Weeks like last week are why we love college basketball, that time of year where we get a mix of conference matchups and marquee non-cons. Considering the upcoming slate of this week, last week seems like it will hold a lot more chaos then this week.

There really isn’t much else to intro, let's talk!

Illinois goes 1-1 with a home win vs. Wisconsin and buzzer beater heartbreaker to No. 1 Tennessee

As I said about Purdue in the third entry of this series after it went 1-1 to Alabama and Marquette, you will always take a split against two top-20 teams.

For the Fighting Illini, that same feat came in the form of, at the time, No. 20 Wisconsin and No. 1 Tennessee. Even before their matchups with UI, those teams are going in opposite directions. But there were still hoops to be played.

Before I had “college basketball writer for The Hoosier Network” added to my name, I was continuously high on this Illinois team during the offseason. I don’t want to give myself too much credit and say I knew everything about their true freshmen and incoming transfers, you just have to expect Brad Underwood is going to get his guys in line. I don’t think Illinois has had a team with this much uncertainty in the 2020s so far.

Going back to my claim on the Illini, Underwood will always have his guys ready to go.

It starts and ends with Kasparas Jakučionis and Will Riley, two of the best freshmen in a loaded countrywide class.

Jakučionis led scoring in both of Illinois games last week with 24 and 22 respectively. The thing about Jakučionis is that he is a natural born scorer and finds ways to score, especially when he isn’t shooting well from the field. Jakučionis had 10 free-throw makes in his 22 against UT. He also hit four 3-pointers against Wisconsin.

Jakučionis is sprouting into an NBA talent in front of our eyes, the kid can flat-out score.

Illinois’ defense held Tennessee to a bad shooting night, but the Illini couldn’t capitalize from the floor. UI only made four 3-pointers and shot just 29% from the field. But it came down to Jakučionis, who just couldn’t stop the ball on the final drive from Jordan Gainey.

Ohio State looks unrecognizable since ranked win in week one. What’s going on?

I had Ohio State No. 1 in my first set of power rankings. The Bucks deserved it after it beat No. 18 Texas, and did it in a seemingly sustainable passion.

Since that win in Vegas, Ohio State is 1-4 in games against power five teams, its only win being a 14-point victory over Rutgers in Columbus.

The Buckeyes suffered a 24-point loss to Maryland and 38-point loss to No. 2 Auburn. What is going wrong?

Well, Ohio State is not getting enough out of its best scoring threats. Bruce Thornton, Meechie Johnson and Micah Parrish. Against Maryland, the three combined for 19 points. Against Auburn, the three combined for 18 points. 12 points in the two games for Thornton. With the kind of offense that Maryland and Auburn have, that is obviously not enough to win a game with those two track meet worthy teams.

On the topic of Thornton, many were expecting him to be an All-American. He is still the Buckeyes’ leading scorer at 14.9 ppg, but hasn’t shown up in the big games. While it's early, and these losses will age well as Auburn can win the nations best conference and Maryland will likely be an at-large tournament team, Thornton is what makes the Ohio State train accelerate down the tracks.

One bright spot of Ohio State has been John Mobley Jr. and Devin Royal. Royal has led the scoring in OSU’s last three games, with a high of 24 against Rutgers. He and Mobley trail Thronton as Ohio State’s second and third leading scorers with 14.1 and 12.4 points per game respectively.

But it won’t get any easier because OSU will play No. 4 Kentucky and re-open conference play with Michigan State, who is hitting its stride this season.

QUICK HITTERS

Harper caps off another stellar week as Rutgers beat Penn State and rival Seton Hall. But RU still needs more.

A little coach talk here, No. 23 cannot spin away from Harper here.

Dylan Harper continues to impress, just like Jakučionis, posted up 48 combined points in his two games this week against Penn State and Seton Hall in the battle for New Jersey. I can keep writing about these RU freshmen, Harper and Ace Bailey, who will both be lottery picks, but we know that is going to be featured from the Scarlet Knights this year.

If Rutgers wants to be a tournament team, it needs more from its supporting characters. This point is quite obvious but still needs to be talked about. In last week's matchups, no Rutgers player outside of Harper or Bailey has scored more than nine points against Seton Hall and Penn State. Jordan Derkak had nine in both games.

Rutgers is going to get two Ivy league matchups before it returns to Big Ten play in Bloomington to face Indiana.

Purdue and Michigan fall to pesky SEC teams in neutral sites

These two teams will be fine, but it happened so it needs to be talked about.

The Boilermakers outshot Texas A&M, making more field goals and matching the amount of 3-pointers as the Aggies. But this game was won at the free-throw line where A&M shot nearly three times as many shots as Purdue had makes (Purdue had nine makes, the A&M had 27 attempts, 17 makes)

At Madison Square Garden last Tuesday, Michigan and Arkansas faced off in a game of runs. Michigan led by as many as 15 in the first half, the Razorbacks led as much as 18 in the second half. Michigan had a chance to tie late, but a great defensive effort by former FAU Owl and Dusty May product, Johnell Davis, led to a deflection on an entry pass down to the baseline from Danny Wolf to Roddy Gayle. The breakup ruined the play and Arkansas left New York City recipients of a Quad One win.

Michigan has two losses by a combined four points.

Both of these teams will have golden opportunities to bounce back and regain a Quad One win. Michigan will play No. 14 Oklahoma in Charlotte, North Carolina and Purdue will play No. 2 Auburn in Birmingham Alabama.

Games to watch Dec. 16- Dec. 22:

Tuesday Dec. 17

No. 20 Michigan State vs. Oakland, 7:00 p.m., ESPN2 - Detroit, MI

Wednesday Dec. 18

No. 14 Oklahoma vs. No. 24 Michigan, 9:00 p.m. ESPN2 - Charlotte, NC

Saturday Dec. 21

No. 18 UCLA vs. North Carolina, 3:00 p.m., CBS - New York, NY - CBS Sports Classic

No. 16 Purdue vs. No. 2 Auburn, 4:30 p.m., ESPN - Birmingham, AL

Ohio State vs. No. 4 Kentucky, 5:30 p.m., CBS - New York, NY - CBS Sports Classic

Illinois @ Missouri, 1:30 p.m., ESPN, St. Louis, MO

Team of the Week

Kasparas Jakučionis (ILL)

Brice Williams (NEB)

Dylan Harper (RU)

Owen Freeman (IOWA)

Brooks Barnhizer (NU)

Freshman of the Week

Dylan Harper (RU)

Power Rankings

1. Michigan

2. Oregon

3. Purdue

4. Maryland

5. Michigan State

6. Illinois

7. Wisconsin

8. UCLA

9. Northwestern

10. Ohio State

11. Penn State

12. Rutgers

13. Iowa

14. Nebraska

15. Indiana

16. Washington

17. Minnesota

18. USC

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