Around the Big Ten (Basketball): Week 1
The college basketball season is officially underway as schools all across the country begin their journey in pursuit of the ultimate goal: a National Championship.
In recent years, the Big Ten has faltered in tournament play and while they might not have a powerhouse this season, the conference is very deep with quality teams.
This has been proven so far, as every squad has yet to lose a game.
No.13 Indiana started its season at home against the Morehead State Eagles on Monday, securing a dominant win by a score of 88-53 on the backs of leading scorers Trayce Jackson-Davis and Malik Reneau who put up 15 each.
The Hoosiers would then go on to steamroll another non-conference opponent in the Bethune-Cookman Wildcats on Thursday with a 52 point victory as Jackson-Davis, the Big Ten Preseason Player of the Year, showed out once again leading all scorers with 21 points.
Winning its lone game of the season, No. 22 Michigan came out on top in their season opener at home against the Fort Wayne Mastodons on Monday.
Center Hunter Dickinson was a major standout in this one, managing a double-double with 22 points and 12 rebounds for the Wolverines.
The final-ranked Big Ten team, the Illinois Fighting Illini, only played one game so far as well, defeating in-state opponent Eastern Illinois.
Coleman Hawkins and Dain Dainja both finished with double-doubles in points and rebounds as Hawkins achieved the milestone with a 23-point showing.
Illinois guard Terrence Shannon Jr. was the leading scorer in the game scoring 24 of the 87 points scored by the team.
Iowa came into the season with a glaring question: How does it replace Keegan Murray?
The fourth pick in this year’s NBA Draft by the Sacramento Kings was a star for the Hawkeyes last year, guiding them to a fifth seed in the NCAA Tournament before suffering a heartbreaking loss, getting upset by Richmond in the Round of 64.
Overcoming these changes and bouncing back from that tough finish are going to be tall tasks for Head Coach Fran McCaffrey, but he has the talent to do it.
Kris Murray, brother of Keegan, is a good player in his own right and showed that in the first game this season, scoring 14 points and pulling in six rebounds.
Tony Perkins is another player expected to take a step forward after a strong finish last season and continued that momentum into the opening game, leading the Hawkeyes with 16 points on the night.
Another team with a lot of excitement coming into this year are the Penn State Nittany Lions under second year head coach Micah Shrewsberry.
Penn State is debuting the highest ranked recruiting class they’ve had in program history along with multiple high-level transfers.
In terms of the newcomers, four-star recruit Kebba Njie had a rough debut, but bounced back in game two picking up 12 points and six boards in just 16 minutes.
The story was similar for freshman Kanye Clary who, after getting shutout in game one, totaled seven points in just 10 minutes.
Arguably the most prominent transfer, Andrew Funk, got off to a hot start with his new team as well, putting up 22 points in his Nittany Lions debut on Monday.
Jakob Schnur is a third-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email.jks6463@psu.edu.
