Tuesday, January 17th

Wisconsin Badgers 63, Penn State Nittany Lions 60

MaximumSam: Tyler Wahl returned but Steven Crowl feasted, going for 21 and 11. Penn shot the ball reasonably well but only got four offensive rebounds, which meant every missed shot led to more Wisconsin basketball. Nothing scarier than that.

Wednesday, January 18th

#15 Ohio State Buckeyes (10-7, 2-4) at #109 Nebraska Cornhuskers (9-9, 2-5), 6 pm, BTN

MaximumSam: This collision course of mediocrity must have a winner. The Buckeyes have lost four straight, and while competitive in all, that includes a Scarlet Letter inducing loss to Minnesota at home. Nebraska was able to muster a win over Minnesota in overtime, but has been drilled in three of their last four games. Both teams are on the outside of the bubble.

Frankly, the Buckeyes need better contributions from team captains Justice Sueing and Ice Likekele. Against Rutgers, Sueing had 7 points and 4 turnovers while Likekele has 1 assist and no points. OSU has been leaning on freshmen to make up the difference, which is a bad place to be for any Big Ten team. The season is getting late fast. Torvik pegs the Buckeyes, 71-66.

#58 Northwestern Wildcats at #44 Iowa Hawkeyes CANCELLED

MaximumSam: The official reasoning is COVID issues within Northwestern’s program. I thought we had reached Fight Club’s philosophy when it comes to COVID, which is that we never talk about COVID. But apparently the poindexters didn’t get that memo.