Thursday, March 2nd

Purdue Boilermakers 63, Wisconsin Badgers 61

BoilerUp89: Undisputed, champions of the B1G!

MaximumSam: This game was nip and tuck the whole way. Purdue’s largest lead was six points, while Wisconsin led much of the second half but never by more than five. A foul fest and a missed shot ended the game with Wisconsin missing a chance at a big win to solidify their tourney resume. Purdue had already clinched the outright conference championship, but now they are playing for a 1 seed.

Illinois Fighting Illini 91, Michigan Wolverines 87 (2OT)

MaximumSam: Heck of a fun game, as for once, Illinois didn’t launch a bunch of threes and instead attacked the basket over and over (and over). On the other end, Michigan’s trifecta of Dickinson, Jett Howard, and Kobe Bufkin all excelled, combining for 69 points (nice). It looked like Illinois had this one in the bag in regulation, then it looked like Michigan would run away in overtime, and then it looked like we might hit a third OT when Joey Baker had a wide open three to tie. Sadly for the Wolverines, he airballed it, and their tourney hopes took a big hit.

Minnesota Gophers 75, Rutgers Scarlet Knights 74

MaximumSam: Woof, Rutgers. Maybe they should have rescheduled this game to accommodate Michigan State.

Saturday, March 4th

#63 Ohio State Buckeyes (13-17, 5-14) at #25 Michigan State Spartans (18-11, 10-8), 11 am, ESPN

MaximumSam: Sparty horsewhipped the Buckeye freshmen a few weeks ago, holding them to one of their worst offensive performances ever. Since then, OSU has shown some life and have two straight wins by double digits. While they are playing for pride, Sparty is playing for the double bye, and they need a win here to get it. All six teams ahead of them play tomorrow, so with a win they will be playing Chief Haters against them all. Torvik goes MSU, 73-66.