Indiana continued its struggles defending against decent teams in a 69-60 home loss to Penn State. The Nittany Lions got plenty of open looks and converted them to the tune of a 64.1 effective field goal percentage, powering the road team to 1.22 points per possession (matching Penn State's best output of the season). This continues a distubring trend for the Hoosiers--opponents outside of Pomeroy's top 100 have yet to score more than 0.86 points per possession against Indiana, while every top 100 team the Hoosiers have faced has scored at least 1.07 PPP. In other words, that decent-looking IU defense may just be the product of some domination against the sisters of the poor.

Give Penn State credit--they knocked down the opportunities they were given and showed major poise when Indiana rallied to take a lead with under 8 minutes remaining. Let's not forget that Penn State is a senior-laden team with tons of Big Ten experience. Jeff Brooks was fantastic, scoring 23 points (12 shots), grabbing 8 rebounds, blocking 3 shots, and not making a single turnover. Talor Battle scored 19 points on 14 shots, and David Jackson chipped in 15 points and 8 boards.

There really wasn't much wrong with the Hoosier offense, as they scored enough to win (1.06 PPP). Indiana even posted a sparkling 15.9 turnover rate, continuing the recent progress in this area. If something could have been better, it was the poor shooting inside the arc (just 41 percent). Verdell Jones was as guilty as anyone in this regard, as he made just 2 of 9 twos on his way to a team-high 15 points. Christian Watford played through back spasms, and it showed: 3 points on 5 shots, 4 rebounds, 3 turnovers.

After starting their Big Ten existence 0-15 at Indiana, the Nittany Lions have now won two straight in Bloomington (going back to two seasons ago)--a sure sign of the woes that have befallen the Hoosiers. The future still looks bright for Indiana, but yet another season as the Big Ten's worst team might be tough for the faithful to swallow. The projection for the Hoosiers is now for a 5 win conference season, same as Penn State, and it seems incredibly silly that just a week ago we were saying Indiana had an outside shot at an at-large bid. Needless to say, that talk can probably be shelved until next season at the earliest.

In last night's other action, Ohio State romped over Tennessee Martin by a 100-40 score. The Buckeye defense was absolutely stifling, allowing just 0.57 points per possession to the overmatched Ohio Valley team. The OSU offense was just as impressive, shooting 73 percent on twos, rebounding nearly half of their (infrequent) misses, and rarely turning it over. William Buford broke out of a shooting slump with 23 points on 11 shots, while Jared Sullinger made another fantastic game look routine (18 points, 11 rebounds, no turnovers). As usual, Deshaun Thomas went nuts in a blowout, posting 20 points and 9 rebounds. I'm looking forward to seeing what Thomas can do when given significant minutes in a close game. Of course, Ohio State will have to play a close game for that to happen, which might not be very common this season.

With the fantastic efficiencies, Ohio State moved themselves into the top spot in Pomeroy's ratings, just barely ahead of Duke. The projections now give the Buckeyes a nearly 12 percent chance of running the table in the Big Ten, which would be mighty impressive given the quality of the conference. The first major test appears to be January 22 at Illinois, but crazy things can happen in conference play.

We have some catching up to do from just before Christmas. On December 23, six Big Ten teams got in one last pre-Holiday game:

Ohio State had no issues with a solid Oakland team in a 92-63 win. The Golden Grizzlies were held to their second-lowest output of the season. Who held them to their lowest, you might ask? Well, the Michigan Wolverines, of course. Six Buckeyes were in double figures, led by Deshaun Thomas' 17 points on 10 shots.

Northwestern finally got defensive in a 70-47 win over Mount St. Mary's. The 0.70 defensive efficiency was the stingiest display of the season by Bill Carmody's team, and they made 62 percent of their twos to cover for an off night from three (25 percent). Drew Crawford exemplified their night, going 8 of 9 from two and 0 of 5 from three for 16 points. Alex Marcotullio and John Shurna combined for 16 assists and 4 turnovers.

Minnesota struggled a bit but came away with an 85-73 win over South Dakota State. The Gopher defense wasn't great, allowing a point per possession, but it was actually the lowest output of the season for a solid South Dakota State offense. Minnesota relied on a big advantage inside to shoot 59 percent on twos, led by Rodney Williams, Trevor Mbakwe, and Colton Iverson combining to go 15 for 19 inside the arc and grab 10 offensive rebounds.

Wisconsin blew out Coppin State 80-56 in a slow 56 possessions. The offensive efficiency at work here for Wisconsin is phenomenal (1.42 PPP), even if the point per possession allowed to Coppin State is a little troubling. The Badgers took their reliance on the three to new levels, taking 68 percent (!) of their shots from beyond the arc. That's not such a bad strategy when you make 45 percent of them. Jon Leuer led the barrage by going 5 of 10 (19 points), while Tim Jarmusz hit 4 of 5 and Jordan Taylor made 4 of 8.

Michigan didn't play their finest game but still came away with an 87-71 win over Bryant. This was easily Michigan's worst defensive effort of the season (1.13 PPP allowed), especially when considering the quality of the opponent. Happily, the Wolverines also had an offensive explosion for 1.38 points per possession, also much higher than anything they'd yet done. The most impressive stat? Michigan turned it over just 3 times in a 62 possession game. Throw in 50 percent shooting from three and you've got Beilein ball magic. Darius Morris put up about the finest line you'll ever see: 26 points (16 shots), 6 rebounds, 12 assists, and no turnovers.

Finally, Indiana dropped their second and final game in Las Vegas, 78-69 to Colorado. Basically everything I wrote above for the Penn State game applies here as well. Poor Indiana defense, decent enough offense, and poor shooting from two, led by Christian Watford's 3 for 14 effort. Victor Oladipo was a bright spot (16 points on 9 shots, 7 rebounds, countless mispronounciations by the announcers).

- Posted by Mike Portscheller