IU Stuns Purdue In Mackey; Lots Of Big Ten Tourney Seeds At Stake In Final Week Of Regular Season
On Saturday night the 17th-ranked Hoosiers looked like the team most thought they would resemble for the entire season.
IU beat No. 5 Purdue in Mackey Arena, winning in West Lafayette for the first time in a decade, and preventing their rival from celebrating a Big Ten championship.
The Hoosiers were picked to win the Big Ten in the preseason, but have endured key injuries along the way that have derailed their chances.
By completing the season sweep of Purdue, IU looked every bit the part of a league champion, not to mention a team that can definitely make a deep run into March.
The Hoosiers had an answer for every one of Purdue’s first-half buckets and thanks to a 12-0 run early in the second stanza seized control of the game.
IU freshman guard Jalen Hood-Schifino was phenomenal and continued to show why he’s a first-round lock for the NBA Draft.
He scored 23 of Indiana’s 34 points in the first half to keep the Hoosiers within striking distance.
Hood-Schifino finished with a stunning 35 points on 14-of-24 shooting in what was one of the greatest performances ever by an opponent in Mackey Arena.
CBSSports.com said, “Though he’ll almost certainly leave Indiana after the season for the NBA Draft, Hood-Schifino can be the first lead guard for IU since Yogi Ferrell in 2016 to guide the program past the first round of the NCAA Tournament.”
“He’s tough, I don’t know if we see him again,” said Boilermaker head coach Matt Painter afterwards. “Very few people have rolled through here and done that, if anybody.”
Painter’s right. His Boilermakers would have to advance quite a way in the NCAA Tournament to see the likes of Hood-Schifino. The same can be said about Purdue seeing another player the caliber of All-American Trayce Jackson-Davis.
He didn’t have his usual night in Mackey, but he didn’t need to because Hood-Schifino was so damn good.
TJD was held scoreless until 11:44 remained in the game. He finished with 10 points.
IU also got very good efforts from Trey Galloway (13 points) and Miller Kopp (13 points).
Thanks to the win over Purdue, IU, which is now 20-9 overall, 11-7 in the Big Ten, is thought by some to be a dark horse to advance to the Final Four, and definitely one of the favorites to win next month’s Big Ten Tournament.
IU, which is in good shape to earn a double by in the conference tournament, snapped a seven-game losing streak in Mackey.
JUST ANOTHER NUTTY WEEKEND IN THE BIG TEN
There were some crazy games in the Big Ten this past weekend that featured some incredible comebacks.
It started with Iowa’s home overtime win over Michigan State in what was one of the greatest comebacks you will ever witness.
The Hawkeyes trailed by 13 points with 94 seconds remaining and then went crazy from three-point territory. They hit 6-of-9 triples in the last 1:34, including the last four in a row in the final 32 seconds to tie the game and send it into overtime.
Remarkably Iowa scored 23 points in the final 90 seconds to force the extra session.
The Hawkeyes prevailed 112-106 in overtime.
Somehow MSU lost despite shooting 63 percent, going 11-of-13 from three-point range and hitting 28-of-32 free throws in regulation.
Just like Iowa, Rutgers looked like it was dead in the water trailing by 19 points in the second half at Penn State. However, the Scarlet Knights, who entered the game losers of four of their last five, won 59-56, and by doing so more than solidified their spot in the upcoming NCAA Tournament.
Rutgers freshman Derek Simpson was one of the stars as he poured in a career-high 16 points.
Speaking of dead in the water, Michigan was beat by visiting Wisconsin only to see Hunter Dickinson hit an incredible buzzer-beating three-pointer that sent the game into ovetime. The Wolverines won 87-79.
Then there’s Illinois. The Illini had an incredible rally on Thursday night to knocked off nationally-ranked Northwestern only to lay an egg Sunday at Ohio State. The Buckeyes had lost nine in a row, but beat the Illini by a dozen.
Northwestern, the media’s darling, found out how difficult life on the road in the Big Ten can be.
The Wildcats reeled off three straight home victories over Purdue, Indiana and Iowa, but fell to Illinois and Maryland in their last two tilts.
The loss to the Terrapins was particularly painful when you consider the ‘Cats trailed Purdue by just one game in the Big Ten standings. Now, with just two regular-season games to go, Northwestern trailed the Boilermakers by a pair so it must win its final two and hope Purdue loses its last two just to get a share of the conference crown.
Northwestern lost to Maryland, which finished the Big Ten season undefeated at home, 75-59.
Amazingly, the Terrapins entered the game as one of the worst 30 teams in America shooting the three-pointer, but hit 14-of-22 from long distance against the ‘Cats. Go figure.
WILD WORLD OF SEEDING BIG TEN TOURNAMENT
If Purdue wins one of its last two regular-season games, it will clinch the No. 1 seed in the Big Ten Tournament.
As for seeds Nos.2-8, good luck figuring those out.
It should be quite a battle watching things shake out to see what other three teams get the double-bye in the tourney.
One thing is certain, it looks like the tiebreaker scenarios will be used in force to determine the seedings for the conference tournament.
Currently IU, Maryland, Northwestern and Michigan are all even at 11-7 in the Big Ten. Illinois, Iowa and Rutgers are 10-8 and Michigan State is 9-8 (the Spartans will play one less game than everyone near the top because their game against Minnesota was postponed and will not be made up due to the campus shooting).
In all likelihood, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Ohio State and Minnesota will be playing on the first day of the Big Ten Tournament – Wednesday March 8. Those four teams will probably be seeds Nos. 11, 12, 13 and 14.
As uncertain as the seeds for the Big Ten Tournament currently are, it’s almost a certainty the tournament in Chicago’s United Center will definitely be up for grabs.
Get ready for what should be an incredibly entertaining final week of the regular season.
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