Big Ten Tournament Recap March 10-11—maryland And Northwestern Move On

The Big Ten Tournament has not disappointed thus far. While there have been teams that have taken care of business against lesser foes, there has still been excitement with some underdogs getting victories. It is clear which are the better teams out of the bottom tier of the Big Ten, but teams like Maryland and Northwestern are looking to prove themselves to be competitive with the upper echelon Big Ten squads.

Here are the scores and the rest of my analysis from both the first and second rounds in the Big Ten Men’s Basketball Tournament, played on Tuesday and Wednesday:

To start, here were the scores from Tuesday:

Northwestern 76, Penn State 66

Nick Martinelli led the Wildcats past Penn State to move on to the second round of the tournament. Martinelli is looking to add more to his resume at Northwestern with a potential deep run. The Wildcats got some production from their older guys, and their young, impressive freshmen also showed up for this game. Jayden Reid had a huge impact as he dropped 14 points and dished out nine assists. The great offensive production made a difference, but it was also the defense for Northwestern that had an impressive nine steals. Everyone on the Wildcats wanted this win a little more than Penn State, and that was felt in this game in every aspect.

Maryland 70, Oregon 60

The streaky Maryland Terrapins managed to take down a tough Oregon Ducks team in the first round. David Coit led the way with 17 points. Marland had the advantage on the glass in this game, winning the rebound battle 35-25. The Ducks were not able to get that star performance from their top guys, and a disappointing season ended just as early as it started in the Big Ten Tournament. Maryland is a sleeper team that has enough scoring to shock their next opponent. Andre Mills and David Coit are two players who can give their next opponent quite a scare. It should be interesting to see which Terrapins team shows up in their next matchup.

Here were the scores from yesterday in the second round:

Iowa 75, Maryland 64

After a great shooting and offensive showing in round one, the Terrapins fall flat against the Hawkeyes. On top of the Terrapins’ shooting struggles from their stars, they also had 16 turnovers. Iowa got great production from its starters, as four out of the five finished in double figures. Bennett Stirtz was not as efficient as he usually is, but he still had an impactful 17 points, six rebounds, and eight assists. Cooper Koch was the stud for the Hawkeyes in this game with his 19 points made five of his eight three-point attempts. Iowa's offense proved to be the elite one in this matchup, and Maryland unfortunately came up short on the end. Iowa now heads into a fight against a more even offense in the Ohio State Buckeyes today.

Washington 83, USC 79 (OT)

The Trojans played better than many expected after this team finished the season on a seven-game losing streak. The Trojans ended the first half with a seven-point lead as the score was 40-33. Once again, however, the Trojans were not the better team when it counted most They got outscored 38-31 in the second half, with Washington finding its rhythm.

In overtime, the Huskies' best players stepped up. Zoom Diallo was fantastic in this game as he had 22 points, with 15 of those coming in the second half, all while havin four fouls. Diallo also banked the game-winning basket in overtime. Kam Woods took the role of the top scorer for USC in this game, but the Trojans did not have that guy who could close the game. The Huskies move on to the next round with great momentum and enough talent to have a fighting chance at keeping the ball rolling.

Northwestern 74, Indiana 61

Nick Martinelli outshined Lamar Wilkerson, and he led the Wildcats to move on to the next round again. Martinelli appears not ready for his collegiate career to end any time soon, dropping 28 points and adding three steals. Northwestern had its way, and you have to give credit to their execution, but you cannot bypass how poor the Hoosiers' defense was in this game. The Hoosiers' offense had its usual poor second half. After leading 37-36 at halftime, the Hoosiers end the game getting outscored 38-24 over the final 20 minutes. The Hoosiers did the opposite of making the case for themselves to make the NCAA Tournament; this game really should keep them on the outside looking in come Selection Sunday.

Rutgers 72, Minnesota 67

Tariq Francis saved his best performance of the season for the biggest game of the season. Francis was lights out as he dropped 29 points and made five of his seven three-point attempts. Francis gave Rutgers exactly what it needed to move past the Gophers. Cade Tyson's 24 points and impressive night were not enough for Minnesota. However, it was not just Francis who impressed, as Rutgers’s rotational players made more of an impact than Minnesota’s—and they had the advantage with Minnesota only having a six-man rotation. Emmanuel Ogbole was also an unsung hero with his 10 points, seven rebounds, and three blocks. The Terrapins were a different team from the one that Minnesota saw the last time these two teams matched up. If Rutgers can replicate this for their matchup vs. UCLA, things could go down to the wire.

Overview

Northwestern is the Cinderella team of the Big Ten Tournament, and if Purdue takes them lightly as well, they will be the next team that gets sent home earlier than expected. With how Purdue has looked to finish the season, another Northwestern upset is very likely. Rutgers is another potential sleeper team, as Tariq Francis is extremely entertaining to watch. When his shots are falling, Rutgers can hang with anyone, including UCLA. Round three should be just as exciting as the first two rounds and could deliver a couple more upsets. To the surprise of no one, the Trojans did not make any noise in the tournament, and although they played better, they delivered USC fans a familiar defeat in overtime against the Huskies.

This article originally appeared on Trojans Wire: Biggest winners & losers from first two rounds of Big Ten Tournament