Men’s Basketball
Game of the Week: USC beats Troy in 3OT, 107-106
Hands down, this might have been the best game in college basketball all season so far. The Trojans had to stave off an upset bid from a motivated Troy team
that beat San Diego State in double overtime just two days prior. Transfers Chad Baker-Mazara (53 minutes, 34 points, nine rebounds) and Rodney Rice (52 minutes, 26 points, nine assists) paced the USC offense, but Troy still looked to have a win all-but sealed until the final moments of the third overtime. Then a miracle struck.
In a video clip of pure chaos that was all over my X feed the entirety of this past week, USC misses a game-tying layup before Troy secures a rebound and throws it ahead to try to run some clock. But then Rice comes out of nowhere to steal it and suddenly, with just a couple seconds left, he throws it ahead to Jordan Marsh. Marsh is forced to throw up a miracle shot… and it goes in. All I can say to this is: this is why we love college basketball.
Player of the Week: Andrej Stojakovic (Illinois)
The Fighting Illini may have suffered their first loss of the year in a tight one against No. 8 Alabama, but Stojakovic nonetheless proved this past week why he was one of the most coveted transfers in the portal this offseason. In two games against the Crimson Tide and LIU, the sophomore averaged 23 points and 3.5 rebounds on over 67% shooting from the field and 50% from three-point land. While Illinois didn’t get the big win it was hoping for, it will have another chance to do so this week against No. 5 UConn. More importantly, though, Peja’s son looks to be breaking out into a bonafide scoring machine for head coach Brad Underwood.
Team of the Week: No. 11 Michigan State Spartans
Speaking of big wins, no other team in the Big Ten has seemed to improve its stock more than the Spartans. After losing a boatload of talent from an Elite Eight team a year ago, head coach Tom Izzo has these boys rolling once again. An opening-season win against No. 14 Arkansas set the tone, but MSU’s 17-point win over No. 12 Kentucky thrusted it back into the spotlight as a top dog of the Big Ten and potential national title contender yet again. And Sparty took care of business against Detroit Mercy later in the week to move up to 11th in the nation heading into Feast Week.
Freshman of the Week: Braden Frager (Nebraska)
In all honesty, this was a name I was wholly unfamiliar with heading into this season. Just a three-star recruit out of Lincoln, Frager wasn’t expected to be a major contributor on a Nebraska team that didn’t have high expectations this year itself. But the Cornhuskers are still undefeated and Frager has been one of the better freshmen in the whole conference thus far. A couple 15-plus-point efforts were nice against bottom feeders to begin the year, but Frager’s performances against New Mexico State (20 points, 6-of-8 FG, eight rebounds) and Kansas State (16 points 7-of-10 FG, six rebounds) have made him known as a legitimate scoring threat on a Nebraska team that currently holds the longest winning streak in the country.
Clutch Performance of the Week: Jaxon Kohler (Michigan State) vs. No. 12 Kentucky
Given that Michigan State had by far the biggest win of the week in B1G men’s basketball, it was only right to give flowers to the man who led that effort. Despite not being known as a primary scorer for Izzo’s squad, Kohler was dominant down low for the Spartans, dropping 20 points and securing five boards on 8-of-12 shooting. His feast in the paint forced Kentucky to give more of its energy than expected on him and helped space out an offense that was firing on all cylinders in the 83-66 victory.
Women’s Basketball
Co-Games of the Week: No. 24 Notre Dame beats No. 11 USC, 61-59 and No. 1 UConn beats No. 6 Michigan, 72-69
While neither of these games ended in a win for the Big Ten side, I had to shout both of them out because of just how great they were. USC welcomed in Notre Dame for a marquee rivalry matchup and fell at the hands of a game-winner from junior Hannah Hidalgo, considered one of the best players of the country. Meanwhile, Michigan nearly pulled off an unbelievable 20-point comeback over top-ranked UConn before eventually falling. Even if they were both L’s, it shows once again how strong this Big Ten conference really is.
Player of the Week: Grace Sullivan (Northwestern)
There might be a little bit of Northwestern bias seeping out here, but I can’t help but shout out Sullivan, who has been nothing short of spectacular in her second season in Evanston. The junior has been a double-double machine so far this year, and continued that success this past week. A 26-point, nine-rebound effort fueled a hard-fought road win over DePaul; she followed that up with a 20-point, 11-rebound performance against Cleveland State. Currently fourth in points per game and third in rebounds, Sullivan could make a run at an All-Big Ten nod at this rate.
Team of the Week: No. 11 Iowa Hawkeyes
Surprise, surprise! Iowa is back in business. Two years removed from the phenomenon that was Caitlin Clark, Iowa is still chugging along as a superpower of the women’s basketball world. After starting the season ranked 21st in the country, Iowa made its move after a big couple of wins over No. 7 Baylor and then against Miami to thrust itself to No. 11. While Hannah Stuelke might be the best-known name on this roster, the Hawkeyes are proving they’re more multi-dimensional than most might think.
First-Year of the Week: Jazzy Davidson (USC)
A quick disclaimer: we’re going to be talking about Jazzy Davidson a lot this year. The first-year guard had another great week, putting up 19 points and seven rebounds in a comfortable win over Portland, and keeping USC right in the game with her 14 points in 38 minutes of action against No. 24 Notre Dame. Davidson might not be the best player on this team just yet, but the flashes she’s shown suggest that it won’t be long.
Clutch Performance of the Week: Ava Heiden (Iowa) vs. Miami
There were so many great performances this week, from PSU’s Grace Merkle’s 39-point effort in a loss to Princeton and Michigan’s Syla Swords’ 29 points in the loss to the Huskies. But my pick for the clutchest performance has to go to Ava Heiden of Iowa against the Hurricanes. The biggest reason why the aforementioned Hawkeyes look so strong this year is because of the scoring depth it has created outside of the focal point in Stuelke. Heiden has proven to be a big reason for that. Her 20 points and eight rebounds on 9-of-11 shooting carried Iowa to victory in a battle against Miami. More performances like that could help Iowa to compete for another Big Ten title.
