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 1000th career point as a Golden Gopher, becoming the 36th 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
