After a one night reprieve, the Big Ten decided to get back to more of an offensive brand of basketball (no pun intended). First, Minnesota prevailed over a fiesty Indiana squad, 67-63. The Hoosiers took the ball right into the teeth of the taller Gopher defense, resulting in 10 Minnesota blocks and a paltry 39 percent success rate on twos. Amazingly, Indiana was able to go to the rack while keeping turnovers to a minimum--IU's stellar 11.9 turnover rate was their second lowest of the season. This allowed the Hoosiers to hoist 61 shots in a 59 possession game and, in spite of their lackluster shooting, post 1.07 points per possession. As Bo Ryan would tell you, shot maximization is a powerful thing. Victor Oladipo, Maurice Creek, and Verdell Jones combined for 38 points on 31 shots. 

Unfortunately for Indiana, the Gophers were busy getting extra looks in their own way: offensive rebounding. Minnesota retrieved nearly half of their misses, powering the Gophers to 1.14 points per possession and their first conference win. Trevor Mbakwe grabbed 7 offensive rebounds on his way to an 11-16 double-double (with 5 blocked shots), and Blake Hoffarber scored 16 points on just 7 shots. Al Nolen's active night deserves mention as well: 14 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists, and 4 steals. 

Both teams can now look forward to tough Sunday road games; Indiana at Northwestern and Minnesota at Ohio State.

Speaking of the Buckeyes, they looked much less invincible than normal in a 73-68 come-from-behind win over Iowa. In the first half, the Hawkeyes abused the Buckeyes on the glass, grabbing half their misses to score 1.11 points per possession. Melsahn Basabe and Jarryd Cole were a two-man wrecking crew, combining for 24 points and 12 rebounds heading into the break. At the same time, Ohio State was turning it over like mad, resulting in just 26 first half shot attempts. The Buckeyes were still making shots (55.8 eFG percentage in the first half), but they just weren't getting enough of them. Still, with all these issues, Ohio State was only down six at intermission.

Thad Matta must have then gently spoken some sense into his charges, as they came out and remedied these issues after the break. Iowa grabbed just three offensive rebounds in the second half, and suddenly the Hawkeyes were the ones with a turnover problem. Iowa put up a good fight for the first six minutes of the second half, but the Buckeyes then reeled off a 16-0 run to take control for good. Iowa, to their credit, kept fighting, and they even cut the lead down to three in the final minute. Aaron Craft then knocked down a couple free tosses to seal the victory.

Jared Sullinger finished with a 24-12 double-double, but it took him 20 shots to get there. Basabe ended up with 22 points (13 shots), 13 rebounds, and 6 blocks, while Cole chipped in 14 and 7. 

This is obviously not the game Ohio State was hoping for in Iowa City, and it shows some cracks in their armor. For the game, the most disappointing number has to be the 1.02 efficiency allowed to Iowa. The Hawkeyes had only scored over a point per possession five times all season, and Ohio State came into the game as the nation's top-rated defense. Even the stronger second half defense (0.95 PPP) wasn't as stingy as you'd have expected Ohio State to be.

This was encouraging game for the young Hawkeyes, even if the final result wasn't what they wanted. In two Big Ten home games, Iowa has kept it interesting against both Illinois and Ohio State. The Hawkeyes could very well spoil the resumes of Northwestern and/or Minnesota at Carver Hawkeye in the coming weeks. 

Tonight, it's a doubleheader on the Big Ten Network. At 5:30pm CT, 2-0 Purdue visits 1-1 Penn State. The Nittany Lions have played Purdue well at the Bryce Jordan Center lately, with the last two matchups totalling a narrow 128-127 Purdue edge. At 7:30pm CT, 1-1 Wisconsin hosts 1-1 Michigan. The Badgers hope to rebound from a road loss to Illinois, while Michigan is looking for something positive at the start of a very tough stretch of games (at Wisconsin, Kansas, Ohio State, at Indiana, at Northwestern). If the Wolverines can somehow pull off victories in three of those five, we can start realistically talking tournament hopes in Ann Arbor.

- Posted by Mike Portscheller