Saturday, February 18th

Indiana Hoosiers 71, Illinois Fighting Illini 68

MaximumSam: Heck of a fun game. The Illini were without Terrence Shannon but still put up a great fight, powered by Matthew Mayer’s 24 points. Still, the Hoosiers had a pretty big counter with TJD, who had 26 and 12 as well as 5 blocks. This win keeps Indiana in the Big Ten race. They finish at at MSU and Purdue followed by home games with Iowa and Michigan. They can win the tiebreaker with Purdue, but must root like hell against, uh, Northwestern.

Rutgers Scarlet Knights 58, Wisconsin Badgers 57

MaximumSam: This game was on at the same time as Illinois-Indiana, so I didn’t watch it. Apparently, it was also a great game, if you prefer missed shots to made ones. Wisconsin didn’t score in the last three and a half minutes, allowed Rutgers to storm back from a three point deficit to win by one. Rutgers staves off the bubble for one more game, while Wisconsin finds themselves slipping off it.

Michigan Wolverines 84, Michigan State Spartans 72

MaximumSam: Another fun game. Don’t look at the score - this game was tied with two minutes left and was a back and forth affair all night. When everyone comes to play for Michigan, they are tough to beat, and Dug McDaniel dropped 18 while Tarris Reed had ten rebounds. Michigan is probably NIT bound, but they have a flicker of hope if they go on a winning streak.

Penn State Nittany Lions 76, Minnesota Gophers 69

MaximumSam: The Nits keep their faint tourney hopes alive.

Sunday, February 19th

#64 Ohio State Buckeyes (11-15, 3-12) at #5 Purdue Boilermakers (23-4, 12-4), 12 pm, CBS

MaximumSam: Feels like this game is just an exercise at how much worse OSU has gotten over the past month and a half. They looked every bit as good as Purdue in their first game at the beginning of January. Today, they probably lose by 20. Go Bucks.

#31 Maryland Terrapins (18-8, 9-6) at #111 Nebraska Cornhuskers (13-14, 6-10), 4 pm, FS1

MaximumSam: Maryland is a sneaky team in the Big Ten race. Left for dead early in the season, they split with Purdue and have a win over the Hoosiers. Of course, they still have three road games left, so let’s see how they look in one of them today. Torvik trusts them, 67-64.

#39 Iowa Hawkeyes (17-9, 9-6) at #41 Northwestern Wildcats (19-7, 10-5), 5:30 pm, BTN

MaximumSam: Well, look at this. Second place Northwestern hosting Iowa, with both teams trying to break to the top. We haven’t talked a lot about Iowa, either, sitting at two games back of Purdue. Unfortunately, they lose the tiebreaker with Purdue, though they do have a win over Indiana and Northwestern. A Wildcat win here keeps the pressure squarely on the Boilermakers. Torvik picks Northwestern, 77-73.