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The Big Ten was supposed to have two games on Wednesday night, but only ended up having one after Ohio State and Penn State’s matchup was postponed. A ranked Michigan team hosted a ranked Minnesota squad in the lone remaining game.
Let’s take a look at what happened.
Game of the Night:
-No. 10 Michigan Wolverines 82, No. 16 Minnesota Golden Gophers 57
Heading into tip, this looked like it would be a pretty competitive game. Both teams were ranked and coming off huge wins over the weekend. Michigan blew out a ranked Northwestern team and Minnesota blew out a ranked Ohio State squad. Both seemed to be trending up and Wednesday figured to be an exciting meeting.
Instead, Michigan steamrolled Minnesota.
The first half was relatively competitive, but the Wolverines pulled away massively in the second half and cruised to an 82-57 win over the Gophers. Hunter Dickinson was excellent yet again, finishing with 28 points and eight rebounds. Franz Wagner also had a big night with 12 points, five rebounds, and four assists.
At this point, there’s no denying Michigan looks like a Big Ten title contender and a serious contender for this year’s Final Four. That might sound hyperbolic, but the Wolverines are now 10-0 overall, 5-0 in Big Ten play, sixth nationally on KenPom and are coming off four straight double-digit wins. Dickinson looks like an All-American contender and the team also has all-conference contenders on the wing. Michigan will now get some time off after the team’s game against Penn State this weekend was cancelled. The Wolverines will resume play next Tuesday at home against Wisconsin.
On the other side, Minnesota fell to 10-3 overall and 3-3 with the loss. The Gophers remain tremendously inconsistent away from home, having won all 10 of its games at home and lost every game (convincingly) on the road. Fans have to hope the team can figure out how to improve away from home. That will start on Sunday as the team goes on the road to face a really strong Iowa team.
Cancelled/Postponed:
-Penn State Nittany Lions at Ohio State Buckeyes
This looked like it could be a fun one. The teams intend to reschedule it at a later date.
Our game scheduled for tomorrow against Penn State has been postponed due to positive COVID-19 results within the Nittany Lions program.
— Ohio State Hoops (@OhioStateHoops) January 5, 2021
We will resume practice in preparation for our upcoming game at Rutgers scheduled for this Saturday, January 9th. pic.twitter.com/0AbLAawSJ3
We’ll have to wait and see when that happens.