Big Ten Country

Buckeyes Win Bubble Battle

The Ohio State-Michigan football game might have been anticlimactic this year, but when they met in Columbus for hoops on Tuesday night, the stakes were a little higher. Both teams are right in the middle of the pack when it comes to fighting for an NCAA bid. It was the Buckeyes who rang up an easy win at the expense of their slumping rivals.

Evan Turner led the way with 24 points, and Ohio State shot 56 percent from the floor. Michigan was unable to take care of the ball, turning it over 21 times. The only bright spot for John Beilein's team was the play of Manny Harris, who was a one-man show in scoring 22 points while grabbing 12 rebounds.

The win moves the Buckeyes back to .500 in league play at 4-4, while the Wolverines slipped to 4-5.

Around the league...

Purdue 64 Wisconsin 63
The Badgers faced the same circumstances as Ohio State. They needed a home win to get back to .500. Unlike OSU, they couldn't defend their home floor. They couldn't defend much of anything, as this team continues it's un-Bo Ryan like habit of allowing good shooting efforts and failing to win the battle of the free throw line. The Boilermakers shot 59 percent from the floor, an astonishing figure in light of who they were playing and the venue. E'Twaun Moore led the way with 17 points, and negated a big outing from UW's freshman forward Keaton Nankvil, who scored 21 on 5-of-5 from three-point range. The three interior players mentioned here in our discussion of conference of frontcourt talent earlier in the week--Robbie Hummel, JaJuan Johnson for Purdue and Marcus Landry for Wisconsin--were all non-factors, scoring in single digits.

Michigan State 71 Iowa 56
Tom Izzo's crew maintained a one-game edge on the Boilermakers in the loss column with an easy victory in Iowa City. The rebounding edge was not its usual overwhelming self, as the Spartans only won the boards 32-27. But they dominated the backcourt, with Kalin Lucas scoring 24, while Durrell Summers added 21. It's the second straight 20-plus outing from Summers, who could be developing into the kind of potent weapon MSU needs to go deep into March.

Minnesota 59 Illinois 36
An ugly road performance from the Illini dropped them two games off the conference lead. The Gopher defense held Illinois to 29 percent shooting, and controlled the glass to a 40-26 edge. When you're missing shots and not rebounding them, that's about as basic a recipe as there is for only scoring 36. Lawrence Westbrook led all scorers with 15.

Player Of The Sequence: Manny Harris. I know, this is the third time I've picked the Wolverine guard, while no one else has been chosen more than once. He's really not my couisin or anything like that, but Harris is either all in or he's absent. In Columbus, he was all in, albeit the only UM player who seemed to make the trip.

Sizing Up The Frontcourt

Last week, Big Ten Country took a look at the top performers in the backcourt and offered some early opinions on the all-conference picks. This week it's time to do the same on the frontcourt.

The league is not as deep in quality forwards and post players as it is in guards. But there are still some noteworthy players and they are led up by the trio of Jamelle Cornley (Penn State), DeShawn Sims (Michigan) and Evan Turner (Ohio State).

Cornley is the leader of the pack right now, and would get my vote for MVP if the season ended today. His last seven games have seen him in double figures and he's been explosive, going over 20 in three of them. He's averaging 7.5 rebounds per game in Big Ten play. And most importantly, he's the sole inside threat on a team that is unexpectedly challenging for the NCAA Tournament as we get to Super Bowl weekend.

Sims and Turner have similar resumes. Both have hit double figures seven times in eight league games. They both trail Cornley a little bit in rebounding, and in terms of how explosive their scoring is. But Sims has been Michigan's most consistent player. And Turner is someone I always keep looking at when I pick the "Player of the Sequence" each week. There's always been someone else who's just a little bit better in each particular sequence of games, but Turner's constancy has not gone unnoticed here.

To me, these three would all be All-Conference if we choose three frontcourt players. Now of course last week, I chose three backcourt players, so who knows how it will play out once the season is over. But Cornley would be in no matter what, and I'd give a slight lean to Turner over Sims as the second pick. Whether the Michigan forward makes the first team would be dependent on whether we choose to use a three-guard or three-forward offense at ballot time.

The player who is clearly the most likely to break into the top tier is Michigan State's Raymar Morgan. Arguably the top player in the conference, he's hit the skids the last three games, slowed considerably by a flu bug. And the value of MSU's center Goran Suton has to be noted. Michigan State's early losses to North Carolina and Maryland came when he was out. Suton doesn't score enough to be first-team All-Conference and while he's had some dominant rebounding games, there have been other occassions when he was AWOL. But he is the best pure center in a league whose post presence has diminished markedly over the years.

Purdue has a potentially terrific tandem in Robbie Hummel and JaJuan Johnson. Hummel's been slowed by nagging injuries and not hit the form that made him All-Confence last year. Johnson's had some very strong games, and at 6-10 is a potentially dominant shotblocker. He just needs to be more consistent.

No one is hotter right now than Northwestern's Kevin Coble. He's scored 72 points the last three games, including his epic 31-point night in the upset of Michigan State. But he doesn't rebound enough to be a top tier guy. A similar story applies to Wisconsin's Marcus Landry and Illinois' Mike Davis.

We'll give honorable mention to Indiana's Tom Pritchard. A long way from the top, he's still delivered consistent double-digit outings to Tom Crean in IU's lost season.

Wisconsin Slide Continues

It's hard to believe that just two weeks ago Wisconsin was 3-0 and looking to contend for a second straight conference championship. The Badgers dropped their fourth in a row over the weekend, losing on the road in Illinois 64-57. As has been the case throughout this streak, UW's defense has been lacking. Illinois shot 50% from the floor, and Demetri McCarney lit it up with 25 points, a figure that topped all conference scorers for the weekend. McCarney's heroics kept the Illini a game out of first place, and negated a strong effort by Joe Krabbenhoft who scored 16 points and grabbed 12 rebounds. Wisconsin is now in serious danger of missing the NCAA Tournament, with Michigan State, Illinois and Purdue clearly ensconced ahead of them, Minnesota having gotten the drop with a win in Madison and Penn State, Ohio State and Michigan all strong contenders in the middle of the pack.

In other games...

Penn State 63 Iowa 57
The Nittany Lions were carried by Jamelle Cornley inside, who scored 24 points, and Talor Battle outside, who popped in 20. Neither team was outstanding from three-point range, but PSU's 8-of-25 showing was at least tolerable, while Iowa was ice-cold at 4-17, and that spelled the difference in this game at Happy Valley.

Michigan 68 Northwestern 58
For the second straight game Manny Harris was held in single digits. But the Michigan guard made up for it on the boards with a 12-rebound effort. It keyed a 40-20 Michigan advantage on the glass that was more than enough to overcome 21 points by Kevin Coble.

Minnesota 67 Indiana 63
Indiana's showing a heartening tendency to play hard and give a tough fight at home, but they don't have the firepower to get over the top. Devan Dumes had 19 for the Hoosiers, but they were beaten by a balanced Minnesota attack that showed it can get points from more people than Lawrence Westbrook. On this day in Assembly Hall, Damian Johnson scored 18, while Ralph Sampson III chipped in 13.

Michigan State 78 Ohio State 67
A CBS audience saw the Spartans rebound from their loss to Northwestern. And rebound was the word for it, as Tom Izzo's club put another display of board dominance. 33-18 was the finally tally in a game where there weren't a lot of missed shots to go around. Both teams shot close to or above the 50 percent mark from the floor and both teams were good from three-point land. But Michigan State had Kalin Lucas and Durrell Summers, who combined for 46 points to lead them to a big road win that kept them in sole possession of first place.

Player Of The Sequence: Demetri McCarney. Not only was the Illinois guard the top scorer for the weekend, he didn't get as much help as some of the other top performers of the pas couple days did.

Race-Opening Upset

Contenders looking to catch Michigan State needed to get an unexpected break somewhere along the way. They got it on Wednesday night, in the form of a flu bug and Kevin Coble. The former limited Raymar Morgan to just 18 minutes of action against Northwestern. The latter poured in 31 points in leading the Wildcats to a shocking 70-63 win at the Breslin Center.

Michigan State still held its usual rebounding edge, dominating the glass to the tune of 39-19, with Goran Suton grabbing 14 boards. Kalin Lucas had another strong game with 20 points. But turnovers were a huge factor in this one. MSU turned it over 18 times, while NU took care of the ball and had only seven miscues. It was enough to allow the "Cats three-headed tandem of Coble, Michael Thompson and Craig Moore to combine for 62 points and lead the way to the upset. It's Michigan State's first conference loss, while everyone else has at least two. So the Spartans still hold command position, but this game opened up opportunities for others to make it a race.

In other action it was...

Purdue 70 Minnesota 63
The Boilermakers continued their resurgence from a shaky December and 0-2 conference start with a huge win in Minneapolis. Matt Painter's team didn't shoot a lot of three-balls, but they were an efficient 6-11 on the ones that did toss up. Meantime, the Gophers clanged the treys off the rim to the tune of 3-for-19. JaJuan Johnson led all scorers with 19 points and also pulled down eight rebounds. E'Twaun Moore scored 16, while Lawrence Westbrook was kept in check with 12 for Minnesota. The winner of this game was going to be one of two teams poised to capitalize on MSU's misfortune, and Purdue is now back in the race as a serious contender.

Illinois 67 Ohio State 49
The Illini were the other team that benefited the most from Michigan State's loss. On Tuesday night in front of the ESPN cameras, Illinois coasted to an easy home win. Forcing twenty turnovers out of the Buckeyes was the difference.

Penn State 73 Michigan 58
It was a big game between teams jousting for position in the middle and the race for NCAA Tournament berths. The Lions outshot the Wolverines from the floor 58-39 percent, and Michigan was even colder from behind the arc, clanging a 5-for-30 number off the rim. Days after being designated an All-Conference star here on Big Ten Country, Manny Harris was held to 4 points. DeShawn Sims was strong for UM, with 21 points and 11 rebounds, but Jamelle Cornely answered him inside with a 17/11 effort, while the Talor Battle/Stanley Pringle backcourt combined for 27 points.

Iowa 73 Wisconsin 69 (OT)
The defending champs are now in danger of letting their season get completely off the rails. Iowa beat UW at their own game, with a huge edge from the line. The Hawkeyes won scoring at the stripe 26-8, and David Palmer led up everyone with 21 points and 7 rebounds. Wisconsin now has its back to the wall this weekend when it visits Illinois. Their trademark tight defense missing in action, it's apparent how much UW misses shutdown guard Michael Flowers from last year.

Player Of The Sequence: Kevin Coble. We'll give honorable mention to DeShawn Sims who tried to carry his team in a losing effort.

Backcourt Battles

When you size up the candidates for All-Conference, there's no question that the Big Ten's abundance lies at the guard position. There isn't overwhelming talent inside when you go up and down the league, but there's a number of quality guards and only 2-3 places for them on the first team. Who are the early candidates?

Kalin Lucas of Michigan State is the one who gets the most national attention, and that attention is deserved. Lucas is explosively offensively and even on a team with Raymar Morgan at forward at Goran Suton in the post, he's the straw that stirs the drink. But while Lucas has earned his notoriety, there are others who deserve to be in the conversation in the race for the honor of best guard in the Big Ten.

Talor Battle has been nothing short of outstanding at Penn State, and provides rebounding support not often seen from the backcourt. Lawrence Westbrook at Minnesota is another explosive scorer who's hit double-digits in each conference game. Manny Harris at Michigan is a more interesting case. No question that Harris will be All-Conference and possibly even the MVP. He's listed at guard, but at 6-5, could arguably be listed at small forward as well.

From this group of four--Lucas, Battle, Westbrook and Harris, you would draw your All-Conference guards at this point in the season. Candidates to break into the mix before its over are led up by Wisconsin's Trevon Hughes and Purdue's E'Twaun Moore. Both have been absent at too many times this year to be on the first tier, but each has the talent to change that. Stanley Pringle, Battle's running mate in Happy Valley has had some signature performances, but not shown the consistency needed to be first string. Craig Moore at Northwestern is another one who shows flashes, but is unlikely to sustain it enough to be a top-level guard.

If I had to vote right now, I'd go Lucas-Battle in the backcourt, and slot Harris on the wing, with Westbrook as the odd man out.

Spartans Meet Illini Challenge

Michigan State 63 Illinois 57
Now that Michigan State is entrenched as the frontrunner, this was the first of the challenge games, to see if any of the contenders can move up. Illinois went into East Lansing and gave the Spartans all they could handle, but a noble effort came up a bit short, 63-57. It was a sloppy game, with the teams combining for 34 turnovers, but Tom Izzo's team relied on a familiar friend to prevail--rebounding. MSU owned the glass to a 39-26 count, and they doubled up on the Illini at the line 16-8 to give them the win.

Northwestern 74 Minnesota 65
Michigan State's win gave them a two-game lead in the conference when they got some unexpected help in Evanston. Minnesota showed up flat after their big win at Wisconsin and laid an egg at Northwestern. Both teams shot the ball well and Lawrence Westbrook had another strong game for the Gophers, with 18 points and 8 rebounds. But NU had a big scoring edge at the line, 21-5, and Craig Moore and Kevin Coble each broke the twenty-point barrier to key the upset.

Ohio State 65 Michigan 58
The Buckeyes went into Ann Arbor and came out with a big win against the Wolverines. Ohio State shot the lights out, going 55% from the floor. Evan Turner's 19 points and 8 boards keyed the win and B.J. Mullens chipped in 15 off the bench. Manny Harris was strong in defeat, knocking down 21 points, grabbing seven rebounds and chipping in six assists. It was a big loss for UM, which is now 3-3 in the league and has lost two on their home floor.

Penn State 65 Indiana 55
It's a mark of how fast the IU program has fallen that losing to Penn State at home doesn't even raise an eyebrow. Penn State got 19 from Stanley Pringle and 17 from Jamelle Cornley. Talor Battle was unusually quiet with only 12 for the Lions.

Purdue 75 Iowa 53
The Boilermakers rolled to an easy win at home. Iowa center David Palmer had the top individual performance with 19 points and 8 rebounds.

Player of the Sequence: There weren't a lot of great individual efforts this weekend. As such, for the first time I'll go to a player on a losing team and pick Manny Harris. I give the Wolverine guard the nod over Craig Moore or Kevin Coble, as the two NU players at least had each other to rely on. Harris pretty much carried the Wolverines.

The Race Starts Sorting Out

In the post directly below, I opined that Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan and Minnesota were angling for position to be the challengers to Michigan State for the conference championship. And that everyone's hopes would depend a great deal on how they weathered the tough winter road trip to Penn State. This week's games provided early clues, as the first four teams mentioned all played each other, while the Spartans went to Happy Valley.

Michigan State 78 Penn State 73
The Spartans control the glass in a big way. A 41-22 rebounding advantage, led by Goran Suton's 14 gave them the edge they needed. Penn State got good production from Jamelle Cornley (26 points) and Talor Battle (20), but Cornley was kept off the glass, and his inside partner Andrew Jones was ineffective. MSU gets a clutch win in the bitter cold of central Pennsylvania.

Minnesota 78 Wisconsin 74 (OT)
This is nothing short of an enormous win for the Gophs, taking place at the Kohl Center. Doing it on the road marks this as the kind of game that will reverberate through the conference standings all year long. In fact, we can realistically mark Wisconsin off the list of championship contenders. The standings say they are only two games back and haven't played MSU yet, but you can't lose a game like this at home and expect to win a title.

Tubby Smith now has this scalp under his belt, to go with his non-conference win over Louisville. Lawrence Westbrook scored 29 points, and once again Smith got bench production from Devron Bostick and Paul Carter. The duo combined for 21 and Carter grabbed 11 rebounds. Minnesota shot 48 percent from the floor, an extraordinary performance given the reputation of the UW defense and the venue. Meanwhile, the Badgers clanged a 5-24 performance from three-point land off the rim.

Illinois 66 Michigan 51
The Illini continue to send the message that last year was an aberration. Like the Gophers, Illinois shot the ball well, hitting 48 percent, and holding UM to 32 percent from the floor. Illinois also had a 10-point edge on the foul line, and used a nice inside-outside combination of Demetri McCarney (17 points) and Mike Tisdale (24 points) to break open what was a tight game at half. Manny Harris had 20 in a losing effort.

Purdue 63 Northwestern 61
The Boilermakers get a survival win, coming from 14 down at Welsh-Ryan Arena. A huge 41-22 rebounding disparity was able to overcome 22 turnovers for Matt Painter's crew.

Ohio State 77 Indiana 53
A sloppy turnover-laden affair, was settled by Ohio State's hot shooting. The Buckeyes hit 13-24 from behind the arc, and put five players in double figures. Tom Pritchard has 16 points and 11 rebounds for the Hoosiers.

Player of the Sequence:  The nod has to go to Lawrence Westbrook. He led  all conference scorers and led his team to a huge win on the court of an archrival.

Sizing Up The Nation

The Big Ten race has taken shape, as most teams have four league games under their belt. Michigan State is the clear frontrunner right now. It's chaotic below, with a number of teams hoping to angle into position as the best challenger. Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin and Minnesota have started out well enough to be considered contenders, and Purdue may work its way back to that level, particularly after its impressive home win over the Badgers on Sunday. Penn State isn't going to challenge for the championship, but if the backcourt of Talor Battle and Stanley Pringle builds off its early success, trips to Happy Valley will certainly be a big part of determining which contenders survive and which ones fall by the wayside. Ohio State is another contender for an NCAA bid, but not for a conference crown.

How do the races for league championships look around the country? Here's a brief national overview:

Big East: This conference is historically strong this season. Pitt is ranked #1 in the country, and heads up a list of five teams in the Top 14 and seven in the Top 25. Syracuse, Marquette and Louisville join the Panthers in being undefeated in conference play, and we haven't yet included UConn, or discussed Notre Dame and its Player of the Year candidate Luke Harangody, or Georgetown who won up in Storrs. ESPN's Monday 7 PM EST slot is always a Big East game and there's going to be more good games there than was possible on Monday Night Football all year long.

ACC: Just as the Red Sox-Yankees dominance of the AL East was finally challenged and broken by the Rays, the Carolina-Duke ownership of the ACC has been challenged this year. The Tar Heels showed vulnerability in an upset loss to Boston College, and then Wake Forest knocked them again last Sunday. Wake, Duke and UNC are all in the top five, and don't overlook Clemson. The Tigers are undefeated and own an impressive road win at Illinois. They aren't getting the ink as a contender for ACC honors, but their next two games are against Wake and North Carolina.

SEC: If you wonder at whose expense the Big East's dominance is coming from, look no further than the SEC. Tennessee is the only ranked team in the league and they are at #24. Arkansas and Florida are lurking on the edge of the rankings, and Kentucky is still struggling. It has to be satisfying to sane sports fans everywhere that the maniacs of Lexington who ran Tubby Smith out of town get to watch him doing better in Minnesota then his successor is doing at UK.

Big 12: If you thought the Oklahoma-Texas wars stop at the gridiron's edge, think again. The Sooners beat up on Texas last night and both teams figure to lead up the Big 12 all year long. Baylor is a dark horse contender at #23. Bob Knight's son Pat is having a tough go of it in Lubbock, as Texas Tech is currently at 10-6 with the snakepit of conference play ahead. Big Ten Country wishes the son of the General good luck, as he tries to build an enduring power in a place that's miles from everywhere and very difficult to recruit in.

Pac-10: UCLA hasn't gone away after three straight Final Four appearances. Arizona State is also a contender in a league that doesn't look as strong as it has in recent years.

Mid-Majors: The Midwest is home to two of the best mid-majors, as Xavier, based in Cincinnati and playing in the Atlantic 10 is a threat to make some noise. Butler is enjoying another strong year. And out west, keep an eye on the Gonzaga-St. Mary's rivalry in the West Coast Conference

Purdue Stays Alive

Purdue's back was to the wall Sunday afternoon in West Lafayette. Having dropped their first two Big Ten games, the Boilermakers faced 3-0 Wisconsin. Matt Painter's team played like a desperate team, using stifling defensive play to keep the Badgers at bay all afternoon. The Boilers would end up winning 65-52, getting 20 points and 10 rebounds from JaJuan Johnson and 16 more from Robbie Hummell.

Wisconsin lacked its customary edge at the free throw line, as Purdue would outscore them at the stripe 13-4, and rebounding went the home team's way 32-24. This is now the third straight time the Boilers have beaten the Badgers. UW has not lost any other Big Ten games is the last season-plus.

In other action...

Michigan 64 Iowa 49
For the second straight game, turnovers bedeviled the Hawkeyes, as they committed 18 miscues in Ann Arbor. Manny Harris' 18 points and 8 rebounds were more than enough to lead Michigan to a 3-1 conference record. This is also the second straight time Iowa has failed to break 50 points.

Minnesota 79 Penn State 59
The Gophers absolutely shot the lights out. Minny hit 62 percent from the floor, including 9 of 9 from three-point range. They won the battle of the benches, with Devron Bostick and Paul Carter combining for 33 points off the pine. Talor Battle was the bright spot for PSU, as he looks ready to join Kalin Lucas from Michigan State in the fight to be the conference's top guard. Battle gave 19 points and 9 rebounds, but lacked the usual support from running mate Stanley Pringle and inside man Jamelle Cornely.

Illinois 76 Indiana 45
How do you win the rebounding battle 31-22 on your home floor and still lose by over thirty points? Indiana managed by committing nineteen turnovers and being destroyed from three-point range. Illinois was 13-25 from treyland, while IU was a measly 2-6. Trent Meacham's 21 points led the way for the Illini.

We had a little nonconference interlude into the opening of the Big Ten schedule. Michigan State hosted Kansas. While the defending national champs aren't what they were last year, it was still impressive that the Spartans took them apart 75-62. Kalin Lucas scored 22, and Tom Izzo's club showed decisive margins in rebounding and at the line.

Player Of The Sequence: JaJuan Johnson, Purdue

Belated Midweek Hoops Summary

My apologies to the readers for the lateness of the midweek hoops recap....

Michigan State 67 Ohio State 58
The Spartans won this game at the line, with a 17-8 scoring edge at the stripe matching the margin of victory. Raymar Morgan for MSU and Evan Turner for OSU each had double-doubles, but Michigan State had Kalin Lucas. The quick guard was the difference-maker, scoring 20 points to lead the home team to the win in Tuesday's ESPN game.

Penn State 67 Purdue 64
The Boilermakers played without Robbie Hummell and are digging themselves a hole in conference play that's going to be awfully tough to recover from. The Penn State backcourt was clicking, as Talor Battle and Stanley Pringle combined for 39 points, and 11 rebounds from Andrew Jones was the key to a 37-22 edge on the glass. With two league victories and a near-miss at Wisconsin, Penn State looks like they might finally be for real on the hardwood.

Michigan 72 Indiana 66 (OT)
In front of the home crowd, the Hoosiers put up a tough fight, getting a combined 44 points from Devan Dumes, Verdell Jones and Nick Williams. But the Wolverine's four-guard offense prevailed in the end. Manny Harris knocked down 17 and grabbed 11 rebounds, while Laval Lucas-Perry led all scorers with 18.

Wisconsin 74 Northwestern 45
The Badgers' trademark defense was out in force, as NU had nobody in double-digits and shot only 31 percent from the floor. Jason Bohannon scored 20 for the home team.

Minnesota 52 Iowa 49
The Gophers win an ugly rivalry game in Iowa City, marked by turnovers. In the end, the Hawks turned it over 16 times to Minny's 11 and that spelled the difference.

Player of the Sequence: Manny Harris, Michigan.