A quick primer at a decent Saturday of BIG basketball:
- Wisconsin hasn’t always had much success against their in-state rival Marquette in recent years but the Badgers (9-2) had an impressive offensive performance yesterday in a 93-84 win.
- Not a big surprise but Nebraska fell to Kansas at Allen Fieldhouse. It’s been a struggle in recent weeks for the 6-5 Cornhuskers.
- In another tough matchup, Michigan (7-3) lost at Pauley Pavilion against the suddenly dominating and undefeated UCLA Bruins.
- The Buckeyes (8-2) picked up possibly the best BIG non-conference win of Saturday by beating UConn following a disappointing loss earlier in the week.
- Maryland beat St. Peter’s in a bit of a sleepy second-half performance. But a win is a win for the 10-1 Terrapins.
- You didn’t miss much if you didn’t watch Indiana throttle Houston Baptist 103-61. Indiana remains the BIG’s highest-ranked team.
- Isaac Hayes and Caleb Swanigan continue to carry Purdue at times, such as they did yesterday for the Boilermakers in a 77-53 win over Cleveland State.
- There’s good video of head coach John Groce commenting on Illinois’ convincing win over Central Michigan, a team that was leading the Mid-American Conference on scoring offense.
- Injuries continue to pile up for Michigan State (7-4) although the hope is that Miles Bridges is one game closer to returning following a 71-63 win over Tennessee Tech.
- The production is not there for the Nittany Lions (6-5) who lost a rivalry game 81-73 to Pitt at a neutral site.
- Rutgers picked up its second road win of the season as head coach Steve Pikiell returned to his old stomping grounds at Stony Brook in a 71-66 Scarlet Knights win.
- Iowa was off but the Hawkeyes earned some rest after its win earlier this week over rival Iowa State, a game in which Iowa held the Cyclones to 0.784 points per possession in the first half.
Big Ten Rumors 