Purdue asserts Big Ten dominance and Nebraska teases road competence

How is Purdue going to blow it this year? That question is getting tougher and tougher to figure out as the Boilermakers keep winning big games in the Big Ten. Their latest triumph came on Sunday with a 75-69 victory over second-place Wisconsin in Madison. Turns out it is really dumb to bet against the projected number one overall NCAA Tournament seed when it is getting points, even in a tough road environment. Purdue had its chances to wilt in this one, but Lance Jones came up big whenever the Badgers got close, and the Boilers were able to hold onto the lead for the entire second half. If Purdue makes the Final Four like it should, we’ll point to Jones as the key difference between this year’s team and last year’s team that flopped in the first round. Jones hit a huge three-point shot to double Purdue’s lead when Wisconsin got within 52-49 with 9:20 to play.

The Badgers got within two at the 4:50 mark when Tyler Wahl grabbed his own rebound and turned it into a layup. It looked like Wisconsin might stage a late rally when Zach Edey missed a free throw, but Mason Gillis picked up the rebound and kicked the ball out to Jones, who drove to the bucket for a layup that put Purdue up by multiple scores for the rest of the game. Wahl almost turned it into a one-score game with a minute to play, but after grabbing yet another offensive rebound (he had six in the game), he got trapped under the basket and his pass was intercepted by Jones, who put the game away with a breakaway layup.

Not only did Jones lead the Boilers with 20 points, but his defense was important to locking down the Wisconsin backcourt. AJ Storr shot just 4-for-15 from the field and Chucky Hepburn was 1-for-6. Wahl might have been more impressive than Jones with all those offensive rebounds to go with 20 points, five assists, three steals, and two blocks. This guy went straight at Edey for much of the afternoon and still shot 10-for-16 from the field. It’s too bad for the Badgers that none of their other players stepped up in a big way, while Jones had plenty of help from Edey (18 points, 13 rebounds, 3 blocks) and Braden Smith (19 points, six rebounds, three assists, two steals).

The win moves Purdue to one game above Wisconsin and Illinois in the loss column with eight games left on the Boilers’ Big Ten slate. They’re in great position to win a second straight regular season title, and it wouldn’t be surprising to see them end February at 15-2 with a relatively light schedule ahead.

Nebraska comes oh so close to a big road win

Nebraska would already be a lock for the NCAA Tournament if only it could pull out one of these road games. Alas, the Huskers stand at 6-6 in the conference with six wins at home and six losses on the road. Champaign usually isn’t a great place to go for road wins, but Nebraska stormed back from a 10-point deficit in the final three and a half minutes to take the lead on a Rienk Mast hook shot with nine seconds left. Marcus Domask drew a foul on the other end for Illinois, and he split the foul shots to send the game to overtime.

The extra period got off to a good start for the Illini, as Coleman Hawkins found Quincy Guerrier on the wing for a three-point shot that put them up 79-75 with 3:40 on the clock. Keisei Tominaga struck back with perhaps his most beautiful three-point jumper of the night, and there were a lot of them. The Japanese sharpshooter has been dormant lately with just 14 combined points in his last three games, but against Illinois he erupted for 31 points on 5-for-7 shooting from deep. Tominaga’s heroics led the Huskers having a 43 percent to 27 percent advantage in three-point shooting, but Illinois made up for it by winning the offensive rebounding battle 17-5. The biggest factor in that category was Ty Rodgers, who grabbed five offensive rebounds and 14 overall to go with eight points, three assists, and three steals. Rodgers is a weird guard-forward hybrid who is the only member of Illinois’ starting five who can’t shoot the three, but he’s also a great defensive player and classic glue guy who does what his team needs to achieve victory.

Anyway, after Tominaga’s big shot, the Illini lead bounced back and forth between three and one until Terrence Shannon Jr. stole the ball from Rienk Mast in the final seconds. Shannon dribbled around until just over one second was remaining, and it’s a good thing he did, because he ended up missing both foul shots once the Huskers caught up with him. The two misses allowed Tominaga one last chance from beyond halfcourt, but he didn’t even get the shot away in time and Illinois escaped with an 87-84 win.

Michigan has its most impressive collapse yet

We’ve seen Michigan blow a second half lead before. In fact, this 69-59 loss to Rutgers that it suffered on Saturday was the 11th straight game in which it was outscored after the half. Still, there is something to be said for blowing a 15-point lead to the worst offense in the conference. The Wolverines ended the first half in style with an Olivier Nkamhoua buzzer-beating dunk following a steal by Terrance Williams II. The momentum continued in the second half, and Michigan took a 47-32 lead after Dug McDaniel hit a step-back three and Nkamhoua took a backdoor pass from Tarris Reed Jr. and turned it into a reverse layup plus the foul.

Rutgers’ usually dreadful offense got a lift from Derek Simpson, who scored 19 points in the game to double his scoring average with 14 of them coming in the second half. Simpson hit a big three with seven minutes left that narrowed the deficit to three points and started an 18-2 run that the Scarlet Knights ended the game with. During that span, Simpson came through again with an 18-foot jumper that he crushed while getting fouled for an old fashioned three-point play.

Even with Simpson playing some solid ball, Rutgers still only went 2-for-13 from beyond the arc and 40 percent overall. However, the Knights forced 19 turnovers and grabbed 15 offensive rebounds, with five of them coming as part of Clifford Omoruyi’s 15-point, 11-rebound double-double.

Penn State might have ended Indiana’s hopes

It has been a rough season for Indiana, but Mike Woodson’s squad appeared to be getting back on track following three straight losses to the top three teams in the Big Ten. The Hoosiers took care of business at home against Iowa, and got off to a good start against Penn State. I thought my Nittany Lions were done for when Malik Reneau and Kel’el Ware scored three-point plays on consecutive possessions to put Indiana up 10 points with five minutes left in the first half. However, Penn State hung in the game thanks to some great point guard play by Ace Baldwin Jr. and some surprising accurate three-point shooting led by Jameel Brown going 4-for-5 from deep off the bench.

Even though Penn State only trailed by four at the break, it still felt like Indiana had a big advantage because of how unstoppable Ware was in the first half. That thought changed when Penn State came out like gangbusters and outscored the Hoosiers 25-10 in the first 10 minutes of the second half. The Lions held Ware to eight points in the second after he dominated for 17 in the first, and they were never threatened after D’Marco Dunn and Brown hit back-to-back threes to go up by 11 with 12 minutes left.

The 85-71 win was Penn State’s first at Assembly Hall in 10 years, and Indiana fans did not take it well. This game was supposed to be a launching pad for the Hoosiers to get rolling and play their way onto the NCAA Tournament bubble. Instead, they still have a lot of work to do with a trip to Purdue coming up on Saturday. If Indiana doesn’t turn this around and make the big dance, Mike Woodson will be feeling the heat.

Woodson’s chair cooled down a little on Tuesday night when the Hoosiers overcome a 13-point halftime deficit and earned a huge 76-73 road win plus a season sweep over Ohio State. Malik Reneau (26 points, 14 rebounds) and Trey Galloway (25 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists) carried the Indiana offense for most of the second half, but it was hometown hero Anthony Leal who dealt the decisive blow with a tide-turning three-point shot from the corner after the Ohio State defense collapsed on Galloway. Leal’s clutch shot gave Indiana a one-point lead, and it held on for the desperately needed victory after Jamison Battle lost the ball off his foot on Ohio State’s penultimate possession.

Following Battle’s turnover, Galloway threw the ball ahead to Ware for an apparent breakaway layup, but he hurt his leg during his finger roll attempt and it fell off the rim. The good news is that Leal tracked down the ball to avoid Ohio State getting a chance to win the game. The bad news is that if Ware is injured again, that’s not great for Indiana’s chances against Purdue and beyond.

Minnesota is back to being frisky

Back in early January when the Gophers had rolled off seven straight wins and jumped out to a 3-1 start in Big Ten play, it looked like they had a chance at an NCAA Tournament run. Four straight losses did a lot to change that, especially since Minnesota has zero impressive wins outside of league play. The tide is starting to turn again, though. Minnesota picked up a comeback road win at Penn State to close out January, and on Saturday it defeated Northwestern 75-66 at home.

Ryan Langborg put Northwestern up by eight with less than six minutes to play by drilling two three-point shots in a row, but that wasn’t enough to kill Ben Johnson’s team. It battled back to take the lead on a Cam Christie three with 44 seconds left before Boo Buie sent the game to overtime with a pair of free throws. Buie had a typical 20 points and seven assists in The Barn, but Minnesota’s Elijah Hawkins provided his own solid point guard play with 13 points and 10 assists. However, it was Dawson Garcia who carried the Gophers to victory in overtime with seven straight points while the entire Northwestern team scored just five.

Garcia was back at it with 10 points in another Minnesota come-from-behind win on Tuesday against Michigan State, but it was Cam Christie who made the biggest difference. He scored 19 points and shot 5-for-7 from beyond the arc and helped the Gophers climb out of a 45-36 hole with 13 minutes to play. Garcia hit a three-point shot of his own to put Minnesota ahead 55-52 with 1:27 on the clock, but A.J. Hoggard was fouled while shooting a three to give Sparty an opportunity to tie the game. Hoggard hit the first two shots but missed the third, and the Gophers picked up a 59-56 win that is their strongest of the season.

Michigan State cooled off Maryland with a late rally

Maryland had a great chance to extend its two-game winning streak into February as it refused to go away in East Lansing. Jahmir Young poured in 31 points and led the Terps on a second half run that allowed them to briefly take the lead, but the Spartans struck back and pulled away in the final seven minutes. Tyson Walker and Malik Hall each scored 19 points for Michigan State while A.J. Hoggard handed out eight assists. Julian Reese is usually a major factor on the inside for Maryland with his scoring and rebounding ability, but he was limited to two points in just 14 minutes due to foul trouble.

Losing a tough road game at Michigan State wouldn’t be a big deal for Maryland, but it followed that up with a home defeat to Rutgers on Tuesday that is more damaging to the Terps’ NCAA Tournament chances. Reese was terrific in this one with 19 points on 8-for-10 shooting with 12 rebounds, but Jahmir Young shot just 3-for-17 from the field and Maryland was 17-for-54 overall against the excellent Rutgers defense. The Scarlet Knights’ offense wasn’t anything special, but it was enough to get the job done, and it got a boost from Jeremiah Williams, a transfer from Temple who just played his first game for Rutgers on Saturday due to an Achilles injury. Williams scored 14 points at Maryland and 10 at Michigan.

Rutgers took a 52-43 lead with three minutes left on a clutch Derek Simpson jumper, but it almost let the game get away after Simpson was hit with a ridiculous technical foul for shushing the crowd. The Terps pulled to within a point and trailed by three in the final seconds, but Donta Scott’s equalizing attempts was off the mark and the Knights held on 56-53.

Wednesday night slate

Tonight in the Big Ten, Wisconsin tries to avoid slipping up in Ann Arbor and creating a losing streak while Nebraska continues the search for a road win in a huge bubble battle at Northwestern. I like Wisconsin -5.5 and Nebraska +5.5 for my picks.

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