Around The Big Ten: Week 12

Story posted February 12, 2021 in CommRadio, Sports by Trevor Grady

The Big Ten conference has been extremely powerful all season long.

As it stands right now, half of the teams in the conference are ranked in the Top-25 of the AP Poll. Joe Lunardi is predicting that nine teams will get into the NCAA tournament from the Big Ten, and he has Penn State in the “First Four Out” and Maryland in the “Next Four Out”.

Let’s dive into this week’s Big Ten action.

No. 3 Michigan will be playing its first game since Jan. 22 on Sunday afternoon. The Wolverines will take on No. 21 Wisconsin at 1 p.m. Michigan is a superb 13-1 on the season, and 8-1 in conference play.

A huge part of Michigan’s success this season has come from freshman center Hunter Dickinson. The 7-foot-1 big man is averaging 15.1 points per game, and is shooting an absurd 68.8 percent from the field.

Illinois is back in the top 10 and sits at No. 6 in the AP Poll.

The Fighting Illini have one of the best duos in all of college basketball in Ayo Dosunmu and Kofi Cockburn. Dosunmu is averaging 21.1 points, 6.4 rebounds and 5.1 assists per game. Cockburn is averaging a double-double with 17.2 points and 10.4 rebounds per game.

Illinois’ next matchup is this Friday night against Nebraska. The Fighting Illini will travel to Lincoln to face off with the Cornhuskers at 9 p.m. Nebraska is in last place in the Big Ten standings and is still winless in conference play.

The Big Ten’s third team in the top-six is Ohio State. The Buckeyes are ranked No. 4 in the AP Poll, sit at 16-4 and look like one of the best teams in the country.

Sophomore forward, E.J. Liddell, is the workhorse for this team. He is averaging 14.9 points and 6.8 rebounds per game while shooting 49.7 percent from the field.

The Buckeyes are in action again on Saturday at noon when they host the 11-8 Indiana Hoosiers.

Iowa had lost two straight games before it picked up a 79-66 win over Rutgers on Wednesday night. The Hawkeyes star big man, Luka Garza, is the far and away favorite to win the Wooden Award this season. His stat line is one of the most impressive ones in college basketball history.

Garza is averaging 25.3 points and 8.5 rebounds per game. He is shooting 57.1 percent from the field and 43.8 percent from three point range. Oh, and he is also 6-foot-11 and 265 pounds.

Garza is back in action on Saturday when Iowa travels to East Lansing to take on 10-7 Michigan State at 2:30 p.m.

Penn State continues to be one of the most frustrating teams in the country. They are 7-9 on the season and 4-8 in conference play. Six of the Nittany Lions’ nine losses have been by single digits.

Penn State is back in action on Sunday when they will host Nebraska at the Bryce Jordan Center at 3 p.m.

 

Trevor Grady is a junior majoring in management information systems and minoring in journalism. To contact him, email tmg5685@psu.edu.