Around the Big Ten

posted January 21, 2013 in CommRadio, Sports by Bradford Conners

Illinois (14-5, 1-4 Big Ten)

The 2012-13 season for the Fighting Illini is beginning to look like a mirror image of their 2011-12 campaign. A year ago, Illinois came out of the gates red hot by getting off to a 10-0 start and earning a signature home win in early January against a top ten Ohio State team. However, after the Ohio State win, the wheels completely came off, as the Illini dropped 11 of their final 13 games.

This season, Illinois jumped out to 12-0 start and notched yet another early January home win against a top ten Buckeye squad. Just like last year, though, Illinois’ season looks as if it could be spiraling out of control. The week after the Ohio State win was not pretty, with the Illini getting trounced by both Minnesota and Wisconsin. However, matters only got worse for John Groce’s squad last week when Northwestern, who came into Thursday’s game with only one conference win, but were able to exit Assembly Hall with a 14-point victory. Illinois has shot an abysmal 8 for 58 (14%) from beyond the arc during its current three-game skid.

The Illini will try to stop the bleeding this week when they travel to Lincoln to face Nebraska on Tuesday and host Michigan on Sunday. A win in at least one of those two games is a must if Illinois wants to stay on the right side of the bubble.

Indiana (16-2, 4-1 Big Ten)

For the first time in over a calendar year, the Hoosiers were defeated on their home floor when they were upset by Wisconsin, 64-59, on Monday night. Indiana did rebound on Sunday with a road win in Northwestern, although the fact that the Hoosiers relinquished most of a 17-point lead and only won by eight may be disconcerting to Indiana fans.

The Hoosiers will play exclusively from the comfort of their own home this week as they play host to Penn State on Wednesday and Michigan State on Sunday. Indiana should have no trouble with a struggling Penn State team but will face a much more difficult task when the streaking Spartans come to town. The Hoosiers dominated the glass in their two games last week, outrebounding Wisconsin by nine and Northwestern by 15 thanks in large part to two double-doubles from Cody Zeller. Indiana will need to continue to win the battle of the boards when it goes up Michigan State big men Adreian Payne and Derrick Nix, who rank 5th and 6th in the Big Ten in rebounding.

Iowa (13-5, 2-3 Big Ten)

The Big Ten season is still young, but it’s looking more and more like the Iowa Hawkeyes are for real this year. Iowa followed its 20-point thrashing of Northwestern over a week ago with a huge 70-66 home win over Wisconsin in its lone game last week. The Hawkeyes led by as much as 20 in Saturday’s victory and converted 83% of their 29 foul shots to deal the Badgers their first conference loss.

The Hawkeyes will face two difficult road tests this week as they travel to Ohio State on Tuesday and Purdue on Sunday. Roy Devyn Marble and company may be overmatched when they face off with the Buckeyes, but the Purdue game is a winnable one for Iowa. The Boilermakers have been playing better lately and Mackey Arena is no easy place to play, but the Hawkeyes will need to demonstrate the ability to grind out tough wins on the road if they want to make their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2006.

Michigan (17-1, 4-1 Big Ten)

Following a road loss to rival Ohio State that ended its undefeated season, Michigan responded with an enormous 83-75 road win over No. 9 Minnesota on Thursday. The Wolverines led by as many as 19 points over the Gophers, and Tim Hardaway, Jr. connected on seven of his eight attempts from the floor to pace his team with 21 points.

This week, the Wolverines will look to continue to climb in the polls when they host Purdue on Thursday and visit Illinois on Sunday. Although Purdue is on a three-game winning streak, it seems unlikely that the Boilermakers will be able to challenge Michigan in Crisler Arena, where the Wolverines have been dominant all season long.

Michigan State (16-3, 5-1 Big Ten)

Michigan State continued its winning ways this week by picking up an 81-72 victory at Penn State and knocking off No. 11 Ohio State at home by three. Both Adreian Payne and Brandon Dawson sat out the first half of the Penn State game after being involved in an altercation earlier in the day, but Payne torched the Nittany Lions when he finally got the call, scoring a career-high 20 points in just 17 minutes. Keith Appling led the Spartans with 15 points in Saturday’s win over the Buckeyes.

Thanks to its five-game winning streak, Michigan State currently sits atop the Big Ten standings. However, this upcoming week will be a good indication of whether the Spartans are a legitimate contender to win the Big Ten. Tom Izzo’s squad will travel to Wisconsin on Tuesday and pay a visit to Indiana on Sunday. A win in either of those two games would probably be considered a successful week for the Spartans.

Minnesota (15-3, 3-2 Big Ten)

In their only game of the past week, the Golden Gophers could not defend their home court and fell to No. 5 Michigan, 83-75, on Thursday night. Austin Hollins led Minnesota with 21 points and four steals, but the Gophers were doomed by their 15 turnovers as they lost to a top five team for the second consecutive game.

This week, Minnesota will travel to Evanston Wednesday to take on Northwestern and will square off with Wisconsin in Madison on Saturday. The Gophers had no problem with Northwestern in their first meeting when they beat the Wildcats by 18 points. Minnesota lost to Wisconsin twice last year, but the Gophers were without their star Trevor Mbakwe at the time, who is shooting a team-high 58% from the floor this year and is tied for the Big Ten lead with 8.2 rebounds per game. Minnesota may need wins in both games to stay in the hunt for a Big Ten regular season title.

Nebraska (10-9, 1-5 Big Ten)

After falling at home to Purdue, 65-56, on Wednesday night, the Cornhuskers finally got off the schneid in conference play by escaping the Bryce Jordan Center with a four-point road win over Penn State. Freshman Shavon Shields made his presence known around the league last week by scoring a career-best 18 points against Purdue and then emphatically topping that performance with a new career-high of 29 points on 10 for 11 shooting in the win over Penn State.

Nebraska will have a couple reasonable shots at picking up another conference win this week as they host Illinois on Tuesday and Northwestern on Saturday. The Cornhuskers already have three players who average more than 12 points a game in guards Ray Gallegos and Dylan Talley and big man Brandon Ubel, and now that Shields is in the scoring mix as well, Nebraska may end up being more competitive in conference play than it originally appeared.

Northwestern (11-8, 2-4 Big Ten)

Having lost stars Jon Shurna to graduation and Jordan Crawford to injury, when Northwestern was embarrassed by Iowa on its home floor over a week ago, it seemed inevitable that Wildcats fans were in for a long, painful Big Ten season. However, while Northwestern will certainly not be ending its NCAA Tournament drought this year, the Wildcats did show some serious signs of life last week. Northwestern started the week with a double digit triumph at Illinois on Thursday to pick up its first win over a ranked opponent. Then, the Wildcats welcomed the second-ranked Hoosiers to town on Sunday, and despite the loss, they outplayed Indiana in the second half and managed to trim a 17-point deficit all the way down to five with just minutes to play. Reggie Hearn, Northwestern’s leading scorer on the season, scored at least 20 points in both contests.

The Wildcats will look to build upon the momentum they created last week when they host Minnesota on Wednesday and travel to Nebraska on Saturday. Northwestern was blown out in its last match-up with Minnesota, largely because the Wildcats were outrebounded 45-20. Rebounding has been problematic all season for Northwestern, who ranks dead last in the Big Ten in that category. The Wildcats will undoubtedly have to do a better job on the glass if they want to stay competitive with Minnesota. Northwestern will probably match up better with Nebraska, who is second-worst in the conference in rebounding.

Ohio State (13-4, 3-2 Big Ten)

A week after knocking off undefeated Michigan, the Buckeyes could not complete the sweep of the Michigan schools when they came up short in East Lansing on Saturday in a 59-56 loss to Michigan State. Ohio State overcame a double-digit deficit and had a chance to even the score in the final seconds, but a Shannon Scott three-point attempt hit the side of the backboard to seal the Buckeyes’ fate. In a losing effort, Deshaun Thomas put up a game-high 28 points, which included a career-high six trifectas on only 11 tries.

Ohio State will have a chance to bounce back from the loss when it hosts Iowa on Tuesday and visits Penn State on Saturday. As long as the Buckeyes stay out of foul trouble, they should be able to hold off an Iowa team who has a knack for getting to the line and has the second-best free throw percentage in the Big Ten. On Saturday, Penn State will likely struggle to score against a pesky Ohio State defense led by Aaron Craft.

Purdue (10-8, 3-2 Big Ten)

In nonconference play, Purdue posted just a 6-6 record that included a loss to an Eastern Michigan team that is currently ranked No. 213 in the RPI. However, once conference play kicked in, Matt Painter’s squad has surprisingly started to turn things around a bit. The Boilermakers notched a 65-56 road win in Nebraska on Wednesday before shellacking West Virginia by 27 points on Saturday in Mackey Arena. A balanced attack was Purdue’s key to success last week, as the Boilermakers had four players score in double figures in both games.

Purdue will face much more formidable opponents this week as it travels to Michigan on Thursday and welcomes Iowa to West Lafayette on Sunday. The Boilermakers have excelled on the defensive end of late, giving up 56 points or less in their last three games. Purdue has little chance to knock off Michigan, but the Boilers could definitely take down Iowa if they continue to share the ball effectively and hold the Hawkeyes’ offense in the low-to-mid sixties.

Wisconsin (13-5, 4-1 Big Ten)

Although Wisconsin’s winning streak came to end last week, Bo Ryan still has to be pleased with how the week’s events transpired. Yes, the Badgers would have liked to beat Iowa on Saturday to remain undefeated in Big Ten play, but the Grateful Red can’t be too disappointed about a week in which their team goes on the road and shocks the No. 2 team in the land. If there was any question about whether Wisconsin was a tournament team this year, the upset win in Indiana certainly answers that.

The Badgers are in the middle of a brutal stretch in which they play 11 straight games against teams that would probably be in the NCAA Tournament if the field was selected today. This week, Wisconsin will welcome first-place Michigan State to the Kohl Center on Tuesday before hosting Minnesota on Saturday. Although both match-ups will be tough ones for the Badgers, they need to hold serve at home if they want to keep pace with the top dogs in the Big Ten, so anything less than a 2-0 record this week would probably not sit well with the Badger faithful.

Bradford Conners is a sophomore majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, e-mail btc5082@psu.edu.