It was a weekend marked by stability for the top teams in the Big Ten. If you were looking for upsets, they didn’t happen on January 17 or 18. More precisely, the Big Ten’s best teams went on the road, in some cases far away from home, and handled business over the weekend in Big Ten basketball.
Here is an overview and scoreboard for the weekend:
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No. 13 Illinois 77-67 vs Minnesota
Illinois was too big and too strong for the Golden Gophers, and yet again in another Big Ten match, Illinois proved to be the deeper team. Great showing by the Fighting Illini in a hard-fought win.
Ohio State 86-74 vs UCLA
UCLA has been playing well as of late, but it picked the wrong day to face off against the Buckeyes. The Buckeyes’ star trio was clicking on all cylinders and showed exactly what this team can be at its best. Dangerous sight for the Big Ten.
Wisconsin 96-87 vs Rutgers
The last few games, the Badgers have been looking good as any team in the Big Ten. Nick Boyd goes ballistic with 32 points, and John Blackwell also chips in a solid 19 points. The Badgers look more and more dangerous as the season transpires.
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Iowa 74-57 vs Indiana
Iowa gets back on track, and it is due to their best player getting back on track. Bennett Stirtz was feeling it as he dropped 27 points and shot 3-5 from the field. That hot hand carried on to Tavion Banks as he also dropped 26 points on efficient shooting as well.
No. 8 Nebraska 77-58 vs Northwestern
Nebraska continues to look like the best team in the Big Ten as they remain unbeaten and cruise to another dominant victory in conference.
No. 4 Michigan 81-71 vs Oregon
Oregon, without two of its top players, gives the Wolverines a scare. The Wolverines like to make things interesting, and this conference is tough sledding. The Big Ten is too good for them to consistently win by 30 points, but this team still crunches out wins.
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No. 12 Michigan State 80-63 vs Washington
Young guard Jeremiah Fears continues to look like a star, and the Spartans followed his lead with many other young contributing players in the rotation. The Spartans dominated the glass and forced the Huskies to have a crushing 12 turnovers as they crossed to a double-digit victory.
No. 5 Purdue 69-64 vs USC
Braden Smith had another star showing, leading the Boilermakers to victory with his 22 points, 3 steals, and 4-6 from 3 shooting. Center OSCar Cluff was too much to handle in the paint for the Trojans as he dropped 19 points with only one miss on the night. USC came out hot to start the game, but the Boilermakers never wavered and remained confident that they could pull this one out.
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In the last game to close out the weekend, here is how things played out on Sunday:
Maryland 96-73 vs Penn State
Maryland pulled away from Penn State, due to a star performance from David Coit. In his previous game before this one, Coit exploded for 30 points; unfortunately it was not enough to take down USC. This time around Coit had his sights set on much more. He dropped 43 points and led the Terrapins to victory.
This article originally appeared on Trojans Wire: How Big Ten basketball is different after January 17-18 weekend
