Big Ten men's basketball report, February 19 - Illinois makes noise
· Yahoo Sports
Illinois showed its dominance in another blowout win in the Big Ten. This time they handled the USC Trojans. Two teams at the bottom of the standings put together a complete game to try to finish the season on a high note, but both teams' chances at the tournament seem less than likely.
Here are the scores and the rest of my analysis from the midweek games in Big Ten basketball, played on Wednesday:
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Rutgers 85-72 vs Penn State
Tariq Francis does it again as he chips in 22 points and 7 assists to lead the Scarlet Knights to a 2nd straight win. The Scarlet Knights' bench had a productive night as well. Guard Lino Mark led the charge, and Rutgers outscored Penn State 28-9 off the bench. Penn State shot an abysmal 17.6% from 3 and had 15 turnovers. Both stats proved too costly for Rutgers to overcome. A long season for Penn State continues to get even uglier. Penn State has Nebraska, Iowa, and Ohio State next up in its next stretch of games. Rutgers has 3 favorable matchups next week that can go their way: Minnesota, Washington, and Maryland. Both bottom teams in the Big Ten are headed in two completely different directions as the season is coming to an end.
Northwestern 78-74 vs Maryland
The Terrapins got a historic night from Andre Mills with his 39-point performance, but ultimately, the Terrapins needed more to pull this one out. It felt as if Mills just didn't have enough help. Nick Martinelli had 29 points and shot 3-6 to combat Mills' explosive night. Martinelli's teammates followed suit and chipped in the necessary production to pull this game out. Jordan Clayton had 20 points and shot 6-7 from 3, while Angelo Ciaravino chipped in 16 points off the bench, too. With multiple guys having effective outings, the Wildcats went on a 22-4 run after the Terrapins felt like they had a comfortable lead. Maryland has shown they can put up points and have multiple guys who can be elite scorers on any given night. They can build off of this performance by Andre Mills, but as far as this season goes, losses like this season put a coffin in any success for this year.
No. 10 Illinois 101-65 vs USC
Illinois steamrolls the Trojans for a 36-point victory, and they win their 14th game in their last 16 games. Illinois had each of its 5 starters reach double figures and had 7 total players in their rotation reach double figures in this game. Andrej Stojakovic had 22 points from the bench, leading the way and only missing one shot in this game. If there was any game where Alijah Arenas needed to be a star, it was this one, and instead the Fighting Illini held him in check. Arenas only mustered up 8 points in 18 minutes and shot 2-7 from the field. Illinois gears up for meaningful basketball coming up soon, and the Trojans will need to put this loss in the rearview to keep their postseason hopes alive.
Overview
Illinois keeps rolling, and they got a statement win vs USC last night, truly proving how dominant their rotation can be. USC has some work to do to ensure this team stays in position to make the postseason, and it starts with completely forgetting about last night's game. While there is not much clarity with some of the top teams in the Big Ten after the top 3, it is now clear who the best of the best from the bottom teams in the standings are. Rutgers gets its second straight win, and Northwestern puts it all together to be victorious over Maryland.
What's next
The next upcoming game for the Big Ten is a matchup between Purdue and Indiana that surely could deliver another surprising upset. Lamar Wilkerson is guaranteed to deliver a great scoring input, while even though Purdue has some big wins this season, they are not strangers to getting upset. Indiana beat Purdue already before, and it would not be very surprising if they pull off a regular-season sweep.
This article originally appeared on Trojans Wire: Biggest winners & losers for February 19 in Big Ten men's basketball