NEW YORK – Michigan State and Purdue survived. Penn State pulled an upset and Michigan impressed the Garden crowd. A crowd battling the ravages of a Nor’easter to get to MSG for Friday’s festivities.
The quarterfinals of the Big Ten are in the book. The semis will see an instate battle between the Spartans and Wolverines. The other side of the bracket puts Penn State against Purdue. First, the quarterfinal points of emphasis.
Scores:
Michigan State 63, Wisconsin 60
Michigan 77, Nebraska 58
Penn State 69, Ohio State 68
Purdue 82, Rutgers 75
Making plays. Sometimes we over analyze and try to look too deep into the situation when it all boils down to making, or not making, plays with the game on the line. Michigan State made theirs on the defensive end. Leading by one with 19 seconds remaining, Wisconsin had the ball working for a last and potentially winning shot. Michigan State dug in on the defensive end and forced Brad Davidson of Wisconsin to hoist an off-balance shot that fell far astray at the buzzer.
In Penn State’s win, Tony Carr of the Nittany Lions had the ball with his team down a point and the clock winding down. Everyone wondered, would Carr pull up or penetrate to the basket. The sophomore guard began to make a move, then hit a cutting Josh Reaves with a perfect pass. Reaves slammed it home, sending Pat Chambers’ team to the semis.
The final game of the evening saw Rutgers battling Purdue to the delight of a Garden with a liberal amount of Rutgers enthusiasts. The Boilermakers had a three-point lead with thirty seconds remaining. Corey Sanders of Rutgers had a one and one on the line. Sanders missed the first, then ten seconds later was called for an offensive foul. Purdue went on to ice the game and end Rutgers memorable week.
There are many things to study and dissect in a game. All too often it ends with making plays.
It’s safe to say no one in the Garden was more distraught with how the game played out than Sanders. The Rutgers junior played his heart out in going for 23 points, hitting a succession of tough shots that drew praise from Boilermaker mentor Matt Painter. Sanders is not to blame in any way for the Rutgers loss. He may be unfairly remembered for those two late possessions. In effect, without his body of work over the course of the game, Rutgers would not have been in a position to potentially upset Purdue.
Michigan is known for an intricate selection of sets and the willingness to utilize the long distance shot on a frequent basis. But make no mistake: John Beilein’s club can defend. They held Nebraska to 30 percent shooting from the floor and an offensive efficiency of 91 (far below their conference norm of 105). “The defensive objective is to get the offense to stand up,” Nebraska coach Tim Miles said. “They did a great job of that. They forced us to stand around on offense by playing good defense. No, not good, great defense.”
Hard to believe Ohio State, now 24-8, has lost three of those games to Penn State. The Buckeyes were swept in the regular season before dropping last night’s quarterfinal. Sometimes you have to put records aside. Some teams just do not match up well with others.
Wisconsin finished the season 15-18. The Badgers did play better down the stretch, winning four of their last six including an upset of Purdue and a second round game in the Big Ten Tournament. I was impressed with the work of Ethan Happ over the two days in New York. Happ, a 6-10 junior, scored a game-high 22 points in the quarterfinal loss to Michigan State. Happ has size and a very versatile high post game.
In discussing the idea of making plays, we would be amiss not mentioning Isaac Haas. Purdue’s 7’2” senior center basically does the inside dirty work and sets screens for the likes of Carsen and Vincent Edwards. At crunch time against Rutgers, Haas’ number was called twice in the low post, and both times he finished, producing scores that kept the Scarlet Knights at bay.
Speaking of the Edwards pair. They both finished with a game-high 26 points against Rutgers. The two also combined to go 8 for 17 (47 percent) from downtown. And a number of those were contested, yet still found the bottom of the net.
Pikiell is convinced the Boilermakers are primed for a long tournament run. “I think this is a Final Four team,” the Rutgers mentor said following the quarterfinal loss. “I watched the films, they really don’t have a weakness. They only thing they do not do great in, they are not top three in the league in offensive rebounds. That is partly because they make so many of their shots.”
In that quarterfinal contest Rutgers was able to hang tough by extending possessions. They beat Purdue on the offensive boards by a 17-6 count, putting themselves in a good position to potentially pull off a big upset.
Purdue coach Matt Painter, to no surprise, had ample praise for Rutgers. Back on February 3rd, his club exited Piscataway with a two-point victory. Painter expected much of the same on Friday evening. “Steve (Pikiell) always has his teams rebounding and defending,” Painter said. “You face them, you better be ready. The thing they haven’t done well until this week is make shots. If they did that consistently, you are looking at a Rutgers team with a different record (they finished 15-19). They made some really tough shots against us tonight.”
Tony Carr on going 3-0 versus Ohio State: “I would say it was the way the ball bounced. Ohio State is a great team, but we are a pretty good team as well.”
