Last Night in College Basketball: Big Ten Conference Tournament Chaos

Men’s college basketball, women’s college basketball – there’s no shortage of college ball, every night. Don’t worry, we’re here to help you figure out what you missed but shouldn’t have. Here are all the best moments from last night in college basketball. Illinois upsets Michigan State The early Power Conference women’s tournaments are already delivering the drama — and upsets — you want out of March basketball. On Thursday, Illinois took on No. 18 Michigan State in a battle of the Big Ten’s 10-seed against its 7-seed, and the result was a W for the Fighting Illini. The gap between the two is (supposed to be) larger than that seeding implies: Michigan State is 16th in the NCAA Evaluation Tool and 15th in Wins Above Bubble, while Illinois sits at 32 and 35, respectively. That didn’t matter in the conference tourney, as Illinois snuck by, 71-69. What’s most impressive about the dub is that Illinois managed it despite allowing sophomore guard Kennedy Blair to score 30 points for the Spartans. Blair wasn’t just firing off shots as much as possible, either: she earned that 30 with efficiency, hitting 11 of 18 from the field and 7 of 9 from the stripe. Blair also had 6 rebounds and 5 assists, but she also had little help, and made 7 of Michigan State’s 14 turnovers, as well. The turnovers would not have mattered so much if not for the first problem, but a whole lot was put at Blair’s feet in this one, fairly or not. The Spartans’ bench played 34 minutes and scored a single bucket. It had 2 rebounds and an assist, with no steals and a single block. Throw in two starters scoring a combined 12 points, and it’s a lot easier to see why Blair going off for 30 merely brought Michigan State to the brink of a win instead of actually winning. Illinois deserves a ton of credit here, both for shooting 51% as a team and for limiting Michigan State’s own offense — Blair aside, the Spartans shot 35% on the night. No one player stood out like Blair did for Michigan State, as five players hit double-digit scoring out of just seven that had minutes, but junior guard Maddie Webber deserves a shout. Coming off the bench, Weber played 37 minutes and scored 13 points with 3 rebounds and 2 steals — that she was able to play such solid ball off the bench is why Illinois could keep her on the court for so long while trying to rest its starters when possible. Illinois moves on to face Iowa in the Big Ten quarterfinals — also advancing were Washington (over USC), No. 11 Ohio State (over Indiana) and Oregon (over No. 14 Maryland). The Huskies will take on No. 2 UCLA, the Buckeyes go up against No. 19 Minnesota and Oregon has to contend with No. 8 Michigan. Oregon upset Maryland Speaking of that other Big Ten tournament upset, it merits a closer look. Oregon has been a well-regarded team in NET all season long, but the problem has been the sheer glut of other talented teams in the Big Ten. The Ducks came into their matchup with the Terps ranked 25th in NET and 33rd in Wins Above Bubble despite having 11 losses, because the quality of the teams that Oregon has been losing to is high. Maryland, 23-7 and ranked, the 6-seed in the Big Ten compared to Oregon’s 11th, might seem significantly better, but the gap has more to do with how many other teams in the conference are dangerous than as a direct comparison between these two. Which we got a reminder of on Thursday, when the Ducks advanced in the Big Ten tournament by defeating Maryland, 73-68 — the second time that Oregon has upset the Terrapins this season in two attempts. The Terps entered the fourth quarter up 57-52, a slight lead that came out of each of the previous three quarters being between 4 and 6 points apart, and back-and-forth in terms of which team won them. Oregon vastly outplayed Maryland in the final frame, though, 21-11, leading to a 5-point, come-from-behind win. Maryland missed 10 shots in the fourth quarter alone, including four 3-point attempts. Oregon also benefited from a huge turnaround from two of its sophomore guards, Ehis Etute and Katie Fisto. The two scored just two combined points in the first half, both from Etute, but in the second they erupted. Etute scored 18 more points in the second half, while Fisto notched 14: they scored 30 of Oregon’s 42 second-half points, and Etute managed a double-double thanks to 10 boards, as well. As said, Oregon advances to take on No. 8 Michigan, the Big Ten tournament’s 3-seed. While the Ducks didn’t beat the Wolverines in their previous encounter like they did Maryland, they did get close: it took overtime for Michigan to put Oregon away in a 92-87 game. It’s not out of the realm of possibility that the Ducks win this time around, but they are also going into their third game in three days and fourth since Sunday — such is conference tourney life. Kansas State shocks Texas Tech On Wednesday, Kansas State defeated Cincinnati by setting a Big 12 conference tournament record with 17 3-pointers. Expecting a repeat of that performance was asking a lot, but K-State had a different trick up its sleeve for the sequel against No. 21 Texas Tech. Kansas State could not hit a shot for absurdly long stretches, and was at 34% for the game. And yet, the Wildcats managed to pull a win out their hat, anyway, because the Lady Raiders somehow ended up in a worse place. It happened all so quickly, too. The Wildcats trailed for 37 minutes and 21 seconds against Texas Tech. The Lady Raiders went out to a 21-9 lead in the first quarter, and while K-State rallied back in the second with a 20-13 quarter of its own, it still trailed at the half, a problem exacerbated by scoring just 8 points in the third quarter. Texas Tech’s scoring seemed to have hit its limit by this point, however, thanks to an aggressive K-State defensive approach that had it sacrificing player wellbeing to try to claim every rebound and loose ball for itself — Tess Heal stood out, as she had four fouls and kept aggressively chasing down everything as if she had four left to give instead. The quarter began with the Lady Raiders adding to their lead with two buckets in quick succession, going up 51-39 with 7:43 to go. Heal, a senior guard, answered with a bucket 13 seconds later, and that was the start of what would turn out to be a 19-0 run for Kansas State. With 3:30 left, the Wildcats tied it up 51-51 thanks to a pair of free throws from junior forward Nastja Claessens, and then another from the stripe less than a minute later from Claessens put K-State ahead for the first time all game — it would not relinquish that lead, as Texas Tech didn’t have another point in it. The 19-0 run stands out for the “19” part, especially given K-State’s shooting prior to it, but this wasn’t just a matter of the Lady Raiders not being able to hit anything for nearly 8 minutes. The Wildcats’ defense was absurd in the second half — Texas Tech was held to 17 total points in the final 20 minutes because of some bad luck, sure, this is basketball and all, but K-State earned this by making sure every shot and rebound was aggressively contested. The Wildcats take on Oklahoma State in the quarterfinals, which is a serious assignment even if the Cowgirls are unranked. Advancing elsewhere in the Big 12 tournament was BYU over Utah, Arizona State over Iowa State — more on that in a moment — and Colorado over Kansas. The Cougars take on No. 10 TCU, the Sun Devils have No. 15 West Virginia to look forward to and the Buffaloes get No. 20 Baylor, all on Friday. Iowa State goes down It’s been a tough season for Iowa State, which was at one time, fairly deep into the season, undefeated. Then junior forward and glue player Addy Brown went down with a leg injury that took her out for the majority of conference play, and both the offense and defense of Iowa State took a hit, given Brown was a scoring, rebounding and ball-movement threat that made the likes of teammates Audi Crooks and Jada Williams better, and their jobs that much easier. Brown has returned, and is mostly her old self — on Thursday, she had 13 points, 12 rebounds, 3 assists and a block — but the Cyclones never got clicking quite like they had been before her injury. Against Arizona State in the Big 12 tournament, Iowa State shot just 36%, including a horrid 7-for-36 from 3-point range, and lost to the Sun Devils 77-68. Senior guard Gabby Elliot led the way with 22 points on 7-for-17 shooting, just missing a triple-double, too: she had 10 boards and 8 dimes, along with a pair of steals. While all the scoring was thanks to the starters, the bench, in 43 combined minutes, added another 8 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocks, as well as allowing for some breathers. Iowa State’s season isn’t over yet — it came into this game with plenty of cushion left before it was considered on the bubble, thanks to that strong start, and the return of Brown should keep the Selection Committee from believing this is too different of a team than it was at the start. But it’s difficult not to feel as if this team was supposed to do so much more. At least now Brown gets more time to rest and recover from the leg injury that she’s still working through; maybe the Cyclones will get back their old dangerous edge come March Madness. Meanwhile, Arizona State now has to take on a rested Mountaineers squad on Friday in order to make it to the Big 12 semifinals. It’s an unexpected place to be for a team that went 9-9 in conference play, but given West Virginia is ranked and the 2-seed, this might also be as far as the Sun Devils get. Then again, the same could have been said about going up against a whole-again Iowa State. Clara Strack is on one In the first quarter of Kentucky-Georgia, a second-round SEC tournament game between the No. 17 and No. 22 teams in the country, Clara Strack had 13 points for the Wildcats against the Lady Bulldogs’ 16 points total. Deep into the third quarter, Strack still had more than half of Kentucky’s points — the Wildcats were still winning. Sometimes, a player takes over a game and it’s all they can manage to keep her team in it. Here, though, this was one of those games where the outing elevated the whole: Georgia did not have a Clara Strack to turn to, and it meant its downfall. Strack, a 6-foot-5 junior center, scored 33 points on 12-for-22 shooting, hitting 5 of 7 from the line and in the process becoming the first player at least as tall as she is to hit 5 3s in a game this century — not just in the SEC, but in Division I women’s basketball. She also had 8 rebounds, 2 assists, a steal and 3 blocks, and had South Carolina coach Dawn Staley, during a halftime interview on her potential quarterfinals opponents, commenting on how there was only so much you can do to contain Strack when she’s feeling it like this. She has been a powerhouse during the tournament to this point, as she also had a 20-point, 13-rebound double-double against Arkansas in the opening round, and finished the regular season against South Carolina where she missed a 24-point double-double by a single rebound. That game was a 60-56 loss for Kentucky — fatigue could cause the Wildcats to take another L this time around, but if Strack keeps at it like she has been, anything is possible for Kentucky. Elsewhere in the SEC tournament, No. 7 Oklahoma handled Florida despite star Raegan Beers being limited to 18 minutes with early foul trouble. No. 24 Ole Miss advanced against Auburn, and Alabama upset Tennessee, which has now lost seven in a row — the Lady Vols are still comfortable in terms of WAB and NET ranking, but that’s the kind of extended disaster of a performance that could give the Selection Committee second thoughts, too. Kentucky takes on South Carolina next, with Oklahoma facing No. 6 LSU, Ole Miss going up against No. 5 Vanderbilt and formerly ranked Alabama taking on No. 4 Texas. Michigan, Michigan State squeak by While Thursday isn’t usually a big night for men’s college basketball, last night we got two games out of Big Ten teams that were a lot closer than you would have thought they would be. For No. 3 Michigan, at least, having Iowa — the 26th team in NET and a tournament team already per WAB — winning 71-68 is surprising, but not necessarily alarming. The Hawkeyes are a good team that has appeared in the poll a couple of times this season, and would probably have been there more often if not for having to face a stacked Big Ten incessantly during conference play. This close win is more of a good sign for Iowa than it is a bad one for Michigan — the Hawkeyes showed they can hang with the best in the conference right before the Big Ten tournament and March Madness. That Iowa was able to score 26 points off of Michigan turnovers is a bit alarming, sure, but that also had a lot to do with the Hawkeyes having a wild conversion rate there: the Wolverines turned the ball over 18 times, which is high but not high. Michigan State nearly losing to Rutgers, though, now that’s a bit more eyebrow-raising. The Spartans are the No. 8 team in the country, while Rutgers is 12-18 overall and 5-14 in the Big Ten after Thursday’s defeat. And yet, Michigan State could not shake the Scarlet Knights: the Spartans were up by just one point at the half, 31-30, and while its offense woke up in the second, so did Rutgers: Michigan State dropped 60 on the Scarlet Knights there, but Rutgers hit back with 57. Rutgers shot 10-for-18 from 3 and 48% overall, and Michigan State was basically saved by the Scarlet Knights’ inability to stop fouling Spartan shooters. Michigan State went 25-for-30 from the stripe, hitting 10 more free throws in 11 more opportunities than its opponents — huge in a game decided by 4 points. More disciplined defenses in the Big Ten tournament and March Madness won’t bail the Spartans out like that. And while it might seem like nitpicking to be a little severe about a game that Michigan State did win, it’s that time of year — how a performance like this will carry over in a negative way, how it could be exploited by a better opponent, is the game in March. March buzzer-beater! Lehigh took on Holy Cross in a Patriot League quarterfinal, and with mere seconds to go, it was all tied up at 66. The Mountain Hawks had the lead in the first half, but a 40-point second had the Crusaders back in it, and overtime approaching. All Holy Cross needed was one more stop, and with the ball on the other side of the court and 2.1 seconds left on the clock, that stop felt inevitable. Basically, the only thing that could win it for Lehigh right there was a halfcourt buzzer-beater, a prayer at the best of times. Prayer answered, though: junior guard Nasir Whitlock sank that very shot. He didn’t even quite make it to the halfcourt line, and threw it up with 0.4 seconds left on the clock — the red light flashed on the backboard while the ball was at its peak, high enough up that it wasn’t in view of the camera any longer. And then, it reappeared as it went right through the basket, with the crowd losing it at the improbable made probable. March basketball, baby. It’s here. Adrianna Smith had one of her best outings Maine faced UNH in the America East quarterfinals on Thursday, and the 2-seed Black Bears advanced to the semis, where they will face 3-seed Binghamton on Monday. Redshirt senior Adrianna Smith is, as she so often is for Maine, the reason for the W: the forward scored 35 points on 10-for-17 shooting with 15 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 steals, while going 14-for-16 from the line. Smith led Division I basketball, men’s and women’s, in GameScore with this performance, putting up a 34.9. She just missed setting a new career-high in points by a single bucket, as Maine emptied the bench late with a significant lead and gave Smith the rest of the night off. As is, though, her 35 points were the most scored by any America East player in the tournament since 2011. Smith is the only D-I women’s player this season to average 20 points, 10 rebounds and 4 assists this season — she led America East in all three categories, at 22.7, 10.5 and 4.8, while also leading the conference in Player Efficiency Rating (35.5). Part of this is an absurdly high usage percentage, yes, but she’s also good enough to justify being involved in nearly 40% of Maine’s plays. She was one of 10 players nominated as a semifinalist for the 2026 Becky Hammon Mid-Major Player of the Year Award — with a performance like this added to her season, Smith very well might be one of the five finalists to be announced soon. Either way, with Maine advancing for at least one more game, she has a chance to keep adding to her résumé.