Iowa and Maryland make pushes to get on the NCAA Tournament bubble

The Big Ten never rests. Just when you think you can write a team like Maryland off because it can’t put the ball in the hoop, the Terps go on the road and beat Illinois for their first quality win of the season. That might be the best road win that any Big Ten team gets this season based on how Purdue and Wisconsin are playing at home. Maryland has had to rely on its defense because of how putrid its offense has been, but on Sunday in Champaign, Jahmir Young and Julian Reese played in tandem and looked like a dynamic duo as they set up each other for good looks at the hoop. Young missed all four of his three-point shots, but he finished 11-for-24 with 28 points and eight assists because of how great he was a driving to the bucket and using his teammates as screens. When the game came down to the wire, Reese bullied the Illini in the paint and picked up enough points to hold off Marcus Domask and company while forcing Coleman Hawkins to foul out. Maryland has a long way to go because of how bare its resume is, but now Kevin Willard’s team has a signature win and a formula to build around. Young and Reese scoring in the paint plus hounding defense that leads to transition points.

By the way, Domask was a dawg in this one with some tough shots down the stretch to keep Illinois in the game while the rest of his team was shooting 12-for-45 (26 percent). Justin Harmon has been a key player for Illinois with Terrence Shannon Jr. suspended, but he was a big let down in this one, going 0-for-7 from the field. It will be interesting to see if the Terps can keep the good times rolling at Northwestern on Wednesday while Illinois looks to rebound on Thursday at Michigan, where the Wolverines finally broke their losing streak.

Yes, the Maize and Blue found another way to own their rivals with a win over Ohio State, this time on the basketball court. Dug McDaniel was back in action after serving one game of his bizarre road-only suspension, and he showed some of his old tricks by shooting 3-for-6 from beyond the arc on the way to 15 points and four assists. Terrance Williams II continued his senior-year breakout season with five three-point shots made on five attempts, including the dagger with about 30 seconds left. I will give Michigan credit. It did the thing where again where it blows a second-half lead, but it showed some mettle and bounced back to pick up the win. It looked like curtains for the Wolverines when Ohio State went on a 16-0 run to turn a 12-point deficit into a four-point lead with Bruce Thornton heating up.

Juwan Howard being back in the head coach’s chair following offseason heart surgery might have made the difference. Either that or it was the Fab Five being in the house. Maybe it was just Ohio State shooting 12 percent from three-point range thanks to a rare dud from Jamison Battle. No matter what, it was a much-needed win for Michigan.

Iowa is creeping into NCAA Tournament contention

Depending on who you ask, the Big Ten has six or seven schools in the NCAA Tournament field as of this moment. There are some schools with potential to move up, though. Indiana is 4-2 in league play and has a few big resume-building opportunities coming up. Iowa is another team that is building a case thanks to three straight wins over Rutgers, Nebraska, and Minnesota with more than 85 points scored in all of those games. Ben Krikke was carrying Iowa’s offense earlier in the season, but freshman Owen Freeman and sophomore Josh Dix have made major contributions lately to gas up the attack. Freeman is turning into a double-double machine who seems to win the Big Ten Freshman of the Week award almost every time. He was nigh unstoppable against a Nebraska team that was coming off a huge win over Purdue. Freeman turned into a miniature Zach Edey against them with 22 points on 11-for-13 shooting and 10 rebounds.

Meanwhile, Dix has seen his role grow in a big way over the past two games thanks to some spicy three-point shooting. Against Nebraska on Friday, he came off the bench and sunk five triples to score a season-high 16 points. He topped that against Minnesota when he stepped into the starting five with Patrick McCaffrey dealing with an injury. Inside The Barn, Dix scored 21 points on 7-for-12 shooting with five assists. Iowa hasn’t gotten a ton of three-point shooting beyond Payton Sandfort this season, so Dix emerging should help spread out opposing defenses while giving Krikke and Freeman more room to operate in the paint. Don’t sleep on the Hawkeyes at home against Purdue this Saturday!

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