Men’s Basketball
Game of the Week: No. 23 Nebraska beats No. 13 Illinois, 83-80
Across a week of crazy games, with arguably the best day of college basketball yet coming this past Saturday, this Nebraska-Illinois instant
classic stole the show, at least in the Big Ten. Coming out of the gate as the clear underdogs on the road, Nebraska looked surprisingly strong in the early going in Champaign against No. 13 Illinois. After jumping out to a 37-24 lead, though, the Fighting Illini would storm back by ending the half on a 13-0 run. For most underdogs, that might’ve been enough to sway an upset bid; but for the Cornhuskers, it only added fuel to the fire. They came out in the second half still looking like the better team, and despite another late Illinois comeback, Nebraska got it done in just about the most exciting way possible: a walk-off, crowd-silencing triple.
Player of the Week: Bruce Thornton (Ohio State)
In another crazy game on Saturday evening, Ohio State defeated West Virginia, 89-88, in double overtime despite being down by as much as 16 points. That miraculous comeback, ending with a game-winning contested floater with just two seconds left, was in large thanks to Thornton and his 21 second half points. As the heart and soul of this Buckeyes team, the senior has been nothing short of dominant offensively. Despite the loss to Illinois earlier in the week, Thornton dropped 34 points on 13-of-17 field goal shooting in that game. After a tough first half against the Mountaineers, Thornton came out looking like a beast to will his team to a much-needed victory.
Team of the Week: No. 15 Nebraska Cornhuskers
No surprise here. The Huskers suddenly look like a legitimate threat, sitting at 11-0 and coming off their biggest win of the season at Illinois. After dropping 32 against the Illini, Iowa transfer Pryce Sandfort continues to look like a serious All-B1G First Team candidate, with fellow star Rienk Mast living up to the hype as well. Now ranked 15th in the country, it’ll be a matter of whether head coach Fred Hoiberg can keep his team focused and prepared heading into January despite shifting from being the hunters to the hunted.
Freshman of the Week: Keaton Wagler (Illinois)
Although I haven’t had the chance to mention him much in this column, Wagler has quietly put together one of the best freshman seasons in the conference, if not the entire country. Slotting in alongside a slew of older, more experienced players in the Illinois rotation, the Shawnee, Kansas product has looked mighty comfortable on the floor 11 games into the season. He dropped a team-high 23 points and five assists in a road win against OSU, and was similarly efficient despite the loss to Nebraska, tallying a double-double with 19 points and 10 assists.
Performance of the Week: Divine Ugochukwu (Michigan State) vs. Penn State
This might feel like a reach, I know. But for the sake of not putting Sandfort here and having this column turn into a “Nebrasketball” propaganda page, I went with an underrated performance from this past week, in a game many likely turned their eyes away from. No. 9 Michigan State experienced its first Big Ten-esque game on Saturday afternoon, going toe-to-toe with Penn State and grinding out a tough win. Instrumental to that hard-fought victory was Ugochukwu, who put up a career-high 23 points in 27 minutes, going 8-of-10 from the field and 5-of-5 from the line. On a sluggish day where the normal scorers looked off and the Nittany Lions smelled an upset, the sophomore came through to keep the Spartans alive and well.
Women’s Basketball
Game of the Week: No. 1o Iowa State beats No. 11 Iowa, 74-69
Amidst an admittedly boring week of women’s college basketball in the Big Ten which mostly consisted of the conference beating up on mid-major opponents, we got a gem of a game in a rivalry matchup between two top-11 teams. Although the Hawkeyes lost, they looked like a tough matchup against the Cyclones, who have looked nearly unstoppable this year and are off to an 11-0 start. With neither Hannah Stuelke nor Ava Heiden producing like they usually do, sophomore Chazadi Wright stepped up with 21 points on the night, giving some hope for Iowa despite dropping its first game of the year.
Player of the Week: Shay Ciezki (Indiana)
If I wanted to, I could reasonably put Ciezki’s name up for this award every single week. That’s how lethal she is as a scorer. Averaging a conference-best 24.9 points per game so far, the IU senior put on another set of shows this past week as the Hoosiers took care of business against Louisiana-Monroe and Eastern Michigan, respectively. Ciezki had 56 points across those two contests. She might not dish the ball as much as some might like, but there’s no denying that she’s a pure-bred scorer.
Team of the Week: Illinois Fighting Illini
As I already mentioned, there were very few big games this week that stood out. But in one of the few power conference matchups for the B1G teams, Illinois came through with a big 70-62 win over 9-3 Missouri. Gretchen Dolan paced the team with 21 points on the night, and suddenly the Fighting Illini are 9-1. A year removed from a 22-10 finish, the Illini looked primed to get back into the tournament conversation.
First-Year of the Week: Destiny Jackson (Illinois)
Although she didn’t have the most eye-popping statline at a glance, Jackson was instrumental to Illinois’ resume-boosting win over the Tigers on Wednesday. Playing in all but one minute of the game, she dropped nine points alongside a crucial five rebounds, nine assists and five steals. Jackson was a defensive menace all game long, and brought another spark to this Illinois team that wasn’t quite there last season.
Performance of the Week: Jaloni Cambridge (Ohio State) vs. Northern Kentucky
Cambridge’s shot is as smooth as butter, and she showed it once again this week with a 33-point night in just 29 minutes against NKU. As a sophomore, Cambridge has already turned into a star, averaging over 20 points per night for a ranked Buckeyes team. As Ohio State gets into the thick of Big Ten action, Cambridge is going to be on every scout team’s clipboard as the player to keep an eye on.
