Penn State might be that team you don’t want to play in the Big Ten

I try to stay a little optimistic about this Penn State basketball team. Even after they killed their chances of sniffing the NCAA Tournament, they still pulled out comeback wins over Ohio State and Michigan. Chances of meaningful postseason basketball are zero, but chances of ruining someone else’s season have been pretty good. Still, I did not think that Penn State had a chance to upset Wisconsin on Tuesday night. Even after Penn State jumped out to a 12-2 lead and used pressure on defense to throw off the usually patient Badgers, I was waiting for the other shoe to drop. It looked like it did drop when Wisconsin chipped away and chipped away and finally took the lead on a Max Klesmit three-point shot with five minutes to play. However, my Lions kept attacking the basket for layups and free throws while Qudus Wahab had a couple of huge blocks that led to a pair of rare stops.

When Penn State held on for the 87-83 win, it was time for the students to rush the court. And we got a surprisingly good court storming for a game that started at 9:00 p.m. on a weeknight after a snowstorm. This was a win that Mike Rhoades can build on, and when Kanye Clary and Ace Baldwin Jr. are both scoring as efficiently as they did against Wisconsin, Penn State is going to be tough to beat.

Purdue established dominance over Indiana

I thought that Indiana had a great chance to cover the 9.5 points because Purdue had been shaky outside of West Lafayette. Wrong, wrong, wrong. The Boilermakers absolutely crushed their rivals 87-66 to ensure that they would not be swept by Indiana for the second straight season. Zach Edey really wanted to win in Bloomington before his ridiculous college career is over, and he showed it with 33 points and 14 rebounds while making more free throws than Indiana attempted as a team.

Purdue held Kel’el Ware and Malik Reneau to 13 points combined, but they weren’t nearly as bad as Xavier Johnson. He has been a walking nightmare since coming back from a foot injury apart from a great game against Ohio State in which he scored 18 points to lead the Hoosiers to a much-needed win. In his other four games of 2024, Johnson has a total of four points and two flagrant fouls. Not a great ratio. In this one, Johnson went 0-for-5 from the field while scoring no points. May G-d have mercy on his soul.

Nebraska still can’t win on the road

When it comes to home vs. road performance, Nebraska might be the most bipolar team in the country. In conference play, the Cornhuskers are 3-0 in Lincoln with wins over Michigan State, Indiana, and Purdue. Away from Pinnacle Bank Arena, has been a different story. Nebraska has yet to record a Big Ten road win, and it blew a big opportunity to get one when it fell to Rutgers 87-82 in overtime on Wednesday night. The Cornhuskers were head by double digits in both the first half and the second half, but both times Rutgers came back and tied the score. Nebraska might have held on if it could get a damn rebound on defense, but in a performance that reminded me of my Nittany Lions, it allowed the Scarlet Knights to grab 25 rebounds on 48 missed field goals.

That is just disgusting, but you have to give some credit to Cliff Omoruyi and his freakishly long arms for battling and keeping Rutgers in the game despite its horrible shooting. Omoruyi grabbed 15 rebounds with six coming on offense and also blocked four shots to ensure that Nebraska shot the ball just as poorly as the Knights. The major rebounding advantage should have made it possible for the Knights to win this game in regulation, but they instead tortured their fans with missed free throws that kept Nebraska alive for five extra minutes. We were also treated to back-to-back turnovers in the final three seconds of regulation with a lengthy replay review added for good measure.

It looked like Nebraska would get a chance to win with the score tied, but Rienk Mast tried to grab a ball on the sideline that clearly went off of Omoruyi’s shoe. If Mast had just let the ball go, the Huskers would have maintained possession, but replay showed that he touched the ball just before it went out of bounds. Rutgers then had a chance, but Nebraska trapped Derek Simpson as soon as he caught the inbounds pass, and he ended up traveling with almost no time coming off the clock. Given another chance, Fred Hoiberg in his infinite wisdom drew up a lob to C.J. Wilcher (a 6’5″ guard) instead of trying to get the ball to Keisei Tominaga, one of the best three-point shooters in the country. The play failed miserably, and Rutgers won in overtime.

Jahmir Young has no help

Maryland had a chance to build off its awesome win at Illinois with a win at Northwestern on Wednesday night, but stop me if you’ve heard this one before: Jahmir Young did not get any help and nearly broke his back trying to carry the Maryland offense. The super senior scored 36 points on 12-for-19 shooting with five assists, but thanks to zero points from the bench and subpar outings from Julian Reese and Donta Scott, the Terps fell to Northwestern, 72-69. Young even hit a clutch three-point shot to put Maryland ahead by one with 30 seconds left, but Boo Buie answered with a driving layup that would end up being the winning bucket.

Buie finished with 20 points and seven assists for a more balanced Northwestern team. While the Terrapin reserves were doing nothing, Matthew Nicholson came off the bench for the Wildcats and scored 10 points with five offensive rebounds.

Thursday’s results

Michigan State beat Minnesota in East Lansing and Illinois beat Michigan in Ann Arbor on Thursday night. Neither result was particularly surprising, but the Gophers impressed on the road by hanging with the Spartans for the first 35 minutes of the game. Michigan State finally pulled away (and nearly covered the 11.5-point spread) thanks to some strong transition offense led by Tyson Walker. When Sparty has success this season, it’s been because the team forces turnovers and scores quickly off of them. Minnesota would have had a chance to score a major upset if not for the 19-5 turnover disparity.

In the late game, I thought that Illinois -2.5 looked like a trap, but I took it anyway because Illinois is a much better team than Michigan. The Illini came through and pulled away in the second half for a solid road win with much thanks to peak Coleman Hawkins. If Illinois can get this version of Hawkins in March, it can go far in the NCAA Tournament. The versatile center had 21 points, 10 rebounds (three on offense), four assists, and six steals while leading the Illini in all of those categories except for rebounds since Quincy Guerrier had 14. Hawkins also knocked down three shots from beyond the arc. There is not much this guy can’t do when he is at the top of his game.

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