Around the Big Ten

By Logan Harper

Fresh off another holiday season, here is another installment of “Around the Big Ten.” With conference play set to begin for the teams, it seems Christmas is still just right around the corner for Big Ten basketball fanatics. Let’s take a look and here’s wishing everyone a Happy New Year!

ILLINOIS
After being upset by UI-Chicago in Chicago, the Illini were ready to bounce back against the Missouri Tigers in the annual Braggin’ Rights game. Things did not play out the way the Illini had hoped for, as the Tigers chewed up Illinois 75-64. Missouri has now won two straight games in the rivalry after dropping the nine previous meetings between the schools. Mike Davis led the Illini with 17 points as Illinois falls to 10-3 on the year. The Illini will travel to Iowa City to take on the Iowa Hawkeyes to open up conference play on Wednesday. Tip-off is scheduled for 8:00.

INDIANA
For the Hoosiers, the Las Vegas Classic was an opportunity to gain respect the program has longed for the past two…going on three seasons. Unfortunately for the Hoosiers, the road woes continued. In the first game of the Vegas road trip, the Hoosiers faced the Panthers of Northern Iowa. Derek Elston once again got off to a fiery start for IU, scoring 15 of his career-high 19 points in the first half of play. Behind a scorching 50 percent shooting performance from deep, UNI held a 13 point lead at the break over the Hoosiers. The Hoosiers would slowly rally in the second half, eventually tying the game at 59 thanks to a Christian Watford basket with just over 2:30 to play. The Panthers would answer with an 8-2 scoring run to down the Hoosiers 67-61. In the consolation game of the Classic, IU met assistant Steve McClain’s old team, the Buffaloes of Colorado. Once again, poor shooting plagued the Hoosiers, who shot just 41 percent from the floor. Jordan Hulls led IU with 17 points, but Colorado was too much and prevailed 78-69. One thing that Hoosier fans may notice is the lack of screen play. The guards need help finding a shot. Roth, Hulls, Sheehey, and Creek have to get some opportunities to come off of the screen to find the open shot. Without this, the Hoosiers struggles may continue. IU hosts Penn State to open up conference play today at 6:30. Hey Hoosier fans, is it 2012 yet?

IOWA
The Hawkeyes finished up non-conference play against the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs last Tuesday. Fueled by 22 points from Matt Gatens, Iowa tamed the Bulldogs 77-58 on Fran McCaffery Bobble head Night. Iowa will welcome Illinois to Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Wednesday to open Big Ten play. Tip is at 8:00.

MICHIGAN
The Wolverines took on the Bryant Bulldogs last Thursday at Crisler Arena in Ann Arbor. The Bulldogs, who have just one victory all season, were victims of a marvelous shooting performance from the Wolverines, who hit 16 three-pointers in the contest, tying a school record. Darius Morris led the Wolverines with a solid double-double performance, logging 26 points and 12 assists to take down Bryant 87-71. Can the Wolverines stay hot from deep? We will see, as they welcome Purdue to Ann Arbor on Tuesday. Tip is scheduled for 2:00.

MICHIGAN STATE
The Spartan’s early season struggles continued on Wednesday night, as the Texas Longhorns stampeded into East Lansing to gore the Spartans. Texas became just the second non-Big Ten team to beat the Spartans on their home floor since 2003. Behind 21 points from Jordan Hamilton and a 29 percent shooting performance from the Spartans, Texas succeeded 67-55 drop the Spartans to 10-4 on the year. Kalin Lucas led the Spartans with 17 points. MSU welcomes Minnesota to the Breslin Center on Friday to open Big Ten play. Tip is at 4:00.

MINNESOTA
Minnesota welcomed the Jackrabbits of South Dakota State to Williams Arena for their final tune-up before the Big Ten season begins. Led by Colton Iverson and Devoe Joseph’s 15 points, the Gophers were able to defeat the Jackrabbits 85-73. Bench scoring proved to be a large factor in the final outcome as the Gopher’s bench outscored the Jackrabbit bench 36-6. Minnesota travels to Madison to face the Wisconsin Badgers to open up the Big Ten season on Tuesday. Tip is set for 7:00.

NORTHWESTERN
After defeating St. Francis (NY) in Madison Square Garden last Monday, the Wildcats faced the St. John’s Red Storm, in what was really a home game for the Red Storm at the Garden. The Wildcats stayed close in the first half, but slowly fizzled down the stretch to fall to St. John’s 85-69, picking up their first loss of the season. John Shurna scored a game-high 28 points in the loss. The Wildcats went back to Evanston to welcome Mount St. Mary’s on Thursday. Behind a balanced scoring attack which included 16 points from Drew Crawford and 13 points, 8 rebounds and 8 assists from John Shurna, the Wildcats rolled to a 70-47 victory. Northwestern will head to West Lafayette to face Purdue on Friday. Tip is at 11:00 in the morning.

OHIO STATE
The Buckeyes are rolling, and they proved it last Tuesday night once again against UNC Asheville that they are the cream of the Big Ten. The Buckeyes rolled over Asheville 96-49 behind 29 points from David Lighty and 16 boards from Jared Sullinger. The Buckeyes then welcomed upset-minded Oakland to Columbus, rolling once again in Buckeye fashion 92-63. Ohio State is dangerous, and can score in bunches, in many ways. The Buckeyes take on Tennessee-Martin tonight at 8:30 before heading to Bloomington to face the Hoosiers on Friday to open up Big Ten play.

PENN STATE
Penn State came off a long eight day break from basketball to focus on finals to take on the Black Bears of Maine in Happy Valley. What could have been a solid pre-conference win against Maine turned into a disappointing loss to the Black Bears 74-64. Despite 26 points from Talor Battle, the Nittany Lions struggled throughout this one. Penn State heads to Bloomington to face the Hoosiers tonight at 6:30.

PURDUE
The Boilermakers improved to 11-1 on the season and earned their sixth consecutive win after defeating Dane Fife’s IPFW Mastadons 77-52 at Mackey Arena. JaJuan Johnson had 24 points, along with 13 rebounds in the win. The Boilermakers travel to Ann Arbor on Tuesday to face the Michigan Wolverines to open Big Ten play at 2:00.

WISCONSIN
The Badgers welcomed Coppin State to Madison after a ten day break from game play and improved to 10-2 on the season after clipping the Eagles 80-56. Jon Leuer and Jordan Taylor led the Badgers with 19 points each. The story of the game, however was all about the three point shot. Wisconsin hit a lot of them, 17 to be exact, on way to setting a new school record. Wisconsin will face Minnesota in Madison on Tuesday to open up their Big Ten season. Tip is set for 6:00.

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Thoughts From the Alumni Section (Vegas Edition)

By Brian Hall

Thoughts on the Las Vegas Classic games verses South Carolina State, Northern Iowa, and Colorado:

After watching these past three games, I am worried about how the Hoosiers are going to perform during the Big Ten season. I am not going to personally talk about the games individually because all three of them had many things in common.

Turnovers!!!!!! It seemed that Indiana had solved some of their unforced turnover mistakes that plagued them during the first six games, but just like an unwanted in-law, Their Back. If Indiana continues to turn the ball over as much as they did in this stretch, I give our chances in the Big Ten somewhere between a snowball and an ice cube’s chance in you know where.

Free Throws!!!! What has happened to free throws being just that…free? I don’t remember a year that even our guards missing that many chances at the charity strip and that is what Indiana looked like the Classic, a charity case.

Weak Defense=Big Deficit!!!! In the Northern Iowa game and Colorado, Indiana played defense like they have never been taught how to guard anyone. Against Northern Iowa they played off of the three point shooters and that led to the first half deficit and against Colorado, Indiana played tighter but they drove the lane with ease causing the big deficit. In both games, Indiana fought back but it was not enough to get over the deficit.

Announcers!!!! This is not a section about IU’s play during the past two games but the announcing during the past two. Wow, I never thought I would think the Big Ten Network announcers were great, but compared to CBS College Sports they are! Between not knowing the players’ names (calling them “that guy” during a replay) and the mispronouncing of multiple names (my favorite is A-lot-a-poe) I had to mute the games.

Now, I am not trying to be a downer, but I have a feeling that I am typing what many alumni were thinking during the game. Let’s hope IU figures something out and fixes the problems before the PSU game. Let’s Go Hoosiers!

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Big Ten Power Rankings - Week 3

Another installment of the Big Ten Power Rankings, Finals Week Edition, are upon us. Teams had a generally easy week, allowing the athletes to focus on their studies. This will be the final rankings before Big Ten play starts up next week. Enjoy!

1. Ohio State Buckeyes (#2 Nationally, 11-0) Romps over South Carolina and UNC Asheville keep the Buckeyes on top for another week. They play a pesky Oakland team that knocked of Tennessee this week, so keep an eye on that game.

2. Michigan State Spartans (#12 Nationally, 8-3) A nail-biter against Oakland and destruction of Prairie View A&M coupled with an Illini loss are enough to lift the Spartans a spot in this week's rankings.

3. Purdue Boilermakers (#13 Nationally, 11-1) Wins over in-state competion Indiana State and IPFW pad the record before Big Ten play opens with Michigan.

4. Illinois Fighting Illini (#21 Nationally, 10-2) A loss to Illinois-Chicago certainly has to hurt the Illini's confidence heading into Big Ten play. They have a game with #10 Missouri also, so Bruce Weber's crew could be reeling heading into the conference season.

5. Minnesota Golden Gophers (#16 Nationally, 10-1) A win at home over Akron and a week-long layoff should have the Gophers ready to go for conference play.

6. Wisconsin Badgers (Unranked, 9-2) The Badgers didn't play a game last week, so we'll leave them unmoved in the rankings. Coppin State should be an easy win for Bo's Badgers in a tune-up game.

7. Indiana Hoosiers (Unranked, 9-2) Wins over SIU-Edwardsville and South Carolina St. are hardly impressive, but the manner in which the Hoosiers won was impressive. Northern Iowa and New Mexico/Colorado are the only games left before Crean and the Hoosiers hit the Big Ten schedule.

8. Northwestern Wildcats (Unranked, 8-1) Blown out by a rejuvenated St. John's program under Steve Lavin hurts the Wildcats. They get Mt. St. Mary's before 3 straight ranked Big Ten opponents. Ouch.

9. Michigan Wolverines (Unranked, 9-2) The Wolverines beat Oakland and have a final non-conference game against Bryant University before opening Big Ten play with Purdue.

10. Iowa Hawkeyes (Unranked, 7-5) Drake and Louisiana Tech were probably the last of the victory's for the Hawkeyes for a long time. 5 of their first 6 Big Ten games are against ranked opponents.

11. Penn State Nittany Lions (Unranked, 7-4) Double-digit loss to Maine at home is all you need to know.



Hope everyone has a happy holiday season!


Brian

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Around the Big Ten

With another exciting week and another set of victories for the Hoosiers, let’s take a look back on the week that was “Around the Big Ten.”

ILLINOIS

At the beginning of the week the Illini were hot. Coming off a ten point victory over Northern Colorado at home, Illinois was 10-1 and sat at No. 12 in the nation. UIC had other ideas for the Illini, as they were able to pull off the upset 57-54 at the United Center in Chicago. Rallying behind five points by Darrin Williams in the final minute of play, the Flames handed the Illini their second loss of the season. Demetri McCamey led Illinois with 16 points.

INDIANA

The Hoosiers are now 9-2 as they began play in the Las Vegas Classic Friday night against SIU-Edwardsville at Assembly Hall in Bloomington. The Hoosiers went on a 24-0 scoring run to begin the game, causing SIUE to miss their first 15 attempts from the field. The Hoosiers were led by big games from Christian Watford, who scored 18 points, with Derek Elston adding 14 points as the Hoosiers rolled over the Cougars 88-54. The biggest positive I noticed (when my view wasn’t blocked by a Michael Jordan big head) was the energy of the team. Confidence has been hard to come by for the past two seasons, but this squad seems to have swagger needed to win in the Big Ten. Coming off a huge whoopin’ of the Cougars, IU took on South Carolina State on Sunday. Highlighted by two, yes two Will Sheehey alley-oop slams, the Hoosiers stomped the Bulldogs 102-60, with Watford chipping in 22 of those season-high 102 points for the Hoosiers. IU now heads to Las Vegas to take on Northern Iowa on Wednesday. Tip is at 7:30.

IOWA

After having a week off for finals, Iowa travelled to Des Moines to take on Drake. The Hawkeyes were carried by youth in this contest, as the Hawkeye Freshmen were able to score ten of the team’s final 16 points on way to defeating the Bulldogs 59-52. Iowa will face Louisiana Tech at home Tuesday. Get there early, it is Fran McCaffery “Bobble Head” night in Carver Hawkeye Arena.

MICHIGAN

The Wolverines improved to 9-2 this week and have put together a six game winning streak. Led by 12 points from Darius Morris, and freshman Tim Hardaway Jr. adding 11, Michigan defeated North Carolina Central at Crisler Arena 64-44. Michigan was hoping to avoid another upset from Oakland, who just beat Tennessee days prior to visiting Ann Arbor. Zack Novak made sure the Wolverines would prove their dominance as they went on to defeat the Golden Grizzlies 69-51. Darius Morris led the Wolverines in scoring with 18.

MICHIGAN STATE

The Izzo-less Spartans came off a short break and welcomed powerhouse Prairie View A&M to East Lansing on Saturday night. Led by a season-high 25 points by Durrell Summers, MSU was able to roll over A&M 90-51.

MINNESOTA

The Golden Gophers were able to improve to 10-1 on Wednesday after defeating the Akron Zips 66-58 at Williams Arena. A bit of a milestone was reached in this one, as Blake Hoffarber scored his 1000^th career point as a Golden Gopher, becoming the 36^th player to do so in the team’s history. Hoffarber finished the game with 13 points.

NORTHWESTERN

Behind a stellar shooting performance and 26 points from John Shurna (10 for 11 shooting for the game) the Wildcats beat Long Island 81-65 at Welsh-Ryan Arena. Michael Thompson dropped 16 points in the victory. The Wildcats then welcomed American to Welsh-Ryan on Thursday. Another milestone was reached in this contest, as John Shurna scored 28 points, surpassing the 1,000 point mark for his career. Northwestern won 78-62.

OHIO STATE

The second-ranked Buckeyes are looking like the kings of the Big Ten. Coach Thad Matta improved his record at Ohio State to 165-54 as head man for the Buckeyes as they rolled over Florida Gulf Coast 83-55. Jon Diebler scored a career-high 29 points in the win. With another win over a non-conference opponent on Saturday against South Carolina, Ohio State moved to 76-5 at the Value City Arena in Columbus against opponents not in the Big Ten. The Buckeyes, led by Jared Sullinger with 30 points, defeat the Gamecocks 79-57.

PENN STATE

The Nittany Lions had a week off and will play Maine on Tuesday. Tip is at 5:00.

PURDUE

The Boilermakers headed southeast on Saturday to take on the Sycamores of Indiana State. Led by JaJuan Johnson’s career-high 31 points, Purdue was able to snag the victory 65-52. Aside from Johnson’s 31, E’Twaun Moore scored all of his 16 in the second half of play. Johnson is making up for the absence of Robbie Hummel for now, but will he be able to keep up the steady play when he goes up against a true center? We shall see.

WISCONSIN

The Badgers welcomed Green Bay to the Kohl Center last Monday. The big men for the Badgers scored 56 points to equal the total points scored by Green Bay and went on the snag the victory 70-56. Jon Leuer led Wisconsin in scoring with 22 as Wisconsin improved to 9-2 on the season.

Logan Harper

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Thoughts from the Alumni Section

By Brian Hall

Indiana 88-SIU-Edwardsville 54

Well this alumnus was expecting a blow out from the Hoosiers over SIUE and wow did I get it. IU scored the first 24 points and never looked back on their way to an 88 to 54 beat down. I could stop writing this reaction, but as a graduate of Indiana University, I have to obsess over the little things that happened during the game.

Good things that I noticed during the game: First off is the fast start. Indiana has been plagued by starting off in slow motion for many of the first games. Nobody could have asked for a better start! Secondly is the offensive play of Jeremiah Rivers. It was good to see him looking to shoot the ball a little more in the blowout. Also, Matt Roth coming in the game and shooting like the way he did before his injury! Christian Watford had a great game until he fouled out in the second half (more about that below). Finally, they did all of this without Verdell Jones III and it gave him a little extra time to rest his injury.

Worrisome things I noticed during the game: Turnovers made an unwelcomed return to Assembly Hall during the SIUE game. Many of the turnovers seemed to come when the Hoosiers were trying to push the ball and going a little too quick for what they can handle. The biggest issue I saw last night is the fact that one of the Hoosier’s opponents was shooting free throws early in the first and second half. I appreciate Indiana playing aggressive, but they need to control the fouls they create if we are going to win games in the Big Ten. Also, Watford fouling out with eight minutes to go in the game is going to burn us if the game is close!

Overall, I cannot complained because the game was over in the first five minutes, but I would have liked to see the turnovers and fouls committed trimmed in future games.

Up next: South Carolina State

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