Off Tackle Open Threads: Nov. 16th Basketball

Recaps

Ohio State Buckeyes 76, Merrimack Warriors 52

BoilerUp89: The Buckeyes played with their food a bit before pulling away in the final 10 minutes of the game to prevent a second consecutive win by a Northeast conference program against a Big Ten team in Columbus. Ohio State shot 57.1% from three in this one, led by Roddy Gayle Jr.’s 3 of 4 on his way to 20 points. Merrimack’s Devon Savage had a big night going 6 of 9 from deep and matching Gayle’s point total.

MaximumSam: The Bucks did a good job of getting the ball through the zone and generating good looks. Unfortunately, they just missed a ton of them, going 18-45 from two. Gross. They did get their shot going late to make for a respectable score. Roddy Gayle kept them afloat in the first half and showed the outside inside game we’ve been waiting for.

Nebraska Cornhuskers 84, Stony Brook Seawolves 63

BoilerUp89: Nebraska moved to 2-0 in the Cowards’ Cornhusker Classic (they still have to play A-10 favorite Duquesne who fell to Princeton in an unrelated game last night). Tominaga found his shot in this one and went 7 of 11 from the field to score 16 points. Juwan Gary and Brice Williams surpassed him with 19 and 17 points respectively. The Cornhuskers dominated the glass by outrebounding the Seawolves 45 to 28. Clearly Nebraska isn’t taking pointers from Northwestern on rebounding.

Rutgers Scarlet Knights 71, Georgetown Hoyas 60

BoilerUp89: Rutgers shot better than Georgetown and generated a ton of turnovers from the Hoyas to make up for the fact that they got dominated on the boards. Old friend and former Illini Jayden Epps led all scorers with 16 points but was a leading contributor to the Hoyas turnover issue with 5. Ryan Mutombo did not have any blocks for the Hoyas in 11 minutes of play.

Previews

#120 Wright State Raiders at #45 Indiana Hoosiers (-9.5), 6 pm, BTN

MaximumSam: The Hoosiers got all they wanted against Florida Gulf Coast and Army. Next up is Wright State, who is another quality mid-major who might drive the Hoosiers crazy. Fifth year point guard Trey Calvin is the star - he averaged over 20 a game last year and led the team in assists. They added (or re-added) Tanner Holden, who starred for them two years ago before taking a detour to Ohio State. They also have a good center in A.J. Braun. This may be Indiana’s toughest test yet, let’s hope they don’t forget their taco sauce. Torvik goes Hoosiers, 82-71.

BoilerUp89: Wright State sits at 0-2 after a 28 point road loss to Colorado State and a 1 point home loss to Toledo. The Raiders aren’t a deep team - against Toledo, four starters logged over 30 minute - so Indiana could just try to point it inside to Ware and get them in foul trouble.

#47 Missouri Tigers at #107 Minnesota Golden Gophers (+2.5), 8 pm, BTN

MaximumSam: The Gophs make a big jump in competition against Mizzou after beating a couple patsies. The Tigers were a tourney team last year, but lost their three top scorers. They are led by veteran guard Sean East, and an experienced cast of transfers and randos, including Old Friend and former Hoosier Tamar Bates. They’ve already been whipped by Memphis, so the task isn’t insurmountable. Still, Pharrel Payne may not play, which doesn’t help the Gopher cause. Torvik says Mizzou, 75-75.

BoilerUp89: Minnesota actually enters this game with a better record than Missouri since the Tigers blew a 12 point first half lead to Memphis to lose by 15. Missouri has taken a ton of three point shots early on this year, which could aid Minnesota if they have an off shooting night like they did against Memphis.