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11/11 Big Ten Recap: Iowa Holds Off Green Bay

Recap the Big Ten’s action on Sunday night, including a key win for Iowa.

NCAA Basketball: Florida Gulf Coast at Michigan State Mike Carter-USA TODAY Sports

The Big Ten may not have had any marquee matchups on Sunday, but it had plenty of action to keep fans entertained. The league had five teams in action, including a game for Michigan State against Florida Gulf Coast.

Here’s a look at what happened on Sunday.

Game of the Day:

-Iowa Hawkeyes 93, Green Bay Phoenix 82

For the second consecutive game, Iowa entered a home matchup against an underwhelming opponent and failed to live up to expectations. Last time, it was the team’s opener against UMKC. This time, it was a home game against Green Bay, who came into the matchup ranked 258th on KenPom.

The good news, of course, for Iowa is that the team came out with a win. The Hawkeyes held a narrow 47-46 lead at halftime, but did enough to pull away down the stretch to improve to 2-0 on the season. Team leaders were Luka Garza and Tyler Cook, who both scored 17 points in the matchup. The team also finished with 1.11 points per possession.

However, fans can’t be encouraged by the low margin of victory here and a lot of it came on the defensive side of the floor, where Iowa allowed one of last year’s worst offensive teams to get 0.98 points per possession. The final margin looks alright, but fans were certainly hoping for more than a one-point lead at halftime.

Things will ratchet up for Iowa this week as the team will face off against a talented Oregon team on a neutral court on Thursday night.

The Rest:

-Michigan State Spartans 106, Florida Gulf Coast Eagles 82

While this might not have been your older brother’s Florida Gulf Coast, it was a team that won 23 games last year and at least 20 games in six straight seasons. It’s a winning program that would be looking to shock the world in East Lansing on Sunday.

However, Michigan State had other thoughts. The Spartans pulled away early and never looked back. Nick Ward led the team with 25 points and 10 rebounds. Michigan State will get back into action on Wednesday at home against Louisiana Monroe.

-Nebraska Cornhuskers 87, Southeastern Louisiana Lions 35

Ok, we all know that Southeastern Louisiana isn’t a great team and doesn’t exactly have great expectations for the season. The Lions are well outside the top 250 teams on KenPom and are barely projected to go above .500 in one of the nation’s worst conferences. Simply put, we all know this was probably going to be a beat down on Sunday.

However, this was more than a beat down. It was a bludgeoning.

Nebraska dominated early and often on Sunday. Six Huskers scored double-digits and the team ended up winning by 52 (!!!) when all was said and done. This adds on to the team’s 69 (!!!) point win to open the season.

We still need to see Nebraska face off against a competent opponent, but the early results have been impressive. The Huskers will face Seton Hall at home on Wednesday.

-Ohio State Buckeyes 107, Purdue Fort Wayne 61

After beating Cincinnati on the road earlier in the week, Ohio State followed that up with a convincing win over Purdue Fort Wayne at home on Sunday. CJ Jackson led the team with 25 points and six rebounds. Ohio State travels to face Creighton on Thursday.

-Rutgers Scarlet Knights 95, Drexel Dragons 66

There really wasn’t much to takeaway from Rutgers’ win over Drexel on Sunday and maybe, that in itself is a takeaway. The Scarlet Knights were projected to win handily and got the job done. Eugene Omoruyi led the team with 24 points and 10 rebounds. Rutgers will now move on to face St. John’s at home on Friday.