Standings

Here are the current Big Ten standings, after Week #8:

 

 

Results

Here are the results from last week’s games (Week #8):

 

Tuesday (02/18/2014)

Iowa at Indiana, postponed

 

Wednesday (02/19/2014)

Northwestern lost at Ohio State, 76-60

Illinois won at Minnesota, 62-49

 

Thursday (02/20/2014)

Michigan State won at Purdue, 94-79

Penn State lost at Nebraska, 80-67

 

Saturday (02/22/2014)

Minnesota lost at Ohio State, 64-46

Indiana won at Northwestern, 61-56

Wisconsin won at Iowa, 79-74

 

Sunday (02/23/2014)

Purdue lost at Nebraska, 75-57

Michigan State lost at Michigan, 79-70

 

The home teams did OK this week, going 5-4. There were no surprises this week.

 

The Upcoming Week

Here are the games scheduled for the upcoming week (Week #9):

 

Tuesday (02/25/2014)

Iowa at Minnesota

Indiana at Wisconsin

 

Wednesday (02/26/2014)

Michigan at Purdue

Nebraska at Illinois

 

Thursday (02/27/2014)

Ohio State at Penn State

Iowa at Indiana (rescheduled)

 

Saturday (03/01/2014)

Illinois at Michigan State

Northwestern at Nebraska

Minnesota at Michigan

Purdue at Iowa

 

Sunday (03/02/2014)

Ohio State at Indiana

Wisconsin at Penn State

 

There are no big games this week. None of the contenders play each other.

 

Full Schedule

Here’s the entire Big Ten schedule, with the teams in alphabetical order. I’ll include this table every week, with the wins and losses filled in:

 

Standings

Here are the current Big Ten standings, after Week #7:

 

 

Results

Here are the results from last week’s games (Week #7):

 

Tuesday (02/11/2014)

Michigan won at Ohio State, 70-60

 

Wednesday (02/12/2014)

Penn State won at Indiana, 66-65

Illinois lost at Nebraska, 67-58

 

Thursday (02/13/2014)

Northwestern lost at Michigan State, 85-70

Minnesota lost at Wisconsin, 78-70

 

Saturday (02/15/2014)

Iowa won at Penn State, 82-70

Indiana lost at Purdue, 82-64

Ohio State won at Illinois, 48-39

 

Sunday (02/16/2014)

Wisconsin won at Michigan, 75-62

Nebraska won at Michigan State, 60-51

Minnesota won at Northwestern, 54-48

 

The home teams did terribly this week, going 4-7. There were 2 surprises this week:

 

• Penn State won at Indiana on Wednesday. Indiana has been unpredictable this season, but they’re usually tough to beat at home.
  
• Nebraska won at Michigan State on Sunday. This may be the biggest surprise of the season. MSU knew that Michigan had already lost, so they were playing for sole possession of 1^st place, at home.
  

 

The Upcoming Week

Here are the games scheduled for the upcoming week (Week #8):

 

Tuesday (02/18/2014)

Iowa at Indiana

 

Wednesday (02/19/2014)

Northwestern at Ohio State

Illinois at Minnesota

 

Thursday (02/20/2014)

Michigan State at Purdue

Penn State at Nebraska

 

Saturday (02/22/2014)

Minnesota at Ohio State

Indiana at Northwestern

Wisconsin at Iowa

 

Sunday (02/23/2014)

Purdue at Nebraska

Michigan State at Michigan

 

There are 2 big games this week:

 

• Wisconsin at Iowa on Saturday – Both teams are trying to stay in the hunt for the Big Ten title.
  
• Michigan State at Michigan on Sunday – A battle for 1^st place.
  

 

Full Schedule

Here’s the entire Big Ten schedule, with the teams in alphabetical order. I’ll include this table every week, with the wins and losses filled in:

 

The (#15) University of Michigan men’s basketball team played two games this week, and they won one and lost one. On Tuesday (02/11/2014), they beat (#22) Ohio State 70-60 in Columbus, then on Sunday (02/16/2014), they lost to (#21) Wisconsin 75-62 in Crisler Arena. The win and the loss leave Michigan with a record of 18-7 (10-3 in the Big Ten). Michigan is still tied for 1^st place in the Big Ten. More about that later.

In both games, Michigan started out slowly, but they only recovered in one of them. In the OSU game, they were down by 8 points (13-5) in the first 6 minutes, and 10 points (28-18) with 3:22 left in the 1^st half. They managed to get the deficit down to 4 points (30-26) by halftime, and finally took the lead (44-43) with 10:56 left in the game. Once they got the lead, they never trailed again, although it was still a one-point game (51-50) with 6:22 left. At that point, UM went on a 13-2 run to make it 64-52, and that was the ballgame.

The Wisconsin game was so sad. Michigan had already lost the game by the first media timeout (down 14-4 with 15:09 left). Sure, there were still 35 minutes left, but the early UW blitz left Michigan looking dazed and beaten, and took the crowd out of the game. Michigan sleep-walked through one of the most listless halves of basketball they’ve played at home in a couple years, and trailed by 15 points (34-19) at the break. That’s less than a point a minute. Disgusting. In the 2^nd half, UM got back on track offensively, but the defense was just as bad as the 1^st half, and they never got any closer than 3 points (52-39, with 6:16 left). They were still in it, down 5 points (56-51) with 4:07 left, when Wisconsin went on an 11-1 run to put the game out of reach.

The Wisconsin game was the worst home loss by Michigan since two seasons ago (2011-2012), when they lost to Purdue, 75-61. That was their only home loss that season. Last season (2012-2013), UM only lost one home game, 72-71 to Indiana. This season, they’ve already lost 2 home games: to #1 Arizona (72-70) and the abovementioned mess against Wisconsin.

The stats are surprisingly similar between the 2 games, but I’m not going to go into them in any detail. Michigan didn’t shoot very well in either game, but they did shoot 3-pointers pretty well against OSU. Not so much vs. Wisconsin. Michigan is a team that looks good when they hit their 3-pointers, and looks terrible when they miss them.

Individually, Nik Stauskas was the only UM player to hit double figures in both games (15 vs. OSU, 11 vs. UW), although he didn’t have a very good game vs. Wisconsin. Caris LeVert was the only player who had a good game against Wisconsin, with a new career-high 25 points. He had 9 points vs. OSU. Zak Irvin hit some big baskets against OSU (10 points), but he was ineffective in the UW game (6 points, 3 of them in “garbage time”). The other freshman, Derrick Walton Jr., played well down the stretch vs. OSU (13 points), but was terrible against Wisconsin (0 points). Then there’s the Endless Enigma, Glenn Robinson III: as usual, he played in spurts. When he got involved in the game, he was a force, but for long stretches he was content to stand around in the corner and watch. He had 9 points vs. OSU, and 10 vs. Wisconsin. The two-headed center (Jon Horford/Jordan Morgan) played hard in both games, but only produced in the OSU game (8 for Horford, 6 for Morgan). In the Wisconsin game, Horford had 3 points, and Morgan had 5. Finally, Spike Albrecht tried to spark the team, but didn’t accomplish much: 0 points vs. OSU, and 2 free throws in the UW game.

All in all, it was a mediocre week. After the big win at OSU (their first since 2003), Michigan had a chance to set themselves up to play Michigan State for sole possession of 1^st place in the Big Ten next Sunday. All they had to do was beat Wisconsin, who they had already beaten in Madison earlier this season. Fortunately, right after Michigan lost to Wisconsin, Michigan State somehow managed to lose to Nebraska in East Lansing, so Michigan and Michigan State are still tied for 1^st place.

This Week

Michigan only plays one game this week. On Sunday (02/23/2014, noon, CBS) they play Michigan State in Crisler Arena. MSU has one other game this week (Thursday at Purdue), so they will probably come into the game on Sunday with a half-game lead, but Michigan can pull into sole possession of 1^st place by beating them.

Check back next week to see what happened, and why.

Go Blue!