Plus: a basketball civil war, a shoehorned trip to MSG, and all these empty calories.
The Weekend That Was
Most Impressive Win
Nebraska Cornhuskers 105, Oklahoma Sooners 99
Tough to deny Maryland, here, who went on the road to Milwaukee and beat Marquette in their barn cavernous NBA palace.
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But as Kind of… has been reminding anyone who will listen (and it’s sure as shit not me), Nebraska currently has the longest winning streak of any team in Division I men’s college basketball. And beating Oklahoma—a P5 school!—on a neutral court while dropping 105 in regulation is worthy of an eyebrow raise from me.
So well done, Huskers, most impressive winners of the weekend.
Honorable Mention: Maryland Terrapins 89, Marquette Golden Eagles 82
Least Impressive Win (Niko Medved Update Section)
Minnesota Golden Gophers 72, Green Bay Phoenix 65 (OT)
This is, in reality, the most embarrassing showing of the week. The Fightin’ Gottliebs aren’t going to (or shouldn’t) be as bad as they were in 2024-25. But they’re not good, and Minnesota basically matched them in stats across the board: 27% from deep, 42% from the field, 51% at the line (to 63% for GB)…
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…this was disgusting, reprehensible basketball. Niko’s got a ways to go in Minneapolis.
Most Embarrassing Loss
#5 Arizona Wildcats 69, #15 UCLA Bruins 65
Once again, UCLA: sorry, but them’s the rules.
Big Ten Basketball Midweek Schedule
Monday, November 17
SIU Edwardsville Cougars at #23 wisconsin badgers
7pm | BTN | wisc -25.5 | O/U 145.5
The Cougars are a friskier OVC team than most—they’re actually odds-on to win it, 30 places higher than their next-closest competitor, Little Rock, in Kenpom.
That’s not to say it comes easy for Sooey: they mustered 55 in a loss to Indiana State and just 61 in a two-point win at Drake. The offense runs through 6’9” South Sudanese guard(!) Ring Malith, who’s currently dropping 17.8 a game, but it’s not a great shooting squad and is pretty profligate with the ball. badgers should roll.
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Oregon State Beavers at Oregon Ducks
9pm | FS1 | UO -14.5 | O/U 140.5
TINKLE TIME!
The Beavs are once again barely clinging to hooping relevance in the West Coast Conference, currently looking like one of the luckiest teams in college basketball—they’ve won three one-score games at home: over North Dakota State (67-65), over UIC (76-73), and over North Texas (66-64) when the Mean Green pulled a Chris Webber:
They offer a very international—and tall!—cast of characters, with Danish forward Johan Munch (6’11”) and French forward Isaiah Sy (6’7”) leading the frontcourt when South Sudanese-Australian center Yaak Yaak (6’11”) isn’t in. Josiah Lake II is the workhorse for the Beavs, though he’s been shooting it poorly to start the year and will surely be thrown off by the Ducks’ garish home court.
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Tuesday, November 18
#17 Michigan State Spartans vs. #9 Kentucky Wildcats
5:30pm | ESPN | UK -4.5 | O/U 153.5
Champions Classic (Madison Square Garden)
Sparty would enjoy grinding and playing defense here. Kentucky should be able to get out and push. The Wildcats could use a good win on their resume—they lost to Lhvl, though they’ve still got UNC, Gonzaga, Indiana, and St. John’s to come—while Michigan State has already seen off Arkansas.
It’s too early for “desperation” by any means, and the Spartans could do with stacking a few wins before the inevitable early-season loss to Nebraska or Northwestern, but this should be a high-flying, higher-stakes good time in the Big Apple. Can Cam Ward reprise his Arkansas performance? Will Kirk Cousins-lookalike Carson Cooper and Wildcats big man Malachi Moreno get tangled up like two walruses fighting for a melting iceberg? Will Jaxon Kohler continue to irritate me with his mere existence?
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At least two of those answers are likely “yes”. BUT WHICH TWO? TUNE IN!
American Eagles at Rutgers Scarlet Knights
5:30pm | BTN
Garden-variety bad Patriot League team. We will have no idea if Rutgers is any good before they meet Tennessee next Monday (just the Eagles and Central Connecticut left to play), but we will certainly know if they are bad.
Chicago State Cougars at Minnesota Golden Gophers
7pm | BTN+
Last year Green Bay and Chicago State both won 4 games total.
This year the Cougars, my favorite low-major team—even using “major” in their designator feels wrong—have climbed all the way to 361st in Kenpom (there are 365 places) on the back of an offense that DID put up 86 points on Saint Louis (in a 108-86 loss) and allowed them to hang around with UIC before losing to their crosstown rivals, 67-63. They don’t rebound well, they’re woefully undersized, and they jack threes and miss them with alacrity.
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I’m thinking Gophers by 8.
Southeast Missouri State Redhawks at Iowa Hawkeyes
7:30pm | BTN
One of the fastest teams in college hoops steams up the Mississippi for some wrestleball with the Fifth McCollum in Iowa City. SEMO hung with Mizzou in an 89-84 loss but has also lost to SLU and St. Thomas by double-digits. So on chugs the Bennett Stirtz hype train.
Southern Jaguars at Washington Huskies
8:30pm | Peacock
EXCITING NEWS OUT OF THE SWAC: A POSSIBLE NON-16 SEED?
…that might be a little too much pressure to put on Southern, because the Jags are still just 184th in Kenpom and the rest of the SWAC is, as ever, total ass. The Jags proved up to run with Arkansas and Marquette, letting up 100+ to both but scoring a few of their own, favors they then returned on a couple non-NCAA opponents in Ecclesia and Champion Christian. Feels like the kind of team that could stick around through halftime, at the very least, if they can get off to a hot start.
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Sacramento State Hornets at #15 UCLA Bruins
9:30pm | BTN
One of the worst teams in the Big Sky, the Fightin’ Sacs have lost tight ones to Santa Barbara and at UC-Davis, then nudged by the vaunted Blue Hose of Presbyterian over the weeeknd. It says “STINGERS UP” in big letters behind their basket.
I love college basketball.
Also, shoutout to Sac State: outside that odd home date with Presbyterian, the rest of their schedule:
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Dominican (CA) (non-NCAA)
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San Francisco State (non-NCAA)
Staying in-state for all but one game, and only playing two non-California teams all of non-conference. That’s the way you do it.
Wednesday, November 19
MTSU Blue Raiders at #7 Michigan Wolverines
5:30pm | BTN
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A mid-pack C-USA team with nothing other than a 77-72 win over Evansville under their belt. 6’8” guard Kamari Lands has emerged as a scorer, maybe? A ginger forward in Chris Loofe.
Thus concludes the Middle Tennessee scouting hour.
Harvard Crimson at Penn State Nittany Lions
5:30pm | BTN+
The Crimson have been busy! One pretty ugly home loss to Northeastern, otherwise road wins for Harvard over Army and Marist isn’t a bad look. You know what you’re getting with Harvard, same as ever—assist on makes, shoot decent from outside, play good defense, grind it out. Will that be enough against Penn State? Probably not, but.
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I’m just kidding, by the way—I spent about 45 minutes putting this together.
Mount St. Mary’s Mountaineers at Maryland Terrapins
6pm | BTN+
The Mount is turning it over 18 times a game. They at least have some size and should hold off the Terps on their glass—and we’ll see how Buzz Williams’s show runs without Pharrel Payne, who’s out for some time with what was one of the more gruesome hip injuries I’ve seen.
#11 Alabama Crimson Tide at #8 Illinois Fighting Illini
8pm | FS1 | at the United Center (Chicago, IL)
The problem is with these, I’m so tired and annoyed by the end that I won’t even bother to preview what could be an otherwise interesting game. Would be better if this one was in Champaign, but I understand the vibe behind putting Illinois games in Chicago, where there’s a big alumni presence. Games in Sioux Falls, on the other hand…
Neutral site tourneys kick off on Thursday with Purdue in the Bahamas and Nebraska in Kansas City, so we’ll be back to worry about those when the time comes.
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Here’s an open thread if you want; enjoy the games.
