One of the first games of the day was a shocker. Not in who won the game, but that it was an absolute thumping. It was the kind of win that Purdue frankly needed, a lot more than Michigan State needed another win even though the Spartans came into the game wanting to win it.
The game tipped at noon, but it seemed as if before you settled into your seats, the Boilermakers were up 19-4 by way of a 12-0 run and on their way to being in control throughout. They led 37-20 at the half, and Michigan State never got within single digits in the second half in their first Big Ten loss of the season.
How ugly was it for Michigan State? The Spartans shot just 35.3 percent from the field, including just 2-16 from deep, and committed 18 turnovers, nine of them coming from Cassius Winston. Izzo went very deep into the bench, as 14 Spartans saw minutes since the game got out of hand that early (no Spartan played fewer than two minutes).
Oftentimes in a blowout like this, the winning team also puts up unbelievable numbers, but that wasn’t the case this time. Purdue shot 45.6 percent from the field, including 8-22 from long range, and they only out-rebounded the Spartans by three. The big difference was in turnovers, as they gave the ball away just six times.
The win evens Purdue’s Big Ten mark at 3-3, but it’s also a nice bounce-back from two straight losses including a tough one on Thursday night at Michigan. They were crushed at Illinois before that, and they have a double-digit loss at Nebraska as well. But they now have wins over VCU (neutral), Minnesota and Michigan State (both at home), and look more than capable of winning a few more good ones in a Big Ten loaded with quality win opportunities.
The win stops the Spartans’ eight-game winning streak, but the reaction to this may be different than earlier in the season. To be sure, early on there was probably a bit of overstatement by many to the Spartans’ relatively slow start that included losing to Kentucky on opening night, losing to a seemingly rebuilding Virginia Tech (the Hokies now look to be a lot better than advertised) and getting handled at home by Duke in a game that was more of a blowout than the 87-75 score might indicate. You would have thought that the Spartans were a borderline NCAA Tournament team.
The reality is that they were the first real example of how there is simply not a team in college basketball that is head-and-shoulders more talented and/or experienced than everyone else. The separation from the top teams to perhaps the 100th-best team in the country is not that large, so more than ever we could see any team beat another team on any given night. It also means that two teams that aren’t unevenly matched can have a game like the one in West Lafayette on Sunday, an old-fashioned blowout that isn’t reflective of how good the teams are in a relative sense.
All the same, the result was quite shocking in how it was never a ballgame. The Boilermakers and their fans will take it nonetheless.
Side Dishes
Also scoring a nice home win in the Big Ten was Minnesota, who beat Michigan 75-67 behind 30 points from Daniel Otoru and 21 points and 12 assists from Marcus Carr. The Golden Gophers had a big second half to take this one and shot nearly 55 percent from the field to improve to 3-3 in the Big Ten.
Out west, Arizona had played Oregon State to a standstill in the first half in the final game of the day. The second half was all Beavers after the early going, as they took over the game with defense to beat the Wildcats going away by an 82-65 margin. The Wildcats were swept by the Oregon schools as the Beavers placed all five starters in double figures in scoring, shooting 54 percent from the field including 8-18 from long range.
Tipping at the same time Purdue dominated Michigan State was Wichita State‘s visit to UConn, and that game had all you could want and more. The Shockers blew a nine-point lead in the final minute-plus, but turnovers helped UConn rally to send the game to overtime. In the second overtime,Wichita State never trailed, but had to hold off the Huskies for an 89-86 win. UConn did themselves no favor at the foul line, going 29-42 from there, though they still made more than Wichita State attempted and forced two more turnovers.
Ahead of Sunday’s game against Wichita State, UConn suffered a blow as Tyler Polley tore the ACL and meniscus in his left knee in practice on Friday, which will end his season. The junior forward had started all 15 games for the Huskies and had his first double-double in their last game on Wednesday night, so this is no small loss as he has picked up from the big improvement he made a year ago. The school said surgery is scheduled for Friday, and his recovery might take him into the beginning of next season’s practice.
Other results of note: Quinnipiac moved to 4-0 in the MAAC by taking care of Monmouth 84-70 behind 13 points and 21 rebounds from Kevin Marfo; Memphis held off South Florida 68-64 in Tampa, getting 22 points and 11 rebounds from Precious Achiuwa; UIC held off Wright State to hand the Raiders their first Horizon League loss of the season, 76-72; right behind them is Northern Kentucky, who got 33 points from Tyler Sharpe to run away from IUPUI 96-71 in Indianapolis; Miami beat Pittsburgh for the seventh straight time, this one a 66-58 win in Coral Gables; Colorado ran out to a 44-22 halftime lead en route to hammering visiting Utah 91-52.
Also in the news, New Mexico didn’t have Carlton Bragg Jr. back for long before he got in trouble again, and they subsequently dismissed him from the program on Sunday night. The senior forward was arrested on suspicion of DWI and possession of almost an ounce of marijuana early on Sunday morning, not long after a win over Air Force. Bragg was averaging a double-double, but as he was just suspended for three games while the school investigated sexual misconduct allegations and that was not his first issue, his off-court issues have overtaken his talent, as he was a McDonald’s All-American coming out of high school but was at his third different school.
Tonight’s Menu
The gridiron will grab a lot of the attention one last time tonight, especially with just 12 Division I games on tap.
- One game is actually in the afternoon as Jackson State visits Southern (4 p.m.)
- Another early game involves a non-Division I opponent as Cornell hosts Elmira (6 p.m.)
- In Patriot League action, Loyola (Md.) hosts Boston University (7 p.m.)
- The MEAC leads the way on the night with five games, four tipping at 7:30 p.m.: Morgan State at Bethune-Cookman in a battle of 2-1 teams, North Carolina A&T at Delaware State, South Carolina State at Howard and NC Central at Maryland-Eastern Shore, while Coppin State at Florida A&M tips at 8 p.m.
- The SWAC takes over after that with three games that tip at 8:30 p.m.: 3-0 Grambling at Alcorn State, Mississippi Valley State seeking their first win of the season at Alabama A&M, and Arkansas-Pine Bluff at Alabama State.
- The last game of the night is out west, where Montana hosts Portland State in Big Sky action (9 p.m.)
