The Big Ten had four games on Wednesday night and all four had intrigue. Illinois and Michigan went on the road as ranked teams, UCLA was hoping to avoid an upset against Penn State, and Iowa and Purdue
battled.
Let’s take a look at what happened.
Game of the Night:
–No. 5 Purdue Boilermakers 79, Iowa Hawkeyes 72
While some of the shine came off this matchup after Iowa’s recent struggles, it still presented as a quality matchup between two top 25ish teams. Purdue was looking to stay atop the Big Ten standings and Iowa was hoping to add a massive resume win.
The game itself generally lived up to that billing. Iowa jumped out to an early lead, but Purdue was able to keep things within reach in the first half. The Hawks (again) started well in the second half and seemed to be in control of the game until the Boilers came roaring back. Braden Smith came up huge with 16 points and eight assists, as he pushed Purdue to a narrow win at home.
The win pushed Purdue to 16-1 overall and 6-0 in Big Ten play. The Boilermakers have now won eight straight since falling to Iowa State in early December and seem to be rounding into form as a key stretch of league play approaches. The team’s defense remains a bit underwhelming, but Purdue has now moved up into the top 25 nationally in defensive efficiency, which is certainly an encouraging sign.
On the other side, Iowa fell to 12-5 overall and 2-4 in Big Ten play with the loss. It was Iowa’s third straight loss, though all three games were pretty close. The biggest challenge for Ben McCollum will be preventing those struggles from rolling into the team’s next few games. Beating Illinois and Purdue was always going to be a challenging task, but there are winnable games moving forward. Iowa needs to bounce back in those.
Purdue will now head out to Los Angeles, where the team will return to action on Saturday against USC. Iowa will get Indiana on the road on Saturday.
The Rest:
–No. 13 Illinois Fighting Illini 79, Northwestern Wildcats 68
The Wildcats were hoping to pull off an upset over their in-state rivals, but Illinois had other thoughts, as Brad Underwood and company went on the road and secured an 11-point win. Keaton Wagler was fantastic in the game, finishing with 22 points and five rebounds. Tomislav Ivisic also had a great showing with 21 points. Northwestern’s defense simply couldn’t get enough stops, giving up 1.33 points per possession.
Illinois improved to 14-3 overall and 5-1 in Big Ten play with the win, while Northwestern fell to 8-9 overall and 0-6 in Big Ten play with the loss. Illinois will now prepare for Minnesota at home on Saturday. Northwestern will try and snap its four-game skid on Saturday at home against a red hot Nebraska squad.
–No.4 Michigan Wolverines 82, Washington Huskies 72
Michigan bounced back from its first loss of the season in this one, going on the road and beating Washington on the road in front of a pretty good crowd. Aday Mara and Morez Johnson came up huge for the Wolverines in the win. Mara finished with 20 points and three blocks. Johnson had 16 points and 16 rebounds.
The Wolverines improved to 15-1 overall and 5-1 in Big Ten play with the win, while Washington fell to 10-7 overall and 2-4 in Big Ten play with the loss. Michigan will now prepare to wrap up its trip out west with Oregon on the road on Saturday. The Huskies will try and bounce back against Michigan State at home on Saturday.
–UCLA Bruins 71, Penn State Nittany Lions 60
This one largely went as expected, with UCLA scoring a double-digit win on the road against Penn State. Trent Perry led the way for the Bruins, finishing with 30 points. Tyler Bilodeau also had 21 points, so Perry and Bilodeau combined for 51 of the team’s 71 points. Not exactly bad for two guys on the road in a league game.
UCLA improved to 12-5 overall and 4-2 in Big Ten play with the win, while Penn State fell to 9-8 overall and 0-6 in Big Ten play with the loss. The Bruins will now prepare for Ohio State on the road on Saturday. The Nittany Lions will try and snap the team’s four-game skid on the road against rival Maryland on Sunday.
