The Big Ten had two games on Sunday after Indiana and Michigan State got postponed for COVID-19 related concerns. The first had Iowa on the road facing Northwestern and the second had Purdue hosting Penn State.

Let’s take a look at what happened.

Game of the Night:

-No. 5 Iowa Hawkeyes 96, Northwestern Wildcats 73

In late December, these two teams met in starkly different circumstances. Iowa was coming off a loss to Minnesota, while Northwestern was rolling at 6-1 overall and coming off three straight Big Ten wins. But heading into this week’s game, Iowa was the team rolling, while Northwestern was coming off four straight losses. Wildcat fans were hoping this game could flip the script, with Northwestern rolling after a big win.

Unfortunately, that didn’t happen.

Iowa not only went on to beat Northwestern, but did it convincingly. The Hawkeyes ended up scoring a 23-point win thanks to 17 points from Luka Garza and 16 points from Joe Wieskamp. The win pushed Iowa to 12-2 overall, 6-1 in Big Ten play, and atop the conference standings after Michigan lost on Saturday. It also ties the program’s best start through 14 games since the 2004-’05 season. Northwestern fell to 6-6 overall and 3-5 in Big Ten play with the loss.

Moving forward, Iowa will now get a few days off before facing Indiana at home next Thursday. Northwestern will hope to rebound on Wednesday on the road against Wisconsin.

The Rest:

-Purdue Boilermakers 80, Penn State Nittany Lions 72

After a few weeks off because of COVID-19 related concerns, Penn State finally got back into action on Sunday. Unfortunately, it didn’t come with a result fans enjoyed, as the team fell 80-72 on the road against Purdue. Penn State fell to 3-5 overall and 0-4 in Big Ten play with the loss. It was the team’s fourth straight loss dating back to December 13th.

However, this was a big one for Purdue. Despite an underwhelming start to the season, Purdue now finds itself sitting at 10-5 overall, 5-3 in Big Ten play, and just two games out of first place in the conference standings. It’s probably still a little too early to view the Boilermakers as a legitimate threat for the conference title, but another win or two and we might have to start having that conversation.

Moving forward, Penn State will return to action on Tuesday on the road against Illinois. Purdue will also play on Tuesday on the road against Ohio State.

Cancelled/Postponed

-Indiana Hoosiers at Michigan State Spartans

This looked like an intriguing game to see how Indiana and Michigan State rebounded from recent losses. Unfortunately, we’ll have to wait at least a little long to see what happens between these two. We wish everyone involved health and safety.