Big Ten Tuesday Preview: Can Rutgers Get Their First Big Ten Win?

The game between the Rutgers Scarlet Knights and the Minnesota Golden Gophers was going to gain a lot of attention heading into tonight because both teams were poised to be winless for the contest tonight, but Minnesota got their first win last week against the Maryland Terrapins. It was going to be a battle between two teams that were winless in the Big Ten, but now the matchup will just feature two of the worst teams in the Big Ten; one team searching for their second conference win and the other still searching for their first.

The Michigan State Spartans will take on the Ohio State Buckeyes in the other game tonight. The Spartans are starting to look like an elite team in the Big Ten and one of the best teams in the country. Below are previews for both games tonight.

Game of the Night: Rutgers Scarlet Knights vs. Minnesota Golden Gophers (7:00 PM ET| BTN)

Never thought that these two teams would ever be featured in the game of the night. Both teams are going to battle so that they are not the worst team in the Big Ten. Basically, the loser of this game will be looked at as the worst team in the Big Ten. Even though the Minnesota Golden Gophers are coming off a huge win over the nationally ranked Terps, if they lose to Rutgers, their win over Maryland would certainly be forgotten quickly.

Minnesota should take the momentum from their big win over Maryland and use it against Rutgers at home. This is going to be basically the last real chance Rutgers has at winning a Big Ten game this season until they play the Golden Gophers at home on March 5. Watch for both teams to fight for a victory because neither teams wants to be known as the worst team in the Big Ten.

The rest

- No. 8 Michigan State Spartans vs. Ohio State Buckeyes (9:00 PM ET| ESPN)

The Spartans seem to be getting back to their old ways, which is bad news for the rest of the Big Ten and the rest of the country. Denzel Valentine has been terrific all season and in his last game against the Wisconsin Badgers he had 24 points, 10 assists and seven rebounds. He obviously makes the Spartans one of the best teams in the country when he is on the floor and he can do just about everything on the offensive end.

It is hard to imagine that the Buckeyes can knock off the Spartans, but the Buckeyes have also been playing pretty well as of late. They beat up on the Michigan Wolverines last week, and they recently won a close contest in overtime on the road against the Nebraska Cornhuskers. This game between the Spartans and Buckeyes will certainly be a test for the Buckeyes, and if they can keep Valentine in check, then Ohio State should have a chance.

The thing about Michigan State that makes them so dangerous is that they have a lot of depth on their roster, but if the Buckeyes can contain Valentine, watch out for the upset victory from Ohio State.