B1G Conference games

thatjanelpick

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Pretty much as expected:
OSU over NE
MD over IL
MI over PSU
MN over NW (handily)
IA over WI (not so handily)
RU over PU
MSU over IN (Buss shot 18%)

Watching a bit of the OSU game made me think: I hope Coach Kelsey Mitchell's Dad has started lining up his next gig.
 

The Rutgers/Purdue opener was terrific. Down 44-42 entering the fourth, Purdue gassed out at the end losing control of Tyler Scaife and the game 58-50. The 55 is back. There are going to be some god awful slugfests with the Scarlet Knights.
 

Interesting that the 7 teams with the best non-conference records all won their B1G opener. Schedule doesn't always allow something like that to occur.
 

Interesting that the 7 teams with the best non-conference records all won their B1G opener. Schedule doesn't always allow something like that to occur.

And, therefore, not surprisingly the top 7 RPI teams defeated the bottom 7. Unusual indeed.
 

Last night in the B1G:

Michigan State (2-1) after falling victim to the claustrophobic mayhem of Rutgers D earlier in the week found the wide open spaces of Northwestern's (1-2) defense more enjoyable in an 81-51 rout of the Wildcats in East Lansing. In the first quarter, Colley scored 11 points and Gussert 10 jump starting the Spartans offense. One item of note: with about 3 minutes remaining Lexi Gussert tripped over Agee and hurt her wrist when she hit the court.

Rutgers (3-0) made short work of the Illini (0-3) in Champaign 76-37. Wittinger scored 16 points for Illinois. The next highest scorer was Holesinka with 6. The Scarlet Knights were led by Greene with 18.

In State College, Indiana (0-3) overcame a 68-53 deficit with 6 minutes remaining to tie Penn State (1-2) at 74 with :22 seconds left. Nevertheless, the Lady Lions prevailed 77-74. Carter put up 26 points for PSU. Buss scored 27 for the Hoosiers including making 10-12 from the line. Buss tied the score at 74 by making two foul shots following one of her annoying brush the defender and collapse to the floor drives.
 


Indiana (1-3) won its first B1G game of the season over a confused looking Purdue (1-2) in Bloomington 72-54. The Boilers scored 5 first quarter points giving the Hoosiers an 18-5 lead. Indiana was not threatened the rest of the way. Tyra Buss: 19 points, 9 assists and 5 steals.
 

Maryland has yet to lose to a Big Ten team not named Ohio State since joining the conference. That’s in jeopardy though trailing Michigan St 61-49 going into the 4th.
 

Following up on Overpass's post, Michigan State (3-2) defeated Maryland (4-1) in College Park 82-68. Tara McCutcheon scored 25 for the Spartans.

Elsewhere, Northwestern (2-3) kept Wisconsin winless (0-5) after rallying to win 69-60 in Evanston.
 

Will the Gophers' recent improved play vs. MSU & PSU be enough to defeat Rutgers? Some of you know a lot about the team; I'd be interested to know what you think.
 



Not a coach or an expert but if the Gophers play like they did against PSU and MSU I think they can beat Rutgers or just about any team in the BIG. The drives in the lane with the dish off seems to be the biggest improvement the last couple of games. It appears it is giving the shooters more confidence. I like the current post rotation and not so much jacking up the 3’s. As their only offense. One of the biggest keys will be Kiki and Diva and limiting the turn overs. So yes I’m saying there is a chance. Would be a quality win on the roadie the can pull it off.
 

If we could combine CViv's ability to coach defense with Stollings offense, we'd have quite a team. I do think this is a winnable game, even though it's against the #21 ranked team in the country. You never know when Rutgers is going to struggle offensively. The Gophers did a good job of holding down PSU's Page. Maybe they can do the same with Rutgers' Sciafe (sp?). If the Gophers can win this game, that would be a nice little win streak and might offer some hope that they've finally turned the corner. And Katogopher points out correctly that one of the biggest differences in the past couple games has been that Wagner has now decided to go to the basket again sometimes. Even Pitts has got some baskets in the paint. And the posts have been much more involved and engaged and the guards have done a nice job getting them the ball. I had been critical of Stollings rotation and minute distribution, but not much to criticize at all the past two games.
 

Clearly the biggest difference has been Ferstorm and players actually finding her on the draw and dish.
 

Michigan edged out Nebraska tonight.
Told you Nebraska is better than you would think.
If Nebraska would have won, that should have gave the Gophers a little RPI boost.
They got a little boost just playing Rutgers, even though they lost.
 



Michigan edged out Nebraska tonight.
Told you Nebraska is better than you would think.
If Nebraska would have won, that should have gave the Gophers a little RPI boost.
They got a little boost just playing Rutgers, even though they lost.

Just watched the last quarter and overtime of the Michigan (4-2) Nebraska (3-2) game. Michigan went 7 minutes with out scoring in the fourth quarter. The Wolverines were up 56-48 when they went ice cold. Nebraska took a 62-59 lead with :21 seconds remaining. Then with 0.7 seconds remaining, former Gopher recruit Deja Church was fouled by Eliely on a three point try. Church made all three to send it to OT.

In OT, Church tossed in the final two points from the line to give the Wolverines a 69-64 final. Church finished with 10 points. Michigan committed 26 turnovers.
 

Fun night in the B1G:

Iowa isn't Iowa without outside shooting: the Hawkeyes (3-3) lost to Nebraska (4-2) in Lincoln 74-65. Iowa was 0-7 from three and two of those were desperation shots in the closing minute. Gustafson had a big night with 29 points and 18 rebounds for Iowa. Cain had six points and fouled out for the Huskers. Nebraska left Iowa an opening in the final minute missing 6 of 8 free throws. But the Hawkeyes just couldn't get anything going at the guard position.

Indiana (1-6) battled Maryland (5-1) to the end before the Terps won in College Park 74-71. Indiana led 71-70 with 1:52 remaining.

Michigan (5-2) strolled into Columbus and dropped the Buckeyes (5-1) 84-75. The Wolverines outscored Ohio State 48-34 in the second half.
Thome scored 27 points (21 in the second half) and grabbed 11 rebounds in 31 minutes for Michigan. Her teammate Munger threw in 20 points. Mavunga had 21 and 8 with five fouls in 32 minutes for the Buckeyes.
 

The BIG is more bunched up than I thought it would be. Maryland and OSU have already suffered losses in conference games, and not to each other. Also some narrow escapes for those two teams. Iowa not as good as I thought they would be, although Gustafson has been a real force. Indiana off to a terrible start in conference play, mirroring their play in non-conference games. Rutgers a bit better than expected. Nebraska a lot better than expected. Amy Williams might well be the BIG Coach of the Year if the Huskers continue their winning ways. If the Gophers could ever put together a string of wins they could find themselves near the top of the conference standings. Next 4 games are 2 against Wisconsin and 2 against Iowa. Can we win 3 of 4? 4 of 4 would definitely put them among the top teams in the conference. After those 4 games, the Gophers are at Purdue before hosting Penn State. I'm probably being way too optimistic, but winning 5 of 6 would be really nice.
 

If they shoot well, avoid dumb turnovers, and use their bigs well, they have a chance....
 

http://www.gopsusports.com/sports/w-baskbl/recaps/011818aaf.html

I haven't had the chance to watch the replay; but last night in State College the Lady Lions (3-4) knocked off Rutgers (5-3) 70-67. In last night's other game Purdue (4-2) survived Northwestern (2-4) 63-69 in West Lafayette.

Here's the ending of the Penn State game:


With 0:38 left in the fourth quarter
After Rutgers pulled ahead by one point with a jumper from Scaife, Penn State got the ball back with 38 seconds left on the clock. Page missed a shot, but Travascio-Green grabbed the offensive rebound. After stalling for 29 seconds, Page forced the 3-point shot, drawing a foul with one second left on the clock, as well as earning two additional free throws for a Rutgers technical foul. Page sunk four of her five free throw attempts to win the game for the Lady Lions.
 

I read some posters that are ok with this loss because we fought back and came close but still lost. You show me a good loser and I will show you a Loser. Rutgers is still Rutgers and if we would have used a balanced attack and used all our positions on the floor, we would have easily won.


The above is a part of a post I wrote after the Rutgers game and I still believe it to be true. Rutgers is Rutgers. If we would have used a balanced attack against them we would have won easily. I also believe the Big 10 does not have the dominant teams it had in the last few years. If we move forward and let our post players play through mistakes as the guards are allowed to do, and not pull them them after they blink in the wrong direction, we can compete with any team in this league. We now have Iowa coming in with Gustafson. She doesn't have a red S on her shirt. But she is allowed to play through mistakes and get into the flow of the game and therefore help her team. Same with Thome from Michigan, I have watched her struggle at times but continue to play through her struggles and come out with an outstanding game. Much like our guards are allowed to do.
 

In one of the crazier games of the season, Indiana (2-6) defeated Michigan State (4-3) in East Lansing 69-65. The Spartans, without Shay Colley (MCL), only had eight available players including two guards. Nia Holley played point much of the game. Indiana, especially Tyra Buss, smelled opportunity and charged to a 33-14 first quarter lead. Buss went anywhere she wanted. Early in the second quarter Indiana led by 26; but the Spartans outscored the Hoosiers in the next three quarters. MSU began defending more aggressively on the perimeter. The Spartans had several opportunities to tie in the closing minutes. Despite the hard work, poor foul shooting (14-22) cost them dearly at game's end.

Indiana was hot from three early hitting 10 of their first 11. The Hoosiers finished 11-18 from behind the arc while Michigan State was 1-12. Buss finished with 28.
 

Some explanations of what went wrong last night for a disinterested looking Ohio State (5-2) in their 99-69 loss to Maryland (6-1) in College Park. Mitchell's explanation is to the point.

http://www.dispatch.com/sports/2018...99-ohio-state-69-buckeyes-reach-turning-point

“We’re gonna get punched in the face Thursday night if we continue to play like this,” coach Kevin McGuff said after his team’s 99-69 loss to the No. 14 Terrapins. “When things didn’t go our way, we didn’t respond. At all. It’s not gonna be any different on Thursday if that’s the same thing that we do.”..

...“They came out like they wanted to win. You could tell right from the tip,” Mitchell said. “They were focused on personnel based on who was on the court, they were tuned in to what their coach was saying and they responded."..

...One way to challenge Ohio State is to try to take Mitchell out of the game and force the rest of the Buckeyes to step up.

On Monday, Maryland pushed and pestered the senior guard from Cincinnati, often shading multiple defenders on her to prevent her from getting a clean look.

It showed in Mitchell’s shot total – 13 – her lowest since a Nov. 23 win over Memphis. Mitchell made just one of her five three-point attempts but still made six of her 13 shots overall. As Maryland coach Brenda Frese put it, the Terrapins made Mitchell work for even that much.

“Our team really understood the concept of shadowing Kelsey and a layer of people kind of constantly being around her,” Frese said. “I thought every shot she took, every point she scored was a difficult take because it was team defense with how we defended her.”

The responsibility of guarding Mitchell was shared, but the bulk went to Maryland sophomore Kaila Charles.



https://www.testudotimes.com/maryla...te-game-dominance-final-score-stats-box-recap


Maryland women’s basketball was thoroughly dominant Monday against No. 12 Ohio State, throttling the Buckeyes, 99-69.

The Terps are now 17-3 overall and 6-1 in the Big Ten, and have now taken over sole possession of first place in the Big Ten.

Eleanna Christinaki was the spark for Maryland early, scoring 21 in the first half on her way to 26 points. Kaila Charles took over in the second half, scoring 22 points and a career high 32 for the game. Channise Lewis played possibly her best game even without scoring a single point, finishing with 10 assists and just one turnover.

Maryland committed just 10 turnovers for the game, and at one point went more than 17 minutes without giving it away. The Terps shot 54.9 percent from the field, their first time shooting over 50 percent in Big Ten play. They hit 11 three-pointers at an absurd 61.1 percent clip.
 

I watched the OSU-Maryland game last night and was really surprised at the lack of defensive effort by OSU. They seemed very disinterested in playing any defense. I'm not sure, but this might indicate a chemistry problem. This is a huge year for McGuff, as he has a senior-laden team and doesn't have much talent behind those seniors. In the meantime, Maryland was very solid. I wasn't sure if we were going to see the team who recently lost at home to Michigan State. We didn't. They're not nearly as good as last year's team, but they're still formidable.
 

Michigan St vs Michigan on BTN tonight. Where's that guy that thinks Michigan St is better?
 

Michigan St vs Michigan on BTN tonight. Where's that guy that thinks Michigan St is better?

To be fair, the Spartans have continued losing good players to injuries. Even if Nia Holley has to play point guard tonight, I still expect a battle.
 




Purdue (4-3) looked awful against Nebraska (6-2) during a 75-51 loss in Lincoln. The Boilers had a nearly six minute scoring drought in the second quarter and 21 turnovers for the game.


Wisconsin (1-8) looked better but still lost to Indiana (3-6) in Bloomington 69-55. The Badgers closed the gap to six points several times in the fourth quarter with the last being with 3:44 remaining. For the Badgers, McMorris scored 20 and Howard tossed in 17. The Hoosiers were led by Buss with 27 and Cahill with 22.
 

At the half in Iowa City the Hawkeyes lead the Buckeyes 53-44. Gustafson has 20 points to lead Iowa and Mavunga 11 to lead Ohio State. Kevin McGuff picked up a technical in the first quarter and continues to be frustrated with the officials and team.
 

Northwestern only down 4 with 5 min left. That would be the biggest upset.
 




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