Player of the Week
Trayce Jackson-Davis, Indiana
It’s a been a very good week for the Indiana Hoosiers and star forward, Trayce Jackson-Davis. In the first three games, Jackson-Davis is averaging 19.3 PPG with 10.3 RPG on 62.9% shooting from the field. In a close game with Eastern Michigan on November 9, Jackson-Davis posted a double-double in 37 minutes in a 68-62 win over the Eagles. Continuing his dominant performance, Northern Illinois had a rough day down low being blocked seven times by Jackson-Davis in a 85-49 blowout win on Friday. To get Big Ten’s second win in the Gavitt Tipoff Games, the Hoosiers inched out another close win, beating St. John’s 76-74 behind another double-double from #23. With three out of the next four games being at home, the Hoosiers will look to continue their hot start to the season and hope to find themselves ranked in the Top 25 in the next couple of weeks.
Who’s Hot
Keegan Murray, Iowa
Three games with 20+ points, the 6’ 8” sophomore from Iowa has had himself a week earning him a spot in this week’s “Who’s Hot” list. Murray is averaging 25.3 PPG on 59.1% shooting from the field in the Hawkeyes three blowout victories to start the season. In their most recent game versus North Carolina Central, Murray posted his first double-double dropping 27 points (career high) and a whopping 21 rebounds (also career high) in a 86-69 win over the Eagles. This is exactly the offensive production the Hawkeyes were looking for from Murray as head coach Fran McCaffery continues to get this offense back to where they were from last year.
Purdue
Besides Ohio State, Purdue is the only other ranked team in the Big Ten who hasn’t suffered a loss in their first couple of games. The Boilermakers have dominated in their first three games of the season beating each team they’ve played by at least 25 or more points led by their star sophomore’s Jaden Ivey and Zach Edey. With no surprises from the #6 team in the country, Purdue’s offense has really kicked into gear early shooting 51.9% from the field and 41.7% from three in the three games they’ve played. We’ll get to really see Purdue’s potential early on as two out of their next three games are against ACC squads #18 North Carolina and Florida State.
Who’s Not
Nebraska
With a record of 1-2 to start the season, with both losses coming at home, it’s not a shock that Nebraska finds itself on the “Who’s Not” list to start the year. In their first game of the season, the Cornhuskers got a nice preview of their four-star guard Bryce McGowens who dropped 25 points in his collegiate debut, but ended up losing 75-74 to Western Illinois. After being upset by the Leathernecks, almost losing to Sam Houston, Nebraska suffered another early season loss to Creighton in the Gavitt Tipoff Games. Finding themselves already at the bottom of Big Ten to start the season, expect this Nebraska team to continue to struggle for wins this season. On the bright note, McGowens was awarded the Big Ten freshman player of the week.
Top 5 Games of the Week
5. #3 Kansas defeats Michigan State in Champions Classic
Nothing better to kick off the college basketball season than having two historical powerhouses play each other in the Champions Classic. The #3 Jayhawks left Madison Square Garden with a 87-74 victory over Michigan State. Kansas guard, Ochai Agbaji, shined for the Jayhawks dropping 29 points on 9-17 shooting from the field and 50% shooting from three. Spartans star freshman, Max Christie, got some experience under the spotlight against a very solid overall Kansas team and it’ll be very intriguing to see how Christie and this Michigan State team with a lot of questions, progress as the season goes on.
4. Micah Shrewsberry gets his first win as head coach
In his first game as Penn State’s head coach, Micah Shrewsberry and the Nittany Lions defeat Youngstown State 75-59. Seth Lundy led the way for the Lions dropping 23 points on 60% shooting from the field and from three. Alongside Lundy’s performance, senior’s John Harrar dropped a double-double and Sam Sessions had 17 points on 50% shooting from the field. Penn State’s veteran squad will look to continue this offensive play throughout the season shooting roughly over 50% from the field in their home opener win.
3. #10 Illinois falls to Marquette
A stunner in the first week of college basketball as #10 Illinois falls to Marquette 67-66. The Illini had a rough showing on offense committing 26 turnovers with one of them leading to the go-ahead layup for Marquette with 18 seconds left. Luckily for Illinois fans, it’s very early on in the season and star player Kofi Cockburn did not play in this game due to his three-game suspension. Once Cockburn returns and the turnover problems are fixed for the Illini, Illinois fans should have nothing to worry about as they should remain near the top of the Big Ten throughout the year.
2. Minnesota wins the Asheville Championship
Now this may come to a shock to some of you but the Golden Gophers are 3-0 and the Asheville tournament champions after defeating Princeton 87-80 in double overtime. Why put Minnesota at #2 on this list? A team that was ranked last on my preseason Big Ten rankings have started the year 3-0 and that’s why they’re #2 on this list. A stellar performance from George Washington transfer, Jamison Battle, and senior guard Payton Willis who led the Golden Gophers to their third straight victory to start the season. A great start from Minnesota raises questions if they can continue this performance as the season goes on.
1. #4 Michigan stunned by Seton Hall at home
Seton Hall shocks the college basketball world defeating the #4 Wolverines 67-65 on the road. Caleb Houstan was really put to the test by the Pirates just shooting 1-9 from the field and finishing the game with only four points. A questionable foul call and missed free throw by Michigan sealed the deal for the Pirates on the road. Wolverine fans shouldn’t be concerned as it’s obviously still very early on in the season and as mentioned earlier, their star player Houstan did not play well and that shouldn’t be a recurring expectation. It’ll be curious to see how they view and where they rank Michigan after this loss.