IU is better than IU and Purdue combined!

Indiana beat IUPUI last night in a squeaker, 60-57. I figured this game would be close, but that was before I knew that IUPUI's Gary Patterson was hurt. It's tempting to over-analyze every game this team plays, because there's not a lot of precedent for this kind of overhaul. For every game, half, or 10-minute stretch, there are those of us that proclaim that this is what to expect of Indiana this season, be it good or bad. Resist that urge. It's a long season, and every team has bad games and good games. I don't think we'll know what's going on in Bloomington until we reach conference play, at the earliest.

Tom Pritchard led the Hoosiers in the 60-possession game (so much for fast) with 19 points on just 8 shots. The Hoosiers need to take care of the ball better than they did last night - they won't win a lot of games with a 23.3 TO Rate. Box score.

The other half of IUPUI's name was also in action last night, as Purdue beat up Loyola-Chicago in the NIT Season Tip-Off. Anytime you hold a team under 50 points, it's probably a good defensive performance. This game was played at 69 possessions however, which means the defense was excellent. The main cause was undoubtedly Purdue's pressure with forced Loyola into committing 22 turnovers. Marcus Green provided a 12/10 dub-dub on seven shots. Box score.

Wisconsin played well on both sides of the ball in thrashing SIU-Edwardsville, 88-58 last night. On defense, the Badgers forced SIUE into a 26.4 TO Rate, and limited them to just 23.5% of the available offensive rebounds. On offense, Wisconsin lit the nets on fire with a 66.1 eFG. Jon Leuer led the way with 19 points on 10 shots off the bench, and BTG favorite Jason Bohannon added 14 on just 7 shots. The bulk of that firepower came in the second half, where Wisconsin made 20 of 27 shots. Box score.

Tonight Michigan State goes on the road to IPFW, and Northwestern hosts Texas A&M-CC.