I Had a Dream, JoeWelcome to your weekly Big Ten Hoops Recap. We're only three weeks into league play, and the race for the crown is shaping up for a down-to-the-wire finish. Unless a team is hosting Nebraska, an "Any Given Sunday/Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday/Saturday" maxim appears to be in effect for the nation's toughest conference.
Today is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, and in tribute to his most famous speech, "dreams" seems like a fitting leitmotif to accompany this recap. Granted, he professed a vision of racial harmony and not, for example, a visiting team finally winning in the haunted fields of West Lafayette or for the Cornhuskers to pick up their first conference win.
Devoid of any comparisons to King's lifelong quest for justice, those rare occurrences were just two instances of an unbelievable week of B1G action, one that left witnesses wondering if the dream police were coming to arrest them.
Three candidates emerged for team of the week honors: Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Brandon Paul. Because there is no "Brandon Paul" in team, the latter was disqualified1. The Paul Bunyan's Axe rivals, meanwhile, were a perfect 2-0 after struggling in the early part of the Big Ten season. Yet due to an unranked Minnesota defeating a Top Ten opponent on the road for the first time since 1981, the Golden Gophers claimed the prize.
MINNESOTA (2-0) // Beat Indiana 77-74, Beat Penn State 80-66
In Bloomington, Minnesota edged Indiana for their first Big Ten win of the season. Austin Hollins had a career night with 18 points, and despite leading by 6 with a minute left, it took clutch free throws from Hollins and freshman Joe Coleman after Indiana came within a point. Tubby Smith told his players, "hey now, hey now, don't dream it's over", and the Golden Gophers did not let them win.
Minnesota followed that up with their second conference victory, this time over Penn State. Coleman, while dribbling and pacing the boards, led the way with a personal best of 23 points, much higher than his 4.5 average coming into the match. He was 13/14 from the charity stripe as the Gophers attempted 44 of the game's 72 free throws. Julian Welch (15 points), Rodney Williams (14 points) and Hollins (12 points) all hit double figures.
WISCONSIN (2-0) // Beat Purdue 67-62, Beat Nebraska 50-45
Coming off of three straight losses, Wisconsin pulled off the near-impossible feat of downing Purdue at home. The Badgers were red-hot at the start of the game, converting 5/6 from behind the arc to take an early 22-4 lead, and they held on for the win. Ben Brust was one of five Badgers to put up double digits, his 13 points being the most. So, he was living in the limelight, the universal dream.
Yesterday, Wisconsin slipped past Nebraska in an offensively-challenged game2. Jordan Taylor responded to Badger fans who dreamed they saw the knights in armor coming. Of his 19 points, five came on free throws in the last 30 seconds. The most eventful moment was with 17 seconds left, when Taylor missed his second free throw and stole the ball off a rebound. He followed that by sinking two more free throws, which secured the victory for Wisconsin, who shot a chilly 31.3% from the field and hit just 2/18 from three-point land.
BRANDON PAUL ILLINOIS (1-0) // Beat Ohio State 79-74
To Ohio State, Brandon Paul was "like punching in a dream, breathing life into the nightmare."
MICHIGAN STATE (1-1) // Beat Iowa 95-61, Lost to Northwestern 81-74
Michigan State routed Iowa to extend their winning streak, the longest for the Spartans since the 1998-99 season3. Draymond Green, of no surprise to anyone, recorded a double-double (22 points, 10 boards) while adding five assists and three steals. Keith Appling chipped in with 15 points and 9 assists. The latter was a career best for the sophomore, who did not commit any of the Spartans' 15 turnovers. For the entire game, MSU made over 60% of their shots, a candy coated dream.
Falling for the first time in Big Ten play, Michigan State had trouble against Northwestern's Princeton offense. Even though Appling scored 17 points and Green posted his usual stats (14 points, 14 rebounds), which included 4/5 from outside, the Spartans were only 11/32 from the field in the second half. They also lost the turnover margin, 14-7, while Izzo thought, "the dream is gone, I have become comfortably numb."
The Felon from Glen EllynNORTHWESTERN (1-1) // Lost to Michigan 66-64 (OT), Beat Michigan State 81-74
Despite a seven-point halftime lead, Northwestern fell to Michigan in OT when they couldn't capitalize on the Wolverines' mistakes. Jordan Morgan was called for a technical, but Drew Crawford only made one of the free throws and the Wildcats failed to score on the subsequent possession. Then, down three with less than a second remaining, Alex Marcotullio was fouled on a three-point attempt and immediately missed the first free throw. John Shurna and Drew Crawford paced the team as they normally do with 21 and 20 points, respectively, as they pondered, "is a dream a lie if it don't come true, or is it something worse?"
Bouncing back a few days later, Northwestern shocked Michigan State. Shurna, admirer of Larry Bird's shooting skills and whiteness, chanted "I've held dreams of Boston all my life" as his 22 points helped the Wildcats best Magic Johnson's Spartans. However, it was Davide Curletti, starting for the first time this season, who sparked the team. His 17 points, 6 rebounds, and 4 assists were instrumental in the crucial win for Northwestern, who is looking to play in the NCAA Tournament for the first time in school history4.
IOWA (1-1) // Lost to Michigan State 95-61, Beat Michigan 75-59
While they got stomped by Michigan State, Iowa coach Fran McCaffery took out his anger, Bobby Knight-style, on the officials, a chair, and his players, who were off in Dream City where there's nothing to scream about. Off the bench, Aaron White put up a team-high 15 points for the Hawkeyes, who were guilty of 21 TOs.
McCaffery's message was received when they topped Michigan, a "dream dressed in blue" for Iowa. Matt Gatens ended up with 19 points, including four of the Hawkeyes' five made three-pointers. Roy Devyn Marble accounted for 13 points, 6 boards, and 4 assists while White contributed 12 points. In their first B1G win at home, Iowa beat Michigan on the glass, 39-30.
MICHIGAN (1-1) // Beat Northwestern 66-64 (OT), Lost to Iowa 75-59
On Wednesday, Michigan escaped Northwestern in OT. Trey Burke and Tim Hardaway Jr. matched one another in the stat sheet, each totaling 19 points in 45 minutes of playing time. Those two helped ignite a 10-0 run in the second half after Michigan had fallen behind 44-36. One of Hardaway's five 3's tied the game at 54 with under 3 minutes to go, and neither team could make a basket until the OT period. Then, once stars filled his dream, traveler of both time and space Burke took over and scored the final 8 Wolverine points. Although Michigan only made 33% of their shots, they held the edge in rebounding and turnover margin.
In the loss to Iowa, point guard Burke was in early foul trouble, but the freshman still managed to score 19 points. Zack Novak picked up some of Hardaway Jr.'s slack. The former recorded 14 points, 12 of which were behind the arc, and 8 rebounds; the latter was just 2/13 from the floor and even worse from downtown (0/8). The Wolverines, who have yet to notch a true road victory outside their state, left the Hawkeye state sulking, "Michigan seems like a dream to me now."
NEBRASKA (1-1) // Beat Penn State 70-58, Lost to Wisconsin 50-45
Like they were falling out of bed from a long and weary dream, Nebraska defeated Penn State to capture their first B1G win. Bo Spencer was the top scorer with 19 points, with Toney McCray adding a baker's dozen and Caleb Walker and Dylan Talley tallying a regular dozen each.
| TEAM | CONF | OVERALL |
|---|---|---|
| Michigan State | 4-1 | 15-3 |
| Illinois | 4-1 | 15-3 |
| Ohio State | 4-2 | 16-3 |
| Michigan | 4-2 | 14-4 |
| Purdue | 3-2 | 13-5 |
| Indiana | 3-3 | 15-3 |
| Wisconsin | 3-3 | 14-5 |
| Iowa | 3-3 | 11-8 |
| Northwestern | 2-3 | 12-5 |
| Minnesota | 2-4 | 14-5 |
| Nebraska | 1-5 | 9-8 |
| Penn State | 1-5 | 9-10 |
Against Wisconsin, Nebraska pulled within two points twice in the final 30 seconds, but they couldn't manage to get any closer. Spencer, with 13, was the only Cornhusker to score over 10 points. Starter, and Los Angeles native, Brandon Richardson failed to score but did foul out as he most likely mused, "I'd be safe and warm, if I was in L.A." Nebraska went to the free throw line twice, as opposed to the 24 times for Wisconsin.
PURDUE (0-1) // Lost to Wisconsin 67-62
After their 26-game winning streak at home was snapped, Purdue lamented their dreams to remember. Though they turned the ball over just three times, the Boilermakers only shot 34.4% from the floor and barely made over half of their free throws (12/22). Terone Johnson's 16 points topped all scorers and was a career best.
INDIANA (0-2) // Lost to Minnesota 77-74, Lost to Ohio State 80-63
In their first loss at home all season, Indiana cut Minnesota's lead down to one after Cody Zeller scored three of his game-high 23 points with 17 seconds left in the game. However, after a pair of free throws put the Golden Gophers back up by 3, Christian Watford could not channel his Kentucky game magic. He missed a three-pointer near the end, and no one rushed the court because players only love you when they're playing. Overall, the usually sharp-shooting Hoosiers were just 4/18 from downtown.
Then Indiana found out just how revenge-minded Ohio State was as Lenzelle Smith Jr. informed them, "Don't sleep on me homie, I bring nightmares to reality."
PENN STATE (0-2) // Lost to Nebraska 70-58, Lost to Minnesota 80-66
With 30 points versus Nebraska, Tim Frazier was over half of Penn State's offense. Considering the next highest scorer for the Nittany Lions was Sasa Borovnjak with 8, Frazier would not be blamed for telling his teammates, "I think I thought I saw you try, but that was just a dream." Despite owning an edge in rebounding and turnover margin, PSU was 20/60 on their field goal attempts and made a mere 12.5% of their three-pointers.
Against Minnesota, Cammeron Woodyard's career-high 22 points was not enough to overcome Penn State's 30% shooting. Frazier added 20 points, 5 assists, and 4 steals, but the Nittany Lions were outscored 26-9 in the last four minutes. They are now taking refuge in between the click of the light and the start of a dream.
My advice to the entire Big Ten is to "remember what they say, there's no shortcut to a dream; it's all blood and sweat, and life is what you manage in between."
- 1 I also do not want to reward someone who practices dark sorcery.
- 2 Even the LSU football team wondered where all the scoring went in this game.
- 3 I guess it still exists for some teams.
- 4 Perhaps Shurna also knows that Boston will host the East Regional matchups in the Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight.
