With the holiday season now passing us by, it was quite the slow week in college basketball, with professional sports dominating the landscape of the American sports world. Nevertheless, there are still plenty of games to discuss as we enter the new year and official Big Ten play gets underway.
Men’s Basketball
Game of the Week: No. 20 Illinois beats Missouri, 91-48
As I already mentioned, it was a slow week. Although this game wasn’t much of a “classic,” the rivalry series between Illinois and Missouri is always a fun
one to see. The Fighting Illini dominated this one, however, with a scoring barrage that the Tigers had no chance of stopping. 50 second half points helped turn this game from a solid win to an eye-popping blowout.
Player of the Week: Nate Bittle (Oregon)
There were a lot of impressive performances this week, but I’ll hand this week’s one to Bittle. The seven-foot senior was sensational for Oregon last year, but has faltered at many times early on in this season despite being relied on as its supposed No. 1 option. However, he has been on fire as of late, continuing his recent hot streak with a 26-point, nine-rebound day against Omaha. If the Ducks want to get back into postseason contention, it’ll be largely up to Bittle to make that happen.
Team of the Week: No. 20 Illinois Fighting Illini
As already mentioned, the Illini made a statement in their big-time victory over Missouri and have appeared to have bounced back really well following a devastating three-point loss at home to Nebraska a couple weeks ago. With a couple tune-up games vs. Penn State and Rutgers before a date with No. 25 Iowa, it’ll be interesting to see how hot Illinois can get heading into Big Ten play.
Freshman of the Week: Keaton Wagler (Illinois)
This name just doesn’t seem to stop coming up, does it? Wagler has looked phenomenal as a freshman lately, most recently putting up 22 points on 7-of-11 shooting in Illinois’ victory over Mizzou. On a team full of experience and scoring talent, Wagler has nonetheless carved out a clear role offensively, potentially playing himself into the NBA Draft lottery come June.
Clutch Performance of the Week: Tyler Bilodeau (UCLA) vs. UC Riverside
Here, I’ll go with a player who narrowly missed out on my pick for player of the week. Although I felt that Bittle’s performance was indicative of an important turning point for him and the Ducks, Bilodeau clearly had the best by-the-book performance of this past week. His 34 points and seven rebounds against UC Riverside were a sign of just how good he can be going forward.
Women’s Basketball
Game of the Week: No. 4 UCLA beats No. 19 Ohio State, 82-75
Despite a relatively slow week for Big Ten women’s basketball, we were served up a feast of a game in the form of a Sunday afternoon barn-burner between the Bruins and Buckeyes. The top-20 matchup told us quite a lot about both of these teams, but most of all that they are both serious threats not just in the B1G, but nationally. Respective stars Lauren Betts (18 points, 16 rebounds for UCLA) and Jaloni Cambridge (28 points, three steals for OSU) put on a show and proved that each of these rosters is capable of a Final Four run.
Player of the Week: Jaloni Cambridge (Ohio State)
Sunday’s effort might have still resulted in a loss for the Buckeyes, but Cambridge continues to prove herself as a bonafide star. After what could only be considered a “down performance” for her last Monday in a blowout win over Western Michigan (14 points, six rebounds, four assists), Cambridge once again exploded for 28 and looked nearly unstoppable, hitting fadeaway jumpers with hands in her face like it was no problem. We could be seeing a potential first round WNBA draft pick in Cambridge.
Team of the Week: No. 4 UCLA
On the flip side of that coin is the Bruins team as a whole, whose home victory over OSU was a really important first stepping stone in what it hopes can turn out to be another Big Ten outright title in its second year in the conference. UCLA has now picked up four top-2o wins this season, and we’re not even two months into the season yet. Scary stuff from head coach Cori Close and Co.
First-Year of the Week: Tea Cleante (Penn State)
Although Penn State (7-6, 0-2 B1G) has struggled mightily to compete with its bigger opponents, one silver lining so far for the Nittany Lions has been Cleante. Despite a losing effort to No. 14 Iowa, the France native impressed with 21 points and three assists on 8-of-13 shooting. That’s now three straight double-digit performances for the first-year.
Clutch Performance of the Week: Grace VanSlooten (Michigan State) vs. No. 15 Ole Miss
Although I can’t seem to stop talking about that UCLA-OSU game, I’ll finally go with a different matchup for this pick by choosing VanSlooten, who paced the No. 24 Spartans to a huge 66-49 road victory over No. 15 Ole Miss. Her 16 points and 10 rebounds led the team in both categories and boosted Sparty to a big Quad 1 win.
