Men’s Basketball Around the Big Ten: Week Ten

Audio/Story posted January 20, 2017 in CommRadio, Sports by Sports Staff

PODCAST:

Zach Kaplan, Will Desautelle, Brian McLaughlin and Dylan Huberman break down the week ten matchups around the conference. 

 

The Big Ten has had a slew of great games this week after a pretty solid showing in conference play last weekend.

To start with the home team, Penn State lost in excruciating fashion to Indiana on Wednesday, 78-75. Both teams shot themselves in the foot throughout the game leading to a close finish. Indiana had countless bad possessions giving the Nittany Lions life, and the Nittany Lions missed free throws that a winning team just can’t miss.

The guard play was fairly even with James Blackmon and Robert Johnson of Indiana scoring 17 points each, while Shep Garner totaled 15 points and Tony Carr scored 24 points.

Where Indiana thrived all game was on the block. Just simply outmuscling the Nittany Lions on their way to a 37-33 rebound advantage, with 24 of those being on the defensive end.

Penn State was down by seven with over a minute left and battled back to tie the game with it looking like overtime was imminent. 

James Blackmon of Indiana brought the ball up the court with 4.6 seconds left and knocked down a dagger of a 3-pointer as time expired. Penn State takes on powerhouse Purdue next, and Indiana takes on Michigan State.

The Penn State-Indiana game was followed up with another nail biter in Ohio State and Nebraska. Nebraska used the home crowd to its advantage, taking an eight-point lead into halftime.

Ohio State battled back in the second half behind Forward Marc Loving, who netted the game winning basket with under a second to play, giving the Buckeyes a 67-66 win.  Ohio State takes on Northwestern next, while Nebraska looks to get a rebound win over Rutgers.

A pair of other games in the Big Ten wrapped up this week’s slate of conference play. Purdue absolutely slaughtered Illinois on Tuesday, 91-68. Caleb Swanigan proved to be just too much and Illinois was never really in the game. Purdue takes on the aforementioned Nittany Lions next, and Illinois takes on Michigan with both teams at 12 wins.

The final game was between Michigan and Wisconsin on Tuesday. Wisconsin came into the game as the 17th ranked team in the nation, but they fought a surprisingly close battle at home against the unranked Wolverines.

The teams battled back and forth in the second half, trading the lead throughout. Michigan did a great job at containing Wisconsin star Nigel Hayes, only allowing him to score 13 points.

However, Wisconsin initiated a late second half surge sparked by a 3-pointer from senior Bronson Koenig. The push was just enough for the Badgers to hold off the Wolverines and squeak out a 68-64 win.

Another sighting in the Big Ten that may be something to watch for is Maryland. Maryland just cracked the top 25 this week as the polls final ranked team. However, the Terrapins have posted an impressive 16-2 record behind guard Melo Trimble.

Trimble, Maryland’s star, is a silent assassin, averaging 17.2 points per game and Maryland seems to follow the identity of their star player, quietly posting one of the nations’ best seasons that nobody is talking about.

Before the nation begins to ride the Terrapin train, know that they were spotted well in advance here in the Big Ten.


Ron Redden is a junior majoring in broadcast journalism, you can contact him at rredden96@live.com.

About the Contributors

Will Desautelle's photo

Will Desautelle

Senior / Broadcast Journalism and Spanish

Will Desautelle is a senior from Washington Crossing, Pennsylvania, majoring in broadcast journalism with a minor in Spanish and a certificate in sports journalism. Will is a contributor for Centre County Report and is a staff writer for GoPSUsports.com, covering Penn State men’s hockey and women’s and men’s volleyball. He also covered Super Bowl LIV in Miami for CommRadio and is one of the station’s editors. This past summer, Will interned at ABC-7/WJLA-TV in Washington, D.C. and covered the Little League World Series as a beat writer for Little League International. Will has also completed internships with State College Magazine, the State College Spikes and NBADraft.net. Additionally, he is a member of the Penn State Men’s Club Volleyball team, which finished first place at nationals in 2019, and is a member of the THON Communications Committee. You can contact him at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or follow him on Twitter @wdesautelle.

Brian McLaughlin's photo

Brian McLaughlin

Senior / Broadcast Journalism

Brian McLaughlin is a Senior in the Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications and one of two student General Managers for CommRadio. He is a Play-by-Play voice for many Penn State sports for CommRadio. Recently he has worked as a Play by Play broadcaster for the Y-D Red Sox in the Cape Cod Baseball League. Previously, he has also worked as a Play by Play Broadcaster for the Kalamazoo Growlers of the Northwoods League. He has also interned with the Altoona Curve, the Double-A Affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates. To contact him please email .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

Dylan Huberman's photo

Dylan Huberman

Senior / Broadcast Journalism

Dylan Huberman is a Centre County Report student, a contributor for CommRadio, where he formerly served as the co-host of several talk shows, including the NFL talk show “The Point After” with Tyler King, and “Empire State College” with Charles Hart, and also makes regular appearances for PSNtv’s “Penn State Sports Night.” Nicknamed “Hot-take Huberman” by CommRadio alum George Stockburger, Dylan is known for his fiery, outside-the-box style of sports analysis. Outside of Penn State, Dylan has worked as a desk assistant for ABC News out of their Los Angeles Bureau, as well as an intern in the sports department with KABC-TV Los Angeles, and is an editorial writer for Clutchpoints, covering the NBA and NFL. One day, Dylan hopes to make it onto television as a sports analyst or play-by-play announcer, but is very interested in sports radio and editorial writing as well. Follow him on Twitter @dylanhuberman or email him at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

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Zach Kaplan

Senior / Broadcast Journalism

Zach Kaplan is a senior broadcast journalism major with a double minor in history and sociology. Beyond his work with the Centre County Report, Zach is involved with CommRadio as a sports director and on-air personality, as well as a broadcaster for BTN Student U productions on-campus. He also works with 46Live both on-air and as a producer to provide live coverage of Penn State’s annual Dance Marathon.

Outside of his on-air work, Zach writes for Penn State Athletics covering men’s hockey and lacrosse and has held summer internships with Israel Sports Radio, the Cape Cod Baseball League, and the Coastal Plain League.