Player of the Week:
Kanye Clary, Penn State
The Nittany Lions grabbed their biggest win of the season so far and their biggest win of head coach Mike Rhoades’ coaching tenure in Happy Valley against Wisconsin on Tuesday. Penn State, statistically, is an odd team this season. They’re loaded with talent and defensively have some of the best on-ball disruptors in all of college hoops between Clary and Ace Baldwin, but they’ve struggled mightily against lesser opponents. The valley of their season thus far probably was the loss to Bucknell, who’s barely a division one program. However, Clary decided on Tuesday, after a snow day in Happy Valley, that they were going to hit a high point no matter what. He scorched a stout Wisconsin defense and put up 27 points without making a single three-pointer. He’s one of the best downhill scorers in college basketball right now and his prowess in the paint and craftiness from mid-range was on full display during the game. Not enough can be said about coach Rhoades’s gameplan either, forcing Wisconsin into a high-scoring affair, something they haven’t been dealing with much this season. Clary took full advantage of that and was getting all kinds of opportunities in quick-offense settings, leading the Nittany Lions to a victory over one of the best teams in the country.
Who’s Hot?
Purdue Boilermakers
That video of Lance Jones dancing with the crowd is among some of the coolest things I’ve seen on social media this year. Oh yeah, he’s also been one of the best transfers in the nation. Jones has been a difference maker for the Boilermakers this year and is one of the reasons it feels like they can finally break through that wal into the second or third weekend of March Madness this season. Purdue kind of exists in this weird space where despite being one of the best teams in the sport, they are looked down upon because of their consistent choking in the first two rounds. However, after a brutal loss to Nebraska they’ve righted the ship and Zach Edey has continued to march in his campaign for a back-to-back national player of the year award. He put up back-to-back thirty spots on Penn State and Indiana to get two wins in the past week, both being blowouts of significantly lesser teams. Their starting line up is still littered with talent and they’re on pace to, once again, be a 1-seed come time for the tournament. Despite all of the negative connotations that surround the Boilermakers, they just keep winning. Their matchup against Iowa on Saturday will be another big test for them, it just seems like one of those games they’d drop.
Iowa Hawkeyes
The Hawkeyes have very quietly been putting together a solid season. They haven’t been talked about much outside of BIG10 media outlets, and even then the word has been pretty mellow when discussing them. They currently sit at 11-6 with three straight wins, snagging dubs over Nebraska and Minnesota in that stretch who have both been on heaters this season. Ben Krikke has been efficient and deadly on the court this season, and I think his efficiency hasn’t been talked about enough. A guy shooting 45% from three and 59% from the field in general deserves some recognition as one of the best players in the country. Krikke dropped 25 in their last win over the aforementioned Golden Gophers, a win that made Fran McCaffrey the winningest coach in school history. However, they have yet to get a signature win this season despite some good battles with high-ranked opponents. Lucky for them, they play in a conference loaded with those kinds of opponents and they’ll have the opportunity to get that signature win in a rematch with Purdue on Saturday. The Hawkeyes dropped the last matchup by 19 points, but they’re a different team now and will look to dethrone the kings of the conference.
Who’s Not?
Ohio State Buckeyes
The Buckeyes’ lack of defensive prowess has begun to catch up to them this season, and despite the excellent moves that they made in the transfer portal to bring in a great cast of scorers, specifically that backcourt I always mention, they’ve now lost three straight and those scorers haven’t been carrying the load as well as normal. They’re averaging an abysmal 63 points per game in those losses, shooting below 45% as a team in all three of the losses and looking clunkier than normal. While on paper they remain one of the more solid teams in the conference on both ends of the floor, the eye test would tell you they’re shakier than the story the numbers tell. Coach Holtmann said after the game he believes his team’s story is “far from over,” which fascinates me because it seems like Ohio State’s story is akin to that of a Groundhog Day kind of flick. They continuously suck in January, there’s no way around it. They always find a way to fall off a cliff after New Years. I know Columbus is a bar town but there’s no way they throw good enough NYE parties to keep shelving the basketball team like this every year. A loss to that team up north really rubbed salt in the wound for Buckeye fans and the team is going to have to right the ship quickly before they sink halfway through the season once again.
Minnesota Golden Gophers
Has the magic run out? Maybe, maybe not. Minnesota continues to look like an immensely talented team, they’ve simply played really sloppy the last three games. Coach Ben Johnson’s squad committed 19 turnovers in a 10-point loss to Michigan State in the most recent of the losses, and couldn’t hold a lead in the second half, allowing the Spartans to get Tom Izzo his 698th career win. Izzo praised the Gophers after game, and specifically coach Johnson for building up the talent at the school, saying that this was their “deepest team in years,” however all of that “deepness” hasn’t been amounting to wins of recent. It is important to note that this team is relatively young and new, full of transfers and is kind of an island of misfit toys in a way. They have 0 expectations and losses like these can make a team with 0 expectations even scarier to face down the stretch. Dawson Garcia remains one of the best scorers in the country, alongside one of the best playmakers in Elijah Hawkins. However, Hawkins has yet to find his scoring prowess and consistency that will be oh so vital to the Gophers in a month.
Power Rankings
5. Michigan State Spartans
Don’t look now, but the Spartans are playing up to their preseason predictions. 7-2 in their last 9 with some signature wins along the way, that latter-half of the season Izzo magic is cooking in East Lansing.
4. Northwestern Wildcats
An experienced team at this point, Northwestern has had some bumps in the road but they’re 6-2 in their last 8 with the two losses coming to ranked teams, Buie and crew are not a team you’d want to face when they’re hot.
3. Illinois Fighting Illini
It doesn’t look like Shannon Junior will be suiting up again for the team this year, however they’ve been solid without him. I believe their season will be determined by the court case Shannon is dealing with, one that according to reports won’t be settled until, at the earliest, February 23rd.
2. Wisconsin Badgers
Despite the loss I still see this team as a threat who will win any game that they control the tempo in, however controlling the tempo isn’t an easy thing to do and Penn State proved that.
1. Purdue Boilermakers
After the Wisconsin loss and two dominant performances from Edey and company, Purdue climbs back to the top of the rankings here.