Saturday, January 28th

Indiana Hoosers 86, Ohio State Buckeyes 70

BoilerUp89: With 5 minutes to go in the first half, Indiana led 31-30. The Hoosiers then went on a 15-0 run to end the half and take control of the game.

Indiana was hot from three point range once again, going 10 of 20 from behind the arc. Jalen Hood-Schifino led the way by going 6 of 9 behind the arc on his way to 24 points. Trayce Jackson-Davis had another double-double with 18 points, 10 rebounds.

For the Buckeyes, Brice Sensabaugh led the way with 23 points and narrowly avoided being sent to the hospital as parts of the Some Assembly Required Hall continue to fall from the sky. Sensabaugh’s teammates however went just 2 of 14 from three and 17 of 42 overall which isn’t going to win you the game when you give up 86 points.

MaximumSam: Blech.

Illinois Fighting Illini 61, Wisconsin Badgers 51

Mark Hoffman / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK

BoilerUp89: At the half the score was just 20-16 Illini. Classic Big Ten basketball right there.

The Illini woke up a little bit in the second half and put up 41 points. Matthew Mayer led the way scoring a career high 26.

The Badgers had all their players back for this one, but continued to be offensively challenged shooting just 33.3% from the field and 57.1% from the free throw line. Fortunately for them they made 9 three pointers or this could have been a lot worse.

Kind of...: As I type this, Wisconsin’s adjO effeciency per KenPom is 106.2 (pts per 100 possessions). That ranks #126 nationally. Both the efficiency number and the ranking would be UW’s worst since 1998. Yes, worse than the 2018 team, the only UW team to miss the NCAA tournament since, well, 1998.

That ‘98 team played a bunch of freshmen, had their best player leave the program before the non-conference was finished, and went 12-19/3-13. This year’s team brought back three starters, two of whom were short-listed for the all-B1G team preseason. To say the Badgers are painful to watch is understatement.

Oh year, per KenPom, they haven’t hit 106.2 in a single B1G game this year. Despite turning it over less than anybody else in conference play this year, UW’s adjO in B1G action is, 95.8, good for 12th. Rutgers is 11th at 100.2, which is closer to 7th than it is to 12th.

Tyler Wahl is using (i.e., shooting or turning it over) 29.9% of his possessions, good for 48th nationally. His offensive rating? 89.1 (Last year it was 106.8).

If you can find four more wins—I’m not sure I can—that would guarantee an above .500 record and likely NIT bid. But, really, the season is pretty much over, and everybody knows it.

Maryland Terrapins 82, Nebraska Cornhuskers 63

Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports

BRT: Another game, another 20-ish point loss for the Huskers. Part of the problem is the loss of Gary and Bandoumel, who both had surgery this week for their respective season-ending injuries. But another problem is self-inflicted: boy, do they love turning the ball over. Today, the Huskers treated Maryland to 15 of them, which the Terps were all too happy to take advantage of.

Shooting consistency was another issue: Wilcher (4), Breidenbach (4), and Tominaga (3) all grossly underperformed.

There was one pleasant surprise for Nebraska though: Sam Hoiberg, who had scant playing time prior to last game, exploded for 15 points. It’s possible that Maryland just wasn’t sure who he was or what he was doing on the court, but hey, the Huskers needed it.

BoilerUp89: Maryland built a 10 point lead by halftime, stretched it to 20 late in the second half, and had to settle for a 19 point victory. Nebraska actually shot better from the field than the Terrapins (53.3% to 44.6% overall, 42.9% to 34.8% from three) but their 15 turnovers, Maryland’s 11 offensive rebounds, and the Terrapins 24 of 26 free throw shooting spelled doom for the Cornhuskers.

Jahmir Young had 18 points to lead all scorers. Five Terrapins scored in double figures including 4 of 5 starters (Julian Reese had just 8 points but was limited to only 14 minutes due to foul trouble).

Freshman Sam Hoiberg (yes, he’s Fred’s son) had 13 points in 10 games and 29 minutes coming into today with his playing time having been mostly limited to blowouts. His 15 points in 26 minutes was a bit of an eye opener and he was second in scoring for the Cornhuskers behind only Derrick Walker’s 16.

Northwestern Wildcats 81, Minnesota Gophers 61

Photo by Mike Albans/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images

BoilerUp89: Lucy did not pick up the football (yet) and Northwestern improved to 6-3 in Big Ten play and officially tied with Rutgers for 2nd place in the conference standings. With Rutgers playing at Iowa Sunday, Northwestern had decent odds of being in 2nd place all by their lonesome come Monday (Rutgers-Iowa is considered a coinflip by your analytics sites).

Northwestern led by 17 at the half and coasted in the second half. Buie and Audige both scored over 20, the Wildcats limited themselves to just 4 turnovers (while generating 15), and the team shot 45% from three.

Minnesota was led by Jamison Battle’s 20 points as Battle was forced into playing 39 minutes.

Sunday, January 29th

#68 Michigan Wolverines (11-9, 5-4) at #49 Penn State Nittany Lions (13-7, 4-5), 11 am, BTN

BoilerUp89: Big game for both teams. Michigan’s tournament resume just needs wins. Penn State needs to stay within striking distance of .500 in B1G play in the hopes of finishing at or above .500 with a strong finish.

Hunter Dickinson vs. the Penn State lineup is an unfair matchup though. Penn State is going to need a terrific shooting performance to pull this one off. At least they are capable of shooting that well.

MaximumSam: Jett Howard is a game time decision. He dropped 14 and 7 last time around.

#41 Michigan State Spartans (14-7, 6-4) at #5 Purdue Boilermakers (20-1, 9-1), 11:15 am, CBS

BoilerUp89: Sparty already played Purdue at home this season, with Tom Izzo reduced to tears in the post game press conference as the Spartans fell by 1 following a late Zach Edey bucket. Expect to see a lot of the same things for both sides on offense until the opponent proves they can stop it as both were effective down the stretch. Purdue will force feed Edey. Michigan State will run the offense through Walker and Hoggard.

Purdue will be debuting throwback uniforms that harken back to the Rick Mount era when Purdue last made the national championship game. It will also be a whiteout T-shirt game and the first time that the Paint Crew gets to see the #1 ranked Boilermakers. Expect a raucous crowd. It is worth remembering that the last time Purdue payed homage to Rick Mount with Rick Mount bobblehead night, they lost to Iowa.

#13 Rutgers Scarlet Knights (14-6, 6-3) at #53 Iowa Hawkeyes (12-8, 4-5), 1 pm, BTN

BoilerUp89: All defense vs. all offense. No defense vs. no offense. It’s a clash in styles as the Big Ten’s 3rd best offense faces the Big Ten’s best defense and the Big Ten’s 4th worst offense (side note - how are their three teams with worse offenses than Rutgers?) faces the Big Ten’s worst defense.

This is not a game for the faint of heart. Iowa is at home where they’ve lost just twice this season: Wisconsin in overtime and Eastern Illinois. In the earlier matchup between Iowa and Rutgers this year, Iowa walked out of the Trapezoid of Terror with a 11 point victory.

MaximumSam: Who dey.