Northwestern has the best home court advantage in the Big Ten

Purdue, Michigan State, and now Illinois have all lost to Northwestern inside of Welsh-Ryan Arena. The home of the Wildcats is looking like the top home court advantage in the Big Ten. It might even be considered among the best in the country if not for Northwestern’s loss to Chicago State in December. That inexplicable defeat is a serious stain on Northwestern’s NCAA Tournament resume, but the good news is that the Wildcats are safely in the field thanks to their most recent triumph over the rival Illini.

A week ago, Northwestern failed to secure a road win at Nebraska because Boo Buie turned into Mr. Clank, but that wasn’t an issue at home against Illinois. The superstar point guard was in his bag as the kids say. He led everyone with 29 points and seven assists while leading Northwestern to the 96-91 overtime victory. The game might not have made it to overtime, but Buie answered Justin Harmon’s go-ahead runner with a drive past Terrence Shannon Jr. and a layup off a shot fake to tie the score at 76-76.

Illinois had a chance to win in regulation, and Marcus Domask had a good look at being the hero, but his 15-foot jumper banged off the back of the rim. That turned out to be the Illini’s best shot at victory because Northwestern scored the first nine points of overtime thanks to a three by Buie and another one by Brooks Barnhizer that turned into a four-point play with Quincy Guerrier fouling on the shot.

Before taking that big lead in overtime, Northwestern’s largest lead in the entire game was just four points. Even though the Cats shot 55 percent from the field and 11-for-18 from beyond the arc, Illinois kept pace with 21 offensive rebounds on 45 missed shots. The biggest second chance provider was Coleman Hawkins, who continued his streak of great play with 22 points and 13 rebounds with seven coming on offense. The effort by Illinois will be enough to win most games, and the team can be even better once Shannon Jr. rounds into form. Northwestern’s hot shooting was just too much to overcome on Wednesday night.

The Illinois vs. Northwestern game was quite riveting, but we had already been warmed up by an exciting game in Iowa. Maryland picked up a key road win in its quest to build an NCAA Tournament resume around its upset victory at Illinois 10 days ago. Iowa appeared to be in control of the game when Tony Perkins hit a pair of free throws to put his team ahead 63-57 with just under five minutes to play. From that point, the Terps would close the game on a 12-4 run that included three monster buckets by Jahmir Young. Maryland’s most valuable player (by far) knocked down a step-back three with 1:24 on the clock to go ahead 64-63. After Iowa regained the lead, Young hit another triple, this one set up by a Julian Reese screen, to take the lead 67-65. Perkins responded with two free throws to tie the game, but with 28 seconds left Young just dribbled down the clock and blew past the Iowa defense to seal the game with a left-handed layup.

The man could not be stopped with the game on the line, and that’s why Maryland still has a great chance to make the NCAA Tournament. The Terps have a formula. Just play great defense and let Young cook. It also helped that Maryland made almost half its three-point shots in this one while Reese did the dirty work and picked up five offensive rebounds, blocked five shots, and also scored 17 points. That kind of effort from Reese is just what Maryland needs to give it a paint presence and support Young’s scoring.

This game was right there for Iowa to finish off, but getting only nine points from Ben Krikke is not going to cut it, even with Perkins (20 points) and Owen Freeman (14 points, nine rebounds) playing as well as they are. It also doesn’t help that Payton Sandfort is slumping with fewer than 10 points in two of Iowa’s last three games, including his 0-for-4 night from beyond the arc against Maryland.

Wisconsin continues to dominate the Big Ten

The Badgers have now won three in a row since my Nittany Lions handed them their only loss of conference play. On Fright night, Greg Gard’s team finished off a sweep of Michigan State with a convincing 81-66 victory in Madison. Earlier this week on the B1G Spotlight podcast, I spoke about how the game between Michigan State and Wisconsin would be a battle between Sparty’s ability to force turnovers and score in transition and the Badgers’ low-tempo and low-turnover style. Michigan State needed to force Wisconsin into some uncharacteristic mistakes to win this one, and that did not happen. Wisconsin only turned it over six times while shooting 51 percent from the field and grabbing 12 offensive rebounds. The outcome is not very surprising given those numbers.

What is a little surprising is how the Phenomenal AJ Storr has developed from a complimentary scorer into the main attraction of the Wisconsin offense. He scored 28 points in this one, and he’s just as comfortable shooting the three as driving to the basket. It’s not good for the rest of the Big Ten that Wisconsin can win so comfortably while Max Klesmit, Chucky Hepburn, and Tyler Wahl combine for just 16 points. In addition, to Storr, the Badgers’ bench with Connor Essegian and Nolan Winter each knocking down a pair of three-point shots. Illinois looks like the deepest team in the conference with Shannon Jr. back in the lineup, but Wisconsin isn’t far behind with the young talent it has in reserve.

Michigan State could have used some support from its own bench, but Tre Holloman, who has played so well lately, scored zero points in 17 minutes. Among the starters, A.J. Hoggard played one of his best games of the season with 19 points and four assists, but that was balanced out by Tyson Walker being limited to 11 points on 4-for-14 shooting with five assists. That can happen when he’s forced to operate in crowded halfcourt sets like he was in Madison.

Busy Big Ten Saturday

Wow! There are five games on today and they are all staggered nicely so that you can watch them if you don’t have a three-year-old’s birthday party in the middle of the day like I do.

  • Nebraska always wins at home but loses on the road. Maryland has been solid lately, but five points is a lot to cover for a team that is in one-possession games all the time. Nebraska should be able to cover after going to overtime at Rutgers in its last road challenge.
  • Las Vegas disrespects Indiana even more than I do. It wouldn’t be surprising to see the Hoosiers get blown out by Illinois, but it’s impossible to make a pick with Kel’el Ware’s status still up in the air. I would wait until close to tip-off when we might know more. Indiana has a good chance to cover if Ware plays.
  • It’s a home game for Michigan, which means Dug McDaniel will be in the lineup. The Wolverines won in Iowa City back in December, and I like their chances today even though they have won one game since Christmas.
  • Minnesota has lost four in a row, but Penn State is a step down in competition. Still, my Lions have quietly been very good in the Bryce Jordan Center this season. I think we can win by five.
  • Northwestern is my favorite pick of the day. Ohio State has not won an away game and we just talked about how good Northwestern has been in Evanston.
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