Written by BTN.com staffAs always, we’re live blogging throughout the action. Join BTN.com’s Tom Dienhart and Brent Yarina and the Big Ten Geeks in this post.
Well, it was a fun Wednesday as always. Should be a great one tomorrow (Minnesota/Michigan). If the Gophers are going to make a run at the B1G title, they need to defend their home court.
That’s the dagger. How is it teams are still letting Terone go to his right?
You shoot enough of them, you’re going to make a few.
Gallegos is the worst shooting good 3-pointer shooter in recent memory.
Remember: Purdue is a HORRIBLE free-throw shooting team. That will be key down the stretch, I think. Brick. Brick. Brick.
This thing is going to the wire. I think it tightens WAY up. Too bad Brandon Ubel isn’t playing.
A 7-point lead in this game feels like a 15 point lead.
Why did Talley give that up? Why not dunk it, instead of giving it to Gallegos to lay it up?
This is the time when stars must be stars. Byrd? T. Johnson? Gallegos? Talley? Who is it gonna be?
Huskers have great fans in all sports.
You have to give Nebraska fans credit–they show up. Every successful program needs a loyal fanbase.
Huge 3 by Gallegos there. Need a few more of those to really make this a game though.
Point-a-minute pace for Huskers. Woof.
Ronnie Johnson is like Ferrell as far as a shooter. Neither is much of a threat to consistently pull up and hit a jumper. But each is good off the dribble.
Shocked Gallegos and Talley are struggling like this. Purdue playing some good defense.
Heh, Hulls was 40 percent. But most of those were 3s (he was over 40% on 3s). That’s a good shooter, albeit not the insanely accurate shooter he is now.
Sometimes it takes freshmen a year to get it to translate on the court. He’s already really picky with his shots, and shooting poorly. It will come, but for now he’s probably a relative liability, considering the other options.
Huge difference, I know. But he’s also young. Heck, Jordan Hulls shot 40 percent as a freshman.
As for Ferrell, if teams continue not to defend him, he’ll start to hit the shots. I really feel that way. From everything you hear, he’s a great practice shooter.
Even against smaller guys, he just goes up weakly. It’s like he had an older brother who used to torture him with blocked shots, so now he’s just assuming the worst.
He just looks old, slow and unathletic in the post. It’s weird. He should be dominating down low, or at the very least doing very well.
I called Watford “maddening” in College Basketball Prospectus this year. He’s 6-9, athletic, long-armed, and has a nice touch. So why does he only convert 40% of his two-pointers?
That killed Indiana’s spacing, and allowed the defense to collapse on Zeller in the 2nd half.
Watford has to be the league’s most frustrating player.
I think Ferrell needs to be brought off the bench. He’s not a real scoring threat, and we saw last night that teams will play off him and force Indiana to beat you 4 on 5.
Yes, I’m still just not sold on a team that rebounds as poorly as they do on the defensive end. Just not a lot of B1G teams that have been able to contend for a title with those numbers.
I still like IU, too. If all three teams are clicking on all cylinders, IU is the best. Gotta keep Oladip, Ferrell and Watford involved.
Bet that would be different if the Hoff was still around.
You’ve seemed to be low on Minnesota since preseason, Josh.
Minnesota’s good, but not that good. I still think it’s Indiana, despite yesterday’s loss.
The deeper into the season we get, I’m not so sure it’s not Minnesota.
So who’s the best team in the Big Ten? Guessing we’ll find out a lot more tomorrow night.
This team looked so good at Michigan State. Need to shoot better. And defend, as Josh said.
Nebraska is 32% on 2s, 33% on 3s tonight. U-G-L-Y.
Tim Miles can’t be happy with the transition defense right now. That’s a big point of emphasis for him.
Amazing. The ONLY thing Terone Johnson can do is drive … and Huskers let him drive.
Eurostep = when you do the 2 steps after picking up your dribble, the second one goes in a different direction than the first.
If Byrd is not shooting well, Purdue has NO shooters. I mean NO shooters. It is amazing. Not sure how this happened.
This is a game Nebraska obviously can win. Would nice if the Huskers can do it.
Gallegos might be challenging Byrd for that title, Tom. Or Jordan Hulls from last night alone.
What is a Eurostep?
I swear, no team in the B1G takes more Eurosteps than Purdue, especially where the shot is missed.
D.J. Byrd has to lead the Big Ten in bad shots. He has to.
So Almeida gets Hammons to the bench. I’m on fire tonight!
Nebraska is going with a small lineup and having some success. But can they rebound vs. Purdue?
Purdue has too few scoring options. Terone Johnson is the lowest scoring leading scorer on any Big Ten team.
I was very impressed with Nebraska playing with Michigan State. I just don’t see Rivers and Shields shooting like that again.
Hammons is good, but still just a freshman. Only 2 points against Illinois, and that frontline has been lit up a lot this year.
I don’t know–it’s two struggling offenses. Winning team might not score 50.
No, I don’t see any Nebraska guy being able to stop Hammons. Almeida has no vertical leap, no chance.
Ray Gallegos has to get hot at some point, right?
Who do you guys like in the Purdue/Nebraska game? While I normally would say Purdue (even on the road), I was really surprised at how well Nebraska played against MSU and Wisconsin. I’m going with the upset.
True, but this is something we’ve heard about Payne for a couple seasons. He just doesn’t bring it every game (but he’s still very good overall).
Very well could be. I’m telling you, when Payne plays how he’s capable, he’s scary good.
This may end up being one of those games that galvanizes MSU and it looks back on as a key moment in the season….
I was shocked Appling split the double team–that was two *guards.* Not a guard and some loafing center.
That Payne three means MSU is gonna win, right?
I should be noted how outstanding the defensive rebounding is in this game. MSU’s offensive rebounding percentage is under 20 (they average 36%), and Penn State’s is 5.6%.
Five. Point. Six.
Nix is a massive presence inside. But, as you guys said, Payne is more skilled, especially defensively.
I also wonder why a lineup with both of them out there couldn’t work. Dawson is quick enough to defend the 3. Valentine is also really struggling in B1G play.
Payne. And if he played like he’s capable, he’d be one of the best players in the Big Ten.
Honestly I think Payne is the better player. Much better finisher inside, and he’s miles ahead defensively.
I think Payne is on a mission. Who do you guys like better: Payne or Nix?
I mean, they’re shooting well from the outside, but this strikes me as running a different offense.
Almost 40 percent of MSU’s shots have been 3s. Considering MSU normally doesn’t take a lot of threes (that’s almost double their normal rate), and PSU’s overmatched front line, this makes no sense.
When do we see Payne and Dawson? Ten-minute mark?
Penn State has to like this pace.
For those of you who thought I was kidding. #PSU #MSU twitpic.com/bvtrup—
Ben Jones (@Ben_Jones88) January 17, 2013
Tonight’s halftime entertainment coming up next in a tweet.
Halftime recap:
No. 17 Michigan State leads 29-25 over Penn State at the half thanks to a nice start from Gary Harris, who has nine points on 3-5 shooting.
The Nittany Lions have been effective inside, making 8-of-15 two-point field goals, but they’ve hit just 1-of-7 from distance.
Meanwhile, the Spartans hit 42 percent (5-of-12) of their three-point attempts and accounted for nine assists on 10 field goals.
D.J. Newbill led the way for the Nittany Lions in the first half, with nine points.
Tim Frazier looked good here on the sideline. Finally shed the walking boot recently.
Wrong, like usual.
I think Travis Trice is going to hit another trey to take us to the half.
It is an uphill battle at places like PSU. Winning will help, obviously.
And it’s not like we’re talking about a Northwestern-sized school here.
I remember that, too. They don’t even have seats right behind baskets filled. Like at all.
I still remember Jamelle Cornley saying he wanted PSU to get enough fans so they wouldn’t have to use the curtain they put over the empty upper levels. Sad.
I think they are all studying,
Serious question: Does volleyball at Rec Hall draw better than BJC? Where are the fans?!
PSU’s defense still has a ways to go. I don’t love Chambers’ approach of letting the other team shoot so many 3s.
Nice point, Brent. I wonder if Chambers is bringing any talent. He’s a good coach.
Speaking of which, it sounds crazy, but I think Penn State could be OK next year. Frazier, Newbill, Marshall, Travis & Taylor ain’t such a bad lineup. Frazier makes all of them much better.
I haven’t said it in a while: I LOVE Tim Frazier. Glad he’ll be back next year.
He has best chance – most opps – to put up the best numbers. The other guys all have a lot more talent around them.
Good call on Hammons. He might be Purdue’s best player by the end of the season.
Probably Harris….
Don’t sleep on A.J. Hammons. He seems to be finding his groove.
I think GR3 and Dekker will be candidates, too.
A week ago, I would have said Stauskas. Now, I’m not so sure.
How good is Gary Harris? Who is your guys’ frontrunner for B1G frosh of the year?
Is Gary Harris the frontrunner for Freshman of the Year?
But it is a road game and Michigan State has played some closer-than-expected games this season.
Valid point. I kind of thought he might make a statement and suspend them for the game, seeing as it’s Penn State.
I wonder if their punishment would have been different if MSU was playing at, say, IU or Wisconsin or Michigan ….
Not doubting they aren’t great friends, but it’s hard to view it as 100 percent natural.
I’m sure they know the cameras will be on them.
I like how Payne and Dawson are standing on the sidelines next to each other. Like how my dad used to make me and my brother shake hands after we got into a fight.
And the way Penn State is shooting, something like 28 percent the last three games, it shouldn’t be an issue.
Michigan State just needs to avoid turnovers, and it will be fine.
I don’t think they’ll miss them that much.
Appling is key for MSU tonight and for the rest of the season. He needs to be more aggressive on offense–and shoot better.
How much will MSU miss Dawson and Payne the first 20 minutes?
MSU head coach Tom Izzo told the Spartan Sports Network that Branden Dawson and Adreian Payne will sit out for the entire first half tonight—
State News Sports (@thesnews_sports) January 16, 2013
Starters for #MSUPSU: Spartans-Appling, Harris, Valentine, Gauna, Nix; Nittany Lions-Newbill, Marshall, Taylor, Borovnjak, Travis—
Spartan Basketball (@MSU_Basketball) January 16, 2013
Wisconsin's perimeter defense is stifling. Our take on last night's big win at Indiana: btn.com/2013/01/16/big…—
Josh and Mike (@bigtengeeks) January 16, 2013
Why the Big Ten is college basketball's elite conference | ti.me/VIemEm—
TIME.com (@TIME) January 15, 2013
Can’t wait for tomorrow. This is a nice win for Purdue. Gotta like how Nebraska plays. Tim Miles is doing a good job.