Conference play is just around the corner as we near the holiday season.
The Big Ten had a relatively quiet week overall, although a few marquee matchups on neutral courts certainly turned some heads. However, outside of the top teams in the conference, most B1G teams turned heads in a bad way by struggling in those matchups, and with conference play just around the corner, the B1G has many teams sitting on the bubble that started the season with very optimistic outlooks on the season.
Michigan – No. 1 Seed (No. 1 overall)
Previous seeding: No. 1 Seed (No. 1 overall)
The Wolverine wrecking crew kept rolling on Sunday, grabbing a 102-50 win against La Salle at home. It was Michigan’s sixth game with over 100 points this season, and the Wolverines’ fifth win by 40 or more, as the most impressive resume in the country continues to get better. Michigan will now move on to face ten straight games against Quad 1 and Quad 2 teams, starting with a battle against McNeese State a week from today to round out the non-conference slate before moving into conference play.
Purdue – No. 2 Seed (No. 7 overall)
Previous seeding: No. 3 Seed (No. 9 overall)
The Boilermakers continued their great run through a challenging non-conference schedule this week by taking on then-No. 21 Auburn. Despite a complete off-shooting night from Fletcher Loyer (0-for-7 on threes), Purdue demolished the Tigers 88-60. Braden Smith had a season-high 14 assists, while Trey Kaufman-Renn led the team in scoring with 18 points and the Boilermaker bench out-scored the Auburn bench 31-11. Purdue has one game left in non-conference play, and with a 4-1 record in Quad 1 and 2 games, the Boilers are in great position to battle for a top-two seed as we near the New Year.
Michigan State – No. 3 Seed (No. 10 overall)
Previous seeding: No. 3 Seed (No. 10 overall)
The Spartans wrapped up four straight games against high-major opponents last week, and will now wind down the calendar year with three easier games against mid-majors. The first of those games was a 92-69 win against Toledo at home, but the second of those two was the annual Greg Kampe and Tom Izzo ugly Christmas sweater matchup (pictured below), with MSU facing off against Oakland. Luckily for Michigan State, most viewers were so distracted by the sweater matchup that they didn’t pay much attention to the Spartans only winning by nine points (79-70), but Michigan State will move on from that game and focus on a game against Cornell before conference play begins.
Nebraska – No. 3 Seed (No. 12 overall)
Previous seeding: No. 4 Seed (No. 13 overall)
The Cornhuskers only had one game this past week, and they continued their dominant run to start the season. After trailing 26-24 at the half, Nebraska exploded for 54 second-half points to beat North Dakota 78-55. The story of the game was Berke Büyüktuncel, who posted a season-high 10 assists en route to his first career triple-double (he added 12 points and 11 rebounds as well). The ‘Huskers continue to rise in the seed list as other teams fall.
Illinois – No. 4 Seed (No. 15 overall)
Previous seeding: No. 4 Seed (No. 16 overall)
The Fighting Illini were idle last week. The bitter taste of their loss at home to Nebraska is still lingering, but Illinois will play tonight at a neutral site against a decent Missouri team in an important bounceback opportunity.
Iowa – No. 5 Seed (No. 20 overall)
Previous seeding: No. 6 Seed (No. 24 overall)
The Hawkeyes played one game this week and it was an amazing defensive performance that got Iowa the 94-39 victory against Bucknell at home. The Hawkeyes scored a whopping 40 points off 25 Bison turnovers in the game, and forced turnovers on 37.8% of Bucknell’s possessions, ranking as a program record for the entire KenPom era (dating back to the 1997-98 season). Iowa has only played two Quad 1 games to date this season, both against top-ten teams. Conference play will be where we truly find out what the Hawkeyes are made of.
USC – No. 7 Seed (No. 27 overall)
Previous seeding: No. 7 Seed (No. 25 overall)
The Trojans might have had the most eventful week of any team in the B1G. USC picked up a 97-70 win over UTSA early in the week and then defeated Division II opponent UC Santa Cruz 102-63 over the weekend, but the biggest news came from off the court. First, it was announced that star guard Rodney Rice – who had been averaging 20.3 points and 6.3 assists through six games – would miss the rest of the season with a shoulder injury. However, an injury-depleted Trojans team did receive much needed good news this week as five-star freshman Alijah Arenas returned to practice for the first time, and former Robert Morris point guard Kam Woods (14.9 points per game last season) signed with the team as a midseason addition, playing 22 minutes and dishing out six assists against the Banana Slugs over the weekend.
Indiana – No. 10 Seed (No. 37 overall, Last Four Byes)
Previous seeding: No. 9 Seed (No. 34 overall)
The Hoosiers played against a woefully bad Chicago State team, and ran them out of Assembly Hall to the tune of a 78-58 victory. Nick Dorn has worked his way into heavier minutes within the rotation as of late and tied his season-high in points (15) and three-pointers made (five) on Saturday. That shift should continue moving forward as the Hoosiers will need to play more than a seven-man rotation to survive the grind of a B1G schedule.
UCLA – No. 10 Seed (No. 38 overall, Last Four Byes)
Previous seeding: No. 10 Seed (No. 39 overall, Last Four Byes)
The Bruins finally had a week that was all positive news. They picked up a 90-77 win against old Pac-12 foe Arizona State, followed by a 108-87 victory over Cal Poly over the weekend. Even though UCLA hasn’t fit the usual Mick Cronin mold of a defense-first team, the Bruins have a top-25 offense, per KenPom. It hasn’t been the same eye test and style that we all expected from this team, but the Bruins have still done a good job stabilizing the season after a shocking loss to Cal.
Ohio State – No. 11 Seed (No. 45 overall, Last Four In)
Previous seeding: No. 10 Seed (No. 37 overall, Last Four Byes)
After canceling out an early-season buzzer-beater loss to Pitt with a double overtime win against West Virginia last weekend, the Buckeyes suffered another heart-breaking loss against then-No. 12 North Carolina. Ohio State was down 56-45 at the under-12 media timeout, and fought valiantly to stay in the game all the way until the final minute. The Buckeyes even took a 70-67 lead after John Mobley Jr. converted a four-point-play on a 26-foot three pointer with under a minute left, but the Tar Heels answered back with a layup, forced turnover and a dunk to take a one-point lead with four seconds left. Ohio State missed a deep three and the subsequent putback attempt as time expired, falling 71-70. While Saturday’s loss was definitely a missed opportunity, the Buckeyes still have metrics good enough to just barely stay on the right side of the tournament bubble.
Wisconsin – Next Four Out
Previous seeding: First Four Out
The Badgers have really struggled to start this season against elevated competition, and that continued over the weekend against Villanova. Despite playing in Milwaukee in front of a heavily pro-Wisconsin crowd, they fell 76-66 in overtime to the Wildcats. Wisconsin trailed by as many as 15 points early in the second half, but mounted a massive comeback to force overtime. Unfortunately, the Badgers never led in the entire game, and Villanova even opened up overtime on an 11-1 run to seal the game after nearly blowing it in regulation. Wisconsin is 0-3 in Quad 1 games this season and although the Badgers have many opportunities to change that – they are currently projected to have nine Quad 1 games left – they’ll need to stack multiple wins against the type of team that they have struggled against so far to truly factor into the tournament picture.
Washington – Out
Previous seeding: Next Four Out
Last week, I said the Huskies were playing a “sneaky good Seattle U team,” and that their rivalry clash could “definitely be called a trap game.” Well, consider Washington trapped. Seattle hadn’t won a game against the Huskies since 1978 until last season’s upset, but the Redhawks emerged victorious for the second season in a row on Friday night. Washington’s 70-66 loss to their in-city rival has effectively knocked the Huskies out of at-large consideration without a massive surge in conference play. Washington is 1-2 against both Quad 1 and Quad 2 opponents this season, and although that’s not a horrible mark, it’s not the right trend for a tournament team.
Northwestern – Out
Previous seeding: Out
The Wildcats rolled to a win early in the week, utilizing 29 points from Nick Martinelli to beat Valparaiso 86-70. Unfortunately for Northwestern, the Wildcats had a tougher assignment over the weekend, taking on Butler at a (loosely declared) neutral-site game in Indianapolis. To make matters worse, Martinelli was deemed unavailable for that game. NU fought hard to slow down the game and keep thing close, but ultimately, the ‘Cats fell 61-58 to the Bulldogs on the road. After a week off, Northwestern will finish the non-conference slate against Howard.
Oregon – Out
Previous seeding: Out
The Ducks continued to play much better basketball this week, even though it only resulted in one win. Oregon beat Portland 94-69 to set the tone. The Ducks then put on an impressive performance against Gonzaga, keeping the game close all the way until the final whistle. Even though Oregon shouldn’t be too happy with a “moral victory” in a 91-82 loss, it’s a sign that U of O can still compete against the top dogs.
Minnesota – Out
Previous seeding: Out
The Golden Gophers continue to follow the same patterns this season: let Cade Tyson cook. The UNC transfer scored 24 points in a 78-50 win at home against Campbell, and ranks in the top three in the nation in scoring.
Penn State – Out
Previous seeding: Out
After looking relatively competitive against a great Michigan State team last weekend, the Nittany Lions looked completely lost against Pitt. An 80-46 loss against the Panthers, who were 2-6 in games against non-Quad 4 teams heading into yesterday’s game, was demoralizing and a poor sign for a PSU team who has had a light non-conference schedule to this point.
Maryland – Out
Previous seeding: Out
Despite playing one of their better games of the season, the Terrapins took another loss this weekend, this time to a ranked Virginia team on the road. Maryland led 19-11 with 5:01 left in the first half, but from that point forward, the Cavaliers’ offense came to life while the Terps’ offense simply couldn’t. UVA closed the first half on a 13-0 run and led 24-19 at halftime before both teams flipped the script and combined for 109 points in the second frame. Maryland, despite scoring 53 in the second half, fell 80-72 on the road, dropping to 6-6.
Rutgers – Out
Previous seeding: Out
If it weren’t for Tariq Francis, the Scarlet Knights would be 5-7 right now. But the junior who transferred from NJIT in the offseason completely lit up Penn over the weekend, scoring a career-high 34 points and hitting a game-winning three-pointer with 0.6 seconds left to help Rutgers escape with a 70-69 win. The Scarlet Knights avoided an embarrassing loss, but still don’t have a win over a Quad 1, 2 or 3 opponent this season.
Category: General Sports
