What’s up everyone!?! I’m back with yet another awesome recap of this week’s insanely crazy BIG TEN basketball campaign. Now I am not really sure why the Big Ten is just coming out of nowhere as super exciting as of late and the only reason why I capitalized the two words is because once again this past week was crazy epic! I don’t want to spoil anything for my passionate fans so let’s jump right down into it and get to the games!

Games of the Week

Tuesday, February 21st

Just like normal, and I am sure it makes everyone sad, there were no games played on Monday, so we can hop right to Tuesday,  where there were three games played and one game that everyone was watching, including me! This game saw the 14th ranked Purdue Boilermakers travel to Pennsylvania to take on the hosting Penn State Nittany Lions in a close shootout. This was a game where everyone would have loved to see the Nittany Lions knock off the Boilermakers, in order to put a dent in their B1G regular season championship hopes. PSU controlled basically the whole game and led by 4 at the half at 33-29 and climbed back into the game at the very end to force overtime with the score tied at 64 points apiece. But over time is when the game mattered and when Purdue played their best basketball of the night, especially thanks to….Caleb Swan….wait no not him… Ryan Cline! The guard scored six of his 11 points in overtime to lift Purdue to a 74-70 victory over the Nittany Lions in a game the Boilermakers led for just a TOTAL of 9:16. Cline knocked down two consecutive three-pointers to secure his team’s sixth straight victory and snap PSU’s four-game winning streak against Top 25 teams visiting the Bryce Jordan Center. One side note, there was a HUGE dunk earlier on in the game where star Penn State player Lamar Stevens absolutely threw down over Purdue standout Caleb Swanigan that got the whole arena pumped up. You guys need to see this for yourselves:

Wednesday, February 22nd

Our next day had an even better game to watch. This matchup featured the 24th ranked Maryland Terripans, who have been having trouble as of late, at home to face the surging Minnesota Golden Gophers. Long story short, just under a month ago, Minnesota reached the low point of its season with a loss at home to Maryland. Looking at the Golden Gophers now, it’s hard to believe this is the same team… And maybe it isn’t, not mentally anyways. The Gophers’ dull defeat against Maryland on Jan. 28 stretched their losing streak to five. Since then, they have a very impressive six straight wins. Minnesota outscored Maryland 55-40 in the second half to earn their third straight road win, which is the school’s longest such run in the conference since the 1989-90 season. The Gophers were down 53-50, but the Gophers got 12 points from Dupree McBrayer in a 20-7 run that broke the game open after having been a back and forth game to that point. Minnesota was led by Nate Mason who scored 17 points, and Akeem Springs who added 16 for Minnesota.  The Golden Gophers committed ONLY six turnovers, with a whopping two after halftime. Minnesota held on for the 89-75 upset, and the win marked the Gophers sixth straight win for a very good season so far. Maryland was led by Ivan Bender with only 15 points off the bench while their star Melo Trimble was held in check with only 11 points in the disappointing loss.

Thursday, February 23rd

Look, another one! This thrilling game was between the Buckeyes of Ohio State at home, taking on the 16th ranked Wisconsin Badgers. If you guys read my article last week, I said that Ohio State is a very good home team and that it would be tough for Wisconsin to walk in there and win the way they did in Madison, And you know what? I was right like I always am (wink, wink)!  Playing for little more than pride, in front of a home crowd and a national TV audience, Ohio State put together its most complete game of the season, and I will stand by that statement. The Buckeyes have been out of the Big Ten race for a while now, nearing the end of a second straight underachieving, and very frustrating season. In this game however, they showed a consistency that has been lacking for most of the season in an 83-73 upset victory the Badgers. The Buckeyes were in control from the get-go,  thanks to C.J. Jackson, who scored a career-high 18 points on 4-for-4 shooting from behind the arc, as well as JaQuan Lyle who had 17 points, and Jae’Sean Tate who added 15 points and 12 rebounds for Ohio State to snap a three-game losing streak and beat a ranked team for the first time in nearly a year! The Badgers, were led by Bronson Koenig who tallied 27 points, who lost the lead in the game’s first minute and could never get enough traction. The Badgers have lost three of their last four. This game was a complete turnaround for the Buckeyes players and their fans and everyone was extremely happy to see it happen.

Saturday, February 25th

Again, we have another day of rest (Friday) where there were no games being played. So we go to Saturday where we were faced with four great games, but I had to narrow it down to one game (which was pretty hard). I decided to go with the Michigan Wolverines hosting the 14th ranked Purdue Boilermakers for another tough matchup between these two schools, as Michigan is always a tough place to play, especially when their fans are rocking! To simply sum up this game: Purdue got outplayed from start to finish, easy as that. They went down at half time by 15 by a score of 45-30 , where the Wolverines dominated the offensive and defensive side of the ball. The star of the game? Moe Wagner who has been becoming a fan favorite at Michigan and the type of sharp-shooting big man the Wolverines haven’t always had. Wagner scored 22 of his 24 points in the first half, outplaying everyone on Purdue’s very talented front line and leading Michigan to a very impressive 82-70 victory over the 14th-ranked Boilermakers on Saturday. He went 10 of 15 from the field and made four 3-pointers. Michigan was also helped out by Derrick Walton who recorded 17 points and 11 rebounds in his final scheduled home game, as the Wolverines took another big step toward a NCAA Tournament berth, including winning five of their last six. Purdue attempted to comeback, and was led by Caleb Swanigan and Issac Haas, who both scored 18 points but the Boilermakers couldn’t take full advantage of their edge in size down low which was a main factor in the loss. The 6-foot-9 Swanigan and 7-foot-2 Isaac Haas combined to outscore Wagner by ONLY TWO points. A major turning point in the game was towards the end of the first half with time winding down and UM inbounding the ball with under 3.7 seconds left. Michigan’s Duncan Robinson grabbed the ball in the corner from the pass and threw up a beautiful shot and completely nailed it at the buzzer to push the lead to 15. This sent the crowd into a frenzy and got all the momentum on the Wolverines side and they never looked back. Take a look for yourself!

Sunday, February 26th

Last but not least, Sunday the best day for college basketball in my opinion because there is always some sort of upset waiting to happen. This matchup saw the 16th ranked team in the nation, Wisconsin, traveling to East Lansing to take on the Michigan State Spartans. This game was a great game for both teams as both never gave up till the very end. As the first half came to an end, we saw the Spartans holding a slight one point lead over the Badgers at 38-37 in a back and fourth game. But after the second half started that’s when MSU took over and never looked back leaving Wisconsin in the dust, thanks to a big man by the name of Nick Ward. He had 22 points and nine rebounds despite playing just 19 minutes because of foul trouble in both halves, helping Michigan State beat Wisconsin 84-74 on Sunday. MSU also had major help from Miles Bridges. who poured in 17 points and Matt McQuaid, who added a season-high 15 as the Spartans won for the sixth time in eight games, moving them into a third-place tie in the conference, and perhaps sealing their spot in a 20th straight NCAA Tournament appearance, and we all know Izzo and his followers are happy about that. Wisconsin’s star Ethan Happ was held in check with only eight points on a terrible 4-10 shooting as they couldn’t get it going in the second half. The Badgers have now lost four of their last five and a chance to pull into a first-place tie with No. 14 Purdue for the B1G lead.

Clutch Shot of the Week

I went with this shot as my awesome clutch shot of the week because even though it isn’t really a “shot.” It was basically a dunk and an easy putback, but it was still clutch! Indiana was driving, down 62-60 and looking to score, to tie with about five seconds left in their game against Northwestern on Sunday. Indiana’s Thomas Bryant got a pass from his teammate right under the hoop. Bryant didn’t hesitate one bit, immediately went up for a huge dunk, and got fouled in the process, while also making the dunk. This put Bryant at the line for a chance at a three-point play and the lead with two seconds left. He sunk the FT for the 63-62 lead and it resulted in the win. What a play by Bryant and a solid clutch shot of the week.

Player of the Week

For this week’s player of the week, I decided to go a little more unconventional with my pick. Instead of picking the typical point guard or shooting guard, I went with the big man this week because hey they need some love too! I went with Nick Ward out of Michigan State, who had two great games this week. In his first game, Ward, in a win against Nebraska, posted 20 points on 8-13 shooting, 4-6 FT’s, 9 rebounds, and one block, all in just 24 minutes. In the second game versus Wisconsin he poured in 22 points on 9-12 shooting, 4-4 FT’s, 9 rebounds, and one block in only 19 minutes. Putting up these numbers is awesome and he deserves to be my player of the week.

Games to Keep your Eyes On

Michigan at Northwestern – Wednesday March 1st
The reason why I picked this as one of my games of the week because both of these teams are 9-7 in the Big Ten and fighting for a spot in both the NCAA tourney and seeding in the B1G tourney. Currently, Michigan is 19-10 and Northwestern is 20-9, so this game should be a close battle right to the end.
Minnesota at #22 Wisconsin – Sunday March 5th
Just like the game before, this one will be another great one. Both teams are currently 22-7 and you can argue that Minnesota is the better all around team. Wisconsin has the better Big Ten record by one game at 11-5, as Minnesota sits at 10-6. This game will mean a lot if both teams win their prior games leading up to this one,  and if Minnesota wins, it is going to shake the B1G up a lot.