Thursday, January 26th

Purdue Boilermakers 75, Michigan Wolverines 70

Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK

BoilerUp89: Purdue made it more exciting than they needed to at the end by casually throwing away an inbounds pass, but they still came away with the road victory to move to 7-0 on the road this season. The Boilers led by 6 to 9 points for the majority of the second half as Michigan was unable to make it a one possession game until just 5 seconds were on the clock.

Hunter Dickinson led all scorers with 21 points but was just 6 of 14 from the field. Zach Edey had 19 points to lead the Boilermakers scoring effort. The game was won though due to the efforts of the Purdue bench who outscored the Michigan bench 23-9 and were the key to Purdue’s mid first half run that pushed the lead to 13. Trey Kaufman-Renn had 8 points on a perfect 4 of 4 from the field, David Jenkins Jr. knocked down both of his three point attempts, and Brandon Newman sealed the victory at the free throw line by making both free throws on what was a 1 and 1 with just a three point lead.

MaximumSam: No Jett Howard for the Wolverines, which certainly changes their dynamic on the offensive end. No certainty on when he’ll be back.

Michigan State Spartans 63, Iowa Hawkeyes 61

Kirthmon F. Dozier / USA TODAY NETWORK

MaximumSam: Iowa could never get going against Sparty, and went a rough 3-17 from three. That’s a tough line when you lose by two. Malik Hall returned for MSU, probably a lot earlier than many expected. Well, earlier than I expected at least. Sparty is really in pretty good shape in the conference. Everyone needs someone to bite Purdue, but the Spartans have survived all their early injury issues to still be in contention.

Saturday, January 28th

#188 Minnesota Gophers (7-12, 1-8) at #44 Northwestern Wildcats (14-5, 5-3), 11 am, BTN

Steven Branscombe-USA TODAY Sports

BoilerUp89: Northwestern plays the worst team in the conference at home with the opportunity to pull even with Rutgers for second place in the Big Ten. What could go wrong? Roper remains questionable for this matchup.

Minnesota has been playing better lately, but the complete lack of depth and injuries make it difficult to pick them to seriously contend in every game. Garcia and Payne are both questionable for Saturday’s game.

#42 Illinois Fighting Illini (14-6, 5-4) at #77 Wisconsin Badgers (12-7, 4-5), 2 pm, FOX

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BoilerUp89: I’ll be honest, I have no idea what to expect here. Both teams are near .500 in B1G play but are undecipherable enigmas. There have been times when Illinois looks like the best team in the conference and other times they get blown out by opponents in big games. Wisconsin has found a way to win close games I didn’t think they had a chance to compete in but also go on major slumps.

Badger fans will point to the fact that starters Wahl and/or Klesmit have been missing for most of their losses. Okay, that’s a fair point but its not like Wahl or Klesmit are showing up anywhere near most people’s Big Ten first team candidate lists.

This is a home game for Wisconsin where they’ve either won or been highly competitive all year.

#117 Nebraska Cornhuskers (10-11, 3-7) at #64 Maryland Terrapins (13-7, 4-5), 3:30, BTN

Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports

BoilerUp89: Will the Cornhuskers get up for this road game? At 3-7, it would be easy for the season to slip away at this point and the Cornhuskers to only get up to play the top teams in the conference. While Maryland is a good team, their record isn’t going to inspire Nebraska so they will have to provide their own energy. Maryland will try to take advantage of a relatively easier conference game to try to get back to .500 in Big Ten play.

One thing is for certain: if you are watching this game you should not expect a three point shooting competition. Both teams rank in the 320s nationally with 3 point shooting percentages hovering just above 30%.

#22 Ohio State Buckeyes (11-9, 3-6) at #36 Indiana Hoosiers (14-6, 5-4), 7 pm, FOX

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BoilerUp89: Indiana has been playing much better of late (aside from the Minnesota game) as Trayce Jackson-Davis has been carrying the team on his back and putting them right back in the Big Ten mix of teams waiting for Purdue to stumble. TJD has been helped by the improved shooting of Trey Galloway and Tamar Bates who have been key to Indiana’s recent winning ways.

Ohio State risks digging a tournament resume hole too big to come back from if they don’t pull off a victory here. That’s a rough place for a road team with two freshman starters to be in.

MaximumSam: OSU is in must win mode for the rest of the season. Zed Key is dealing with shoulder and knee problems and now must deal with TJD problems. Perhaps some Woody Hayes wisdom will help - “there’s nothing that cleanses your soul quite like getting the hell kicked out of you.” Illinois beat them into the ground, and perhaps that will loosen up some of the veterans to make an impact in a big environment. We all can dream, at least. Torvik says Hoosiers, 76-74.