan
8pm | FS1
Special Guest RockyMtnBlue: In our second game after a 22 game layoff Michigan draws Rutgers at home. Michigan looked dreadful in their first half back against wiscy. The second half was considerably better, but still not what anyone would call _sharp_.
Rutgers gets Michigan at the right time. Probably still rusty and maybe looking ahead to OSU in a few days. Still, I think Michigan is a bad matchup for Rutgers. Michigan has four guys who can drive to the rim. If Johnson helps off of Dickenson it’ll go poorly for the road team.
The Knights will want to grind the game into a rock fight. Problem is Michigan is very good from 2, is the best in the nation against the 2, and is pretty good from the line. Michigan can win rock fights.
Michigan basketball is 13-0 all time against Rutgers. Unless Blue turns it over about 25 times, It’s about to be 14-0.
Other Sports Are Happening, Wednesday Edition
College Basketball
There is some truly putrid basketball on today, and you owe it to yourself to watch.
Southern Jaguars at Mississippi Valley State Delta Devils
3pm | YouTube | Southern -20.5 | O/U 139.5
Sacred Heart Pioneers at Central Connecticut Blue Devils
4pm | NEC on the Run | SHU -2 | O/U 140
Marquette Golden Eagles at Butler Bulldogs
5:30pm | FS1 | Butler -2 | O/U 129.5
St. Francis (Brooklyn) Terriers at Fairleigh Dickinson Knights
6pm | NEC on the Run | FDU -3.5 | O/U 158
VCU Rams at Richmond Spiders
6pm | CBSSN | VCU -2 | O/U 142
Drake Bulldogs at Northern Iowa Panthers
7pm | ESPN+ | Drake -5.5 | O/U 141
Utah State Aggies at Boise State Broncos
8pm | CBSSN | Boise -1.5 | O/U 138
OK, this last one’s actually really good.
Soccer
{EPL} Burnley vs. Fulham [12pm, NBCSN]
{Ligue 1} Olympique Marseilles vs. Nice [2pm, beIN]
{UCL} Porto vs. Juventus [2pm, CBSAA and TUDN]
{UCL} Sevilla vs. Borussia Dortmund [2pm, CBSAA and Galavision]
{EPL} Everton vs. Manchester City [2:15pm, NBCSN]
{EFL} AFC Bournemouth vs. Rotherham United [2:15pm, ESPN+]
{Liga MX} Tigres UANL vs. Cruz Azul [9pm, TUDN]
Here’s your open thread for the week’s basketball. Behave.