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11/20 Big Ten Recap: Rutgers Bounces Back

Recap all the Big Ten action from Wednesday night.

NCAA Basketball: Princeton at Indiana Trevor Ruszkowski-USA TODAY Sports

The Big Ten had three teams in action on Wednesday night, including a Rutgers team trying to bounce back and an Indiana squad hoping to stay undefeated. All told, all three Big Ten teams ended up walking away with wins.

Let’s take a look at what happened.

Game of the Night:

-Rutgers Scarlet Knights 69, Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks 57

Over the weekend, Rutgers faced its first decent opponent in St. Bonavenutre and ended up falling short on a neutral court. The loss left Scarlet Knight fans wondering whether the team would be able to get back on track on Wednesday night at home against what projected to be a beatable Stephen F. Austin team.

Thanks in large part to a big night from Caleb McConnell, Rutgers was able to walk away with a 69-57 win. McConnell ended up finishing with 16 points and six rebounds. Ron Harper also had a big night with 11 points on eight field goal attempts.

It wasn’t a great win in the sense of Rutgers beating a quality opponent, but it was encouraging to see the Scarlet Knights get back on track after a tough loss over the weekend. Fans will hope the team can continue that positive momentum next Tuesday when Rutgers hosts NJIT.

The Rest:

-Illinois Fighting Illini 85, The Citadel Bulldogs 57

This game didn’t project to be a close one paper, but after the Illini let teams like Nicholls State and Hawaii hang around, nobody was quite sure what to expect. All told, Illinois was able to grab an 85-57 win over The Citadel to improve to 4-1 on the season.

Illinois will now prepare for another buy game at home over the weekend, as the team faces off against an underwhelming Hampton team. Should Illinois win the game, it could set the Illini up for the program’s best start in quite some time. We’ll have to wait and see.

-Indiana Hoosiers 79, Princeton Tigers 54

Another underwhelming opponent at home and another convincing win for the Hoosiers on Wednesday night. Indiana is easily one of the quietest 5-0 teams in the country and showed why it shouldn’t be overlooked last night. The Hoosiers are getting contributions from all over the roster, including 32 combined points from Joey Brunk and Devonte Green in the team’s win over Princeton last night.

Indiana will now get the weekend off before having to prepare to face its toughest opponent of the season in Louisiana Tech on Monday night. We should learn a lot more about this Hoosier team in that matchup.