Iowa scored the biggest upset of the season when it took down Purdue 67-65 in a 71 possession game.  The Hawkeyes dominated the glass, limiting the Boilermakers to grabbing just 25 percent of their misses.  Iowa also hounded Purdue on the perimeter, limiting the Boilers to a 5-25 performance from behind the arc.  E’Twaun Moore and JaJuan Johnson were both rather pedestrian as well, needing 34 shots to get to 33 points.  Purdue also didn’t help themselves with their 59 percent accuracy from the free throw line.  
 
But give the Hawkeyes credit.  They took down a top-10 team that was playing for a share of the conference crown.  Fran McCaffrey’s squad denied them that banner, and there’s Jarryd Cole to thank for that.  The

It's not like they were in a great position anyway, but any lingering Minnesota hopes for an at-large bid were dashed last night in a 68-57 loss at Northwestern. The Gophers defended well in the first half, as they forced turnovers on 22 percent of Northwestern's possessions and limited the Wildcats to 20 percent shooting from three. That staunch defense was enough to provide Minnesota a six point lead at the break, and the Gophers were able to push that advantage up to double digits a couple times early in the second half.

After two Trevor Mbakwe free throws, Minnesota held a nine point lead with just over 12 minutes remaining. From there, Northwestern would go on a 15-2 run spanning just eight possessions to surge into a lead they would never relinquish. Alex Marcotullio was

Michigan has really thrown a wrench into the at-large picture in the Big Ten.  Just a week ago, I thought Minnesota was in relatively good shape.  Sure, the Gophers were sitting at 6-8 in conference play, but with 3 of the 4 remaining games at home--none of which against Ohio State, Purdue, Wisconsin, or Illinois--as well as a road game at Northwestern, 9 or 10 wins certainly seemed possible.  Well, two home losses later, now it looks like Minnesota has work to do in the Big Ten Tournament.  The latest loss came at the hands of a surging Michigan team, who prevailed 70-63 thanks to some hot outside shooting.  The Wolverines made 12 of 28 three pointers, and when Michigan makes their threes, they’re very difficult to stop.  Of course, if Michigan is making

Coming off their second loss in three games, the Ohio State Buckeyes took out some frustration on Illinois in an 89-70 shellacking. This was a magnificent offensive performance for Thad Matta's team, as they turned it over just three times in a 63 possession game for a Wisconsin-like 4.8 turnover rate. The Buckeyes used all those error-free trips to shoot 55 percent on twos and 47 percent on threes. The resulting 1.42 points per possession matches a lofty level they've reached only three times this season (previously against Tennessee-Martin and Florida). Offense doesn't get much better than this.

Still, even with the Buckeyes pouring in the points, Illinois scored with them for long stretches. In fact, the outcome of this game hinged on two big Ohio State runs: the first came

Well, it looks like we have a real title race, after Purdue knocked off Ohio State 76-63 in West Lafayette.  Defensively, the Boilermakers pressured OSU into committing a turnover on over a quarter of their possessions and an effective field goal percentage of 42.6, each the second-worst marks posted by the Buckeyes this season.  The resulting 0.93 points per possession was likewise the second-worst mark for Thad Matta’s team on the year.  Offensively, Matt Painter just made sure E’Twaun Moore ate his Wheaties.  The senior guard lit up the Buckeyes for a career-high 38 points (that’s half the team’s total, mind you), on just 18 shots.  Moore scored his points all over the place--21 were on threes, 12 on twos, and another 5 at the free throw

Michigan State's struggles have been well-documented, but they played a heck of a game for about 36 minutes at Ohio State last night. The Spartans kept it close most of the way, trailing by only four points with four and a half minutes remaining, but the Buckeyes used frequent trips to the line to pull away for a 71-61 victory.

The Spartans relentlessly fed the post, completely abandoning the perimeter-oriented approach that was clearly no longer working for them. It was an effective strategy when they were able to get a shot up--Michigan State shot 60 percent on twos--but all that manuevering in traffic led to turnovers on 30 percent of MSU's possessions.

That's one of the standard trade-offs of going inside, but one of the standard benefits--a high free throw rate--was

A Big Ten fan could be forgiven for thinking they'd stepped back into 2009 after viewing last night's games. First, Michigan State came out like the Spartans of yore, dominating from the opening tip in a 75-57 win over Penn State. Like the 2009 National Runner-up, these Spartans scored their points with relentless offensive rebounding (they grabbed over half of their misses) and ample trips to the foul line (an 83.3 free throw rate, their highest of the season). Three-pointers were no longer the shot de jure, and Michigan State converted their many twos at a 59 percent clip. All of these superlatives added up to 1.32 points per possession, the Spartans' highest output of the season; that's a great offensive performance, regardless of opponent.

Draymond Green's triple-double (15