Sunday, February 12th

Northwestern Wildcats 64, Purdue Boilermakers 58

MaximumSam: How ‘bout them Poindexters? The Cats stayed within striking distance all game, but felt doomed until the last four minutes, where they turned an eight point deficit into a six point win. They made Zach Edey a bit uncomfortable (six turnovers) and no one else for Purdue could really get going. Is this the Year?

BoilerUp89: Purdue held a solid lead for much of this game but never really put Northwestern away. The Wildcats did an excellent job rebounding and a late Purdue meltdown with lots of turnovers generated by the NU defense helped them pull off the upset.

Yes, Northwestern played a physical style of defense. But Purdue has to be stronger with the basketball on the road against that the style and not rely on the refs to bail them out. It would be nice if the fanbase stopped blaming everything on the officials. Its better to focus our officiating ire on Courtney Green's inability.

Iowa Hawkeyes 68, Minnesota Gophers 56

BoilerUp89: Iowa took care of business.

Michigan State Spartans 62, Ohio State Buckeyes 41

MaximumSam: After a couple games of starting vets, Chris Holtmann went to starting freshmen. Tom Izzo is a noted disciple of OTE and knows exactly what to do with freshmen. STUFF’EM IN A TRASH CAN! And that’s what Sparty did. Also, Zed Key looks like he can’t lift one of his arms above his shoulder. Arms, who needs them?

Prayers up to the Spartans, by the way, after the mass shooting that occurred there yesterday. No particular words come to mind, which feels weird considering we’ve seen so many of these. In the sports realm, their game with Minnesota is off tomorrow as the school recovers and police try to figure out what happened.

BoilerUp89: Ohio State's season has gone off the rails.

Tuesday, February 14th

#31 Illinois Fighting Illini (17-7, 8-5) at #59 Penn State Nittany Lions (14-11, 5-9), 6 pm, ESPNU

MaximumSam: The Nits have lost four straight, fallen off the bubble, and feel pretty close to wasting Jalen Pickett’s last season. Is it his last season? I tell you, figuring out who has eligibility left feels like a game of Calvinball. Anyways, Illinois is playing pretty well on both ends, but Penn State can still burn up the nets. Torvik goes Nits, 72-71.

BoilerUp89: I'm 90% sure this is Pickett's last season of eligibility. Will check and post in the comments this season. Illinois suddenly has some hope in the Big Ten title race. It would be a shame if they were to squander that. A real shame.

#121 Nebraska Cornhuskers (12-14, 5-10) at #21 Rutgers Scarlet Knights (16-9, 8-6), 7 pm, BTN

MaximumSam: The Tominaga Express heads to the RAC. Rutgers has looked a bit uninspired recently, so it is theoretically possible that the Nebbers could make this a game. Torvik goes Knights, 68-56.

BoilerUp89: Rutgers hasnt played great as of late, but this is still a home game in the Trapezoid of Terror and their defense is good enough to just shut down Nebraska’s meager offense. Unless the students don't show up for a game against Nebraska, I would expect the home environment to help carry Rutgers here.

53 Michigan Wolverines (14-11, 8-6) at #79 Wisconsin Badgers (14-10, 6-8), 8 pm, ESPN2

MaximumSam: Is there any basketball analysis anyone wants here? Sure, both teams really need a win, and blah blah all eyes will be on Juwan Howard and Greg Gard. They say all is good, but let’s see what happens when it’s times to shake hands. Please Mary let’s see Michigan start pressing the Wisconsin walk-ons again. Torvik goes Badgers, 66-64.

BoilerUp89: Both coaches probably need a sweep of the two games they have against each other to save their faint postseason hopes. A combination of desperation mixed with the intense dislike that Gard and Howard have for each makes this a spicy Valentines Day matchup.