Indiana gets its act together and Illinois’ offense goes nuclear

Congrats, Indiana! You finally did it. The Hoosiers finally won a home game that they were favored in after dropping their last three Assembly Hall games to Penn State, Northwestern, and Nebraska. If Indiana had just taken care of business, we’d be talking about its status on the NCAA Tournament bubble right now, but instead all we can say is that the 74-70 win over Wisconsin is too little and too late for Mike Woodson’s team. After the Hoosiers led for almost 30 minutes, it looked like they were going to blow the game when John Blackwell hit a driving layup for Wisconsin to tie the score at 54-54 midway through the second half, but someone or something (or perhaps divine intervention) pull a fire alarm at Assembly Hall, causing the action to halt for 25 minutes.

When play finally resumed, Tyler Wahl posted up and scored on a reverse layup to give Wisconsin its first lead, but Indiana punched back with Malik Reneau hitting a putback layup. The two red teams battled back and forth with neither leading for more than three points until the Hoosiers finally took control in the final minute. Reneau powered through Wahl for a layup and made the score 72-70 Indiana with 55 seconds left, and then the Hoosiers got a key stop when AJ Storr missed a three-point shot. Mackenzie Mgbako drew a foul and knocked down both free throws to finally put the home squad ahead by two possessions and end a four-game losing streak.

As usual, Indiana didn’t get much scoring from its backcourt, but Trey Galloway handed out 12 assists to help feed Kel’el Ware, who is turning into the Hoosiers’ own version of Zach Edey. Ware scored 27 points and went 11-for-12 from the field with 11 rebounds, five blocks, and just one turnover. That is unstoppable as it gets against a Wisconsin team that has plenty of big men to throw his way on defense. We’ve talked plenty about how disappointing this season has been for Indiana, but there is major bounce-back potential this fall if Ware decides to stick around alongside Reneau and the quickly improving Mgbako.

That brings our attention to the Badgers, who have lost six of eight since completing a sweep of Michigan State on January 26. Five of those six losses have come on the road, but at Rutgers and at Michigan are games that we expect good basketball teams to take care of. Wisconsin hasn’t shot the three or defended as well as we got used to seeing them do under Greg Gard. Three-point defense has been a big problem, and it’s a bad sign when brick-laying teams like Indiana and Rutgers are finding the range against Wisconsin. We’ll see if the Badgers can get right when they return to the Kohl Center for two games against Illinois and Rutgers coming up, but the Illini have proven to be tough to beat no matter where they play.

Illinois has been almost impossible to slow down lately with at least 85 points scored in its last five games. And it would have swept all five if not for an embarrassing collapse in State College. The Illini posted their best offensive performance of the season in their last game against Minnesota. They won 105-97 in an NBA-style game that was hotly contested until Minnesota faded in the last few minutes. Both teams scorched the nets with Minnesota shooting 60 percent and Illinois shooting 61 percent while the Illini went over the century mark in regulation time for the first time in a Big Ten game since 1994. The Gophers were en fuego from three-point range with Cam Christie and Mike Mitchell leading them on a 14-for-20 performance that would have been enough to beat nearly any other opponent.

Illinois is so balanced and deep, though, and it can beat you in many different ways. Terrence Shannon Jr. (29 points) got hot from beyond the arc while Marcus Domask (22 points) got work done in the paint. With Minnesota trying to hang in there, Domask powered through contact and scored while being fouled to put Illinois ahead 90-79 with five and a half minutes left. That ensured that the Illini would not have to sweat down the stretch. Illinois also got key bench buckets from Dain Dainja and Justin Harmon. They combined for 17 points while Minnesota got just three from its own bench. We saw Brad Underwood flex his team’s bench depth last Saturday against Iowa, and that depth will make Illinois tough to outlast in the Big Ten Tournament when everyone is playing for multiple days in a row.

Back-to-back road losses to Nebraska and Illinois probably means that Minnesota will have to win that Big Ten Tournament to earn a bid to the NCAA Tournament. Ben Johnson’s team must win the rest of its regular season games against Penn State (home), Indiana (home), and Northwestern (away) just to give itself a chance at an at-large invitation.

Ohio State is another team that has made a lot of noise lately but probably won’t reach the big dance. On Thursday, the Buckeyes defeated Nebraska 78-69 in Columbus to win their third game in four tries with interim head coach Jake Diebler at the helm. This one was particularly impressive because team MVP Bruce Thornton sat out due to a migraine headache. With Thornton out, Jamison Battle, who missed the win at Michigan State due to injury, stepped up and scored 32 points on 9-for-18 field goals and 10-for-10 free throws. The charity stripe was key for the Buckeyes, as they went 24-for-28 from there compared to just 7-for-8 for Nebraska.

While Battle is a fifth-year senior, we know this Ohio State team is a young group, and it got big contributions from freshmen Devin Royal and Scotty Middleton. Royal was someone who emerged in the Michigan State game, and he followed up that 14-point performance with 13 points and five rebounds against Nebraska in 21 minutes. Middleton has come along more slowly that Buckeye fans would have liked, but he helped fill in for Thornton nicely with nine points on 3-for-5 three-point shooting.

Nebraska also got some nice bench contributions with Jamarques Lawrence scoring 14 points with five assists and C.J. Wilcher pitching in with eight points, but the starters left a lot to be desired. Juwan Gary and Keisei Tominaga were smothered by Ohio State’s defense and combined to shoot 6-for-24 with 17 points. Rienk Mast was the only Husker starter in double figures with 14 points to go with 12 rebounds.

I am a Chris Holtmann guy, so I can going to say that this recent surge by Ohio State is proof that he had the young team headed in the right direction, but I can’t say for certain that the Buckeyes win three of four if he is still the head coach. That’s why we need a time machine to explore every timeline and settle all the hypothetical arguments. Without one, we’re left to say that this Ohio State team has a bright future if the key sophomores and freshmen stay with the new regime.

The Buckeyes have a great chance to end the regular season on a four-game winning streak since their next two are vs. Michigan and at Rutgers, but Iowa remains the Big Ten team that is mostly likely to be the conference’s seventh entry in the NCAA Tournament. The Hawkeyes dropped a big game at Illinois last weekend, but bounced back nicely with a 90-81 win over my Nittany Lions. Plus, Iowa still has a game at Northwestern and a rematch at home with Illinois on the schedule and those are both Quad 1 opportunities. If Iowa wins one or both, it could get on the good side of the bubble before Championship Week begins.

If Iowa makes a run in March, it will probably be because of Payton Sandfort and Josh Dix. While Sandfort has been Iowa’s top player all season, Dix has emerged as a lethal mid-range shooter lately, and that continued against Penn State. Dix scored 20 points on 8-for-10 shooting with much of that coming in the first half. Those Dix buckets were how Payton Sandfort racked up a lot of his assists en route to the first triple-double in Iowa Men’s Basketball history. And make sure you say “Men’s Basketball” or else endure the wrath of Caitlin Clark fans, also known as the Swifties of college hoops. Yes, Clark is amazing. Yes, she is one of the best women to ever play. No, we don’t need a picture-in-picture stalking her every move on the court. I don’t know if I should route against her in the NCAA Tournament or root for her to turn heel. Maybe both.

Anyway, Sandfort got his triple-double with 26 points, 10 rebounds, and 10 assists. He didn’t get the final rebound until Ace Baldwin Jr. missed a free throw in garbage time even though Baldwin is a great free throw shooter. Sandfort shot just 3-for-11 from the field, but he was also 18-for-19 from the free throw line, but I’ll have you know that six of those free throws came in the game’s final minute and three more came on a dumb foul by Penn State when Sandfort was shooting from beyond the arc. So only about half the free throws were earned.

Penn State fell behind early in this one despite a great first half by Qudus Wahab in which he scored 12 of his 18 points. Almost everyone else on Penn State underperformed on offense, with Baldwin shooting 5-for-15 despite a burst at the beginning of the second half that saw him score eight points in three minutes and bring Penn State within two points at 51-49. The Lions would get no closer, though, since Baldwin was hit with a technical foul for chirping at the referee. Sandfort hit the two penalty free throws (unearned again!) before Tony Perkins hit a runner in the paint to put Iowa back up by six. A Leo O’Boyle appearance led to the redhead hitting two threes and letting Penn State hang around, but Iowa had too much firepower for the Lions to withstand. Rayquawndis Mitchell randomly got going for 16 points, but Zach Hicks and Jameel Brown showed how inconsistent they are and combined to shoot 0-for-9 from deep.

Iowa’s win over Penn State sets up a showdown at Northwestern on Saturday that is a chance for the Hawkeyes to boost their resume. The Wildcats have won three in a row and five of six, but the schedule has been light and the team is banged up with Ty Berry out for the rest of the season. Plus, Ryan Langborg just sat out Northwestern’s last game against Maryland due to an ankle injury. You probably thought that the Cats needed a superhuman effort from Boo Buie in order to beat the Terps on the road with Langborg out, but nope! It was sophomore small forward Nick Martinelli who stepped up with a career-high 27 points with seven rebounds.

You have to hand it to Chris Collins. His Northwestern team is showing a lot of resiliency. It lost Berry and Langborg became a 20-point scorer. Then it lost Langborg and Martinelli has the best game of his career. Not only that, but he went 9-for-14 from the field, including two key buckets that held off Maryland when it drew within one possession in the second half. We don’t know yet if Langborg will play on Saturday, but either way, the Hawkeyes have a tough task in front of them.

The only other game that happened during the week was Rutgers shellacking Michigan 82-52. The good news for Michigan was that Dug McDaniel finally played in a road game for the first time in 2024 thanks to his academic suspension being lifted. He led the Wolverines with 13 points and four assists while shooting 5-for-9, but Michigan was crushed by a surprisingly efficient offensive performance by Rutgers. The Scarlet Knights shot 52 percent from the field while Clifford Omoruyi and Jeremiah Williams scored 19 points each. Rutgers didn’t score for the final five minutes of the first half, but Michigan still didn’t make it a close game. Michigan just looks like a doormat with Olivier Nkamhoua out of the lineup for the rest of the season.

0
0

0 Comments