Road warriors

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Good morning! The Big Ten might be the deepest conference in college basketball this season. It certainly was the most entertaining on Tuesday. Let’s get to it.

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1. Purdue, Wisconsin pull off wild road wins

It’s hard to say which Big Ten game was more surprising on Tuesday night. Purdue’s roller-coaster win at Nebraska or the wild finish in Champaign. Guess we’ll start with the Boilermakers and their 80-77 overtime victory.

No. 13 Purdue sure looked like it was going to blowout No. 7 Nebraska. It opened with a 14-1 run, led by 16 at halftime and was up 52-31 with 14 minutes to play. But when the Huskers (21-3, 10-3 in Big Ten) drilled four 3-pointers in the next six minutes, sparking an 18-2 run, it got wild.

The teams traded runs the rest of the game. Purdue (20-4, 10-3) stretched the lead back to 14, then Nebraska cut it to five with 54 seconds left. When Purdue couldn’t hit its free throws down the stretch, the Huskers had a chance to win it when Rienk Mast got fouled on a made basket, but he missed the ensuing free throw.

When he fouled out in OT, it seemed to signal the end for Nebraska. He’s their offensive fulcrum (he finished with 18 points and seven assists) and wasn’t there at the end when Oscar Cluff scored the game winner off an offensive rebound. Those offensive boards proved to be the difference. Purdue had 21 of them. That made up for the Boilermakers shooting 13-for-46 (28%) from 3.

"Trey (Kaufman-Renn) and Oscar (Cluff) had more rebounds than them in the first half, and they end up with 33 rebounds, and Nebraska has 37," Purdue coach Matt Painter said. “When you have that many more possessions than someone else, odds are it's gonna help you."

Now, let's head to Champaign.

Wisconsin found a way to upset No. 8 Illinois, 92-90 in OT, in one of the most impressive wins of the Big Ten season.

Illinois took a 44-38 lead into the half and carried the momentum into the final 20. It held a 71-59 lead with 8:10 left, then Nick Boyd scored 12 points in the final eight minutes. Austin Rapp added a 3-pointer to give Wisconsin an 81-80 lead with 50 seconds left. Keaton Wagler went one of two at the foul line on the next possession, and then Wisconsin missed a 3 to send the game to OT.

It was the Boyd and John Blackwell show in OT. That pair combined for the first eight points to give Wisconsin an 89-81 lead. Illinois chipped at the lead and even had a chance to win, but Wagler couldn't get the shot to fall.

Wisconsin (17-7, 9-4 in Big Ten) had a huge offensive showing, scoring 1.25 points per possession. Boyd finished with 25, and Blackwell added 24 points, and the pair tallied nine assists. It also went 16-for-36 (44%) from 3, but just 17-for-40 on 2s (42%).

Illinois (20-5, 11-3) didn't have Kylan Boswell or Andrej Stojakovic, limiting them to six main rotation players. It needed a huge performance from Keaton Wagler, who scored 34 points (12-of-23 fg) and added seven assists.

On most nights, Illinois scoring 1.23 ppp, shooting 17-for-27 (63%) on 2s and 15-for-33 from 3 (45%) would be good enough to win. However, going 11-of-19 from the foul line looked to be the difference for Illinois.

Regardless of shaky calls, Wisconsin deserves credit for winning at Illinois and Michigan — the two best possible wins in the Big Ten.

2. TCU finally get another marquee win

Sure, TCU beat Florida earlier this season, but it also had moments where it could’ve beaten Michigan, Kansas and Houston.

So maybe a 62-55 victory against No. 5 Iowa State was just its time.

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