After a weekend in which very little defense was played, two Big Ten teams got back to business last night in a defensive grinder. Michigan State became the first team of the season to hold Northwestern under a point per possession in a 65-62 road win. The Wildcats scored just 0.95 points per trip, a number that would have been even more impressive if the Spartans hadn't allowed 12 Northwestern points on the final six possessions. That run enabled the Wildcats to close the gap from 13 points all the way down to one with 27 seconds left. At that point, Draymond Green saved the Spartans, rebounding a missed front end by Kalin Lucas and putting it back in for a three point lead. Northwestern couldn't get a clean look on their final possession, and that was that.

Overall, Northwestern played fairly well, especially on the defensive end--they limited Michigan State's offensive rebounding, forced some turnovers, and gave up only five free throw attempts. Michigan State scored 0.99 points per possession, their third-lowest output of the season. This was an encouraging show of competent defense by the Wildcats.

Northwestern's biggest problem came at the other end of floor, specifically when they tried to go inside the arc. The Wildcats shot just 24 percent on twos, a figure that makes some sense when you look at Michigan State's blocked shots total. The Spartans swatted 12 shots, and 11 of them came on two-point attempts. Still, even when Northwestern didn't get blocked, they made twos at just 35 percent. It didn't help that a hobbled John Shurna went 0 for 6 on twos, or that Drew Crawford shot 2 for 11 inside the arc. Northwestern took their normal shot distribution--about 40 percent of their attempts from three--but this was a night when they probably should have hoisted even more from deep. The Wildcats' 44 percent accuracy on threes and low turnover rate were the only things that made this one close.

As for Michigan State, this is a solid win. Northwestern is probably going to knock off a good team at home this season--Pomeroy's ratings currently put the odds at 73 percent that Northwestern beats at least one of Wisconsin/Illinois/Ohio State at Welsh Ryan. The Spartans finished a bit shaky, but a road win is a road win. Draymond Green and Delvon Roe combined for 23 points, 22 rebounds, and 6 assists. Keith Appling, at just 6-2, showed off his athleticism with 5 blocked shots.

Tonight, Indiana visits Minnesota, who will again be without Devoe Joseph for an 'indefinite' amount of time (6pm CT, ESPN2). In the nightcap, Ohio State looks to avoid a road letdown as they take on Iowa (8:05pm CT, BTN). Illinois just hung 1.29 PPP on the Hawkeyes; if anyone's going to best that, it's probably Ohio State.

- Posted by Mike Portscheller