The Big Ten unthinkable happened in the form of bottom-feeder Rutgers knocking off Wisconsin in Piscataway on Sunday night. The Scarlet Knights went crazy on the offensive end in the second half against a Badgers squad that is now reeling with the news that senior point guard Traveon Jackson could miss significant time with a foot injury that he suffered in the second half. Maryland, Michigan State and Michigan all won games over the weekend to move into a four-way tie for first place, while Minnesota continued to struggle in losing its fourth straight contest in conference play. Just ahead of a big Tuesday night of action, here’s the rest of the happenings around the weekend in the B1G.

Terran Petteway once again lead Nebraska in scoring when they beat Illinois Sunday night. (AP)

• Player of the Weekend: Nebraska’s Terran Petteway narrowly edges out Rutgers’ Myles Mack here, and he did so by being much more efficient than he has been this season. He did turn the ball over five times on Sunday against Illinois, but he didn’t force shots en route to 18 points on 4-of-7 shooting from behind the arc. He also did a nice job as a facilitator, leading the team with four assists. It was mentioned on the broadcast, but Petteway and Shavon Shields look more comfortable now that the Huskers have their whole roster finally intact. Moses Abraham and Leslee Smith only combined to play 11 minutes in this game, but Petteway moved like the weight of the world was off of his shoulders so that he could concentrate exclusively on scoring and passing. Pay attention to Nebraska in the next couple of weeks to see if the Huskers get it together and make a run.
• Super Sub of the Weekend: Maryland’s Richaud Pack is not usually a substitute (starting 15 games), but Pack made a cameo appearance off the bench in the Terps’ Saturday game against Purdue as the Terps went with more size (Jared Nickens) against Purdue. The senior scored 11 points on 4-of-6 shooting, including eight in the second half that were essentially rally-killers — each time he scored, it was immediately after Purdue had cut the Maryland lead to under five points. Pack didn’t lead the team in scoring on this day, but his poise under pressure to quell Purdue’s momentum transcend the box score. Credit the transfer for responding to a short-term demotion to still make a large contribution in the win.

• Best Win: Rutgers got its second win and there should not be an asterisk next to it. All-American Frank Kaminsky didn’t play and Jackson suffered his nasty foot injury in the second half, but the Scarlet Knights played their best half of the season in the second 20 minutes with Mack and Kadeem Jack looking like the best players on the court. Mack hit four three-pointers in the second stanza while Jack used an array of one-on-one moves to get to the basket at will. They dynamic duo combined for 41 of the team’s 67 points for the evening. Rutgers is now 2-2 in league play with a tough road test at Maryland on Wednesday night.
• Worst Loss: Minnesota just can’t seem to get out of its own way and the Gophers are digging themselves a hole that will be difficult to recover from after an 0-4 league start. They had Michigan on the ropes Saturday with a 49-40 lead late in the second half, but from that point forward, they turned the ball over six times, went 3-of-6 from the free throw line and scored only eight more points. Joey King is aiming the ball instead of shooting it, and Deandre Mathieu proved that apparently there is a jinx attached to the Big Ten Point Guard Title Belt. The Gophers play five of their next seven games at home but each of those has taken on extra importance after such a poor start.
• Most Efficient Performance: Michigan State gave up way too many three-pointers to Northwestern on Sunday but they were sound in all other areas in the overtime win over the Wildcats. The Spartans scored 1.20 points per possession, and did so even though they only made 3-of-11 shots from deep. Sparty had 18 assists on 31 made field goals, turned the ball over only seven times, and unlike a bunch of other B1G teams (we’re looking in your direction, Illinois), didn’t force things when the threes weren’t falling. The guards were able to find Branden Dawson and Gavin Schilling down low, each of whom did his usual work on the offensive boards to create extra possessions. Travis Trice’s 18 points, 10 assists, and just a single turnover certainly didn’t hurt either.

Brendan Brody (307 Posts)

Brendan Brody is in his fourth season covering the Big Ten for RTC. Email him at brendan.brody@gmail.com, or follow him on twitter @berndon4.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 13th, 2015 at 3:31 pm by Brendan Brody and is filed under big ten, microsites. Tagged: branden dawson, deandre mathieu, frank kaminsky, gavin schilling, Jared Nickens, joey king, kadeem jack, Leslee Smith, maryland, michigan state, minnesota, Moses Abraham, myles mack, nebraska, richaud pack, rutgers, shavon shields, terran petteway, travis trice. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.