Quarterfinals of 2024 B1G Ten Men’s basketball tournament presented by TIAA.

The quarterfinals of the 2024 B1G Ten Men’s basketball tournament presented by TIAA got underway today in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

In the opening session, the Michigan State Spartans had a come from behind win over home standing Minnesota 77 to 67. Michigan State improves to 19 and 13 while the Gophers bow out of the tournament at 18 and 14.

Minnesota shot a respectable fifty percent from the floor on 24 makes on 48 attempts.

Michigan State shot better and connected on six more field goals for the game, when they connected on 30 of 54 attempts.

Leading the way for Sparty were A J Hoggard with 17 points and six assists.

Hoggard was supplemented by Tyson Walker with 15 and four assists.

Jay Atkins and Malik Hall both added nine points along with Trey Holloman who also added nine.

The Gophers were led by Dawson Garcia with a game high 19 points while Pharrel Payne, Cam Christie and off the bench, Parker Fox with eleven.

Elijah Hawkins added 10 points and assisting seven times.

Michigan State now moves on to play top-seeded Purdue on Friday, March 15, 2024.

In the closing game of the first session Wisconsin blasted Maryland.

Wisconsin started off the season on fire, and actually were ranked very highly but fell into a funk and have been struggling.

Not this afternoon, as the Badgers lit up the three-point area in both halves.

Most significantly, the Badgers opened up a 47 to 26 and never looked back.

Freshman, in name only, John Blackwell was on fire in the first half as he buried a series of three-pointers.

Blackwell led the Badgers in scoring with 18 points on six of eleven shots that included four of six from behind the arc. Blackwell also tied for a team high five rebounds.

Steven Crowl was also a force as he rocked Maryland by hitting seven of eight shots and a perfect three of three from long range.

A J Storr was active too as he collected sixteen points and five rebounds.

Other Badgers who had big games were Chucky Hepburn with 10 points and a game high eight assists, Connor Essegian nine points on three of five and Nolan Winter six points and five boards.

Jahmir Young led the Terps with 18 while DeShawn Harris Smith scored 16.

Wisconsin now 20 and 12 move on to Friday, March 15, 2024 against Northwestern while Maryland bows out at a disappointing 16 and 17 record.

The night session started with hot Ohio State facing the Iowa Hawkeyes.

Ohio State improved to six and one since John Diebler took over the reigns from Chris Holtmann, who ironically was hired by DePaul University today.

The big benefactor for Ohio State were the 23 second-half points from Jamison Battle.

Bruce Thornton kept up his solid play by pinpoint passing and solid defense.

Thornton would score 14 points, six rebounds and hand out nine assists.

Roddy Gayle, Jr. added 10 points while Scottie Middleton would score eleven from the bench along with Zed Key and Devin Royal’s eight a piece.

Peyton Sandfort would lead the Hawkeyes with 19 points and six rebounds.

Lawrence North grad Tony Perkins would score 13 points and hand out seven assists while grad student Ben Krikke would add 13 and freshman Owen Freeman scored ten points and nine rebounds.

Brock Hardy would score five points and grab five rebounds.

Ohio State improves to 20 and 12 while Iowa drops to 18-14.

Ohio State moves on to take on Illinois.

The final game of the night saw Indiana’s Anthony Leal tip in a missed Malik Reneau shot to provide the winning margin over Penn State 61 to 59.

Penn State had one more shot but the shot was errant sending the Nittany Lions home with a 16 and 17 mark while the Hoosiers stayed one more day away from the NIT with a win.

While Penn State was having one of their worst shooting days, Indiana stayed steady behind the great effort by Kel’el Ware.

Ware dominated inside with his 18 points and 14 rebound performance.

It’s easy to see Ware moving on with Reneau and Mgbako after the season with their play.

Talking about Reneau he would score 12 points and claim eight rebounds for the game. McKenzie Mgbako would round out the double-figure scorers for the game with eleven.

Gabe Cupps, the freshman from Ohio hit two crucial three-point shots to aid the Hoosiers who were playing without Senior Trey Galloway.

For Leal, who tapped in the game winner he would finish with eight points and four boards and was a steady hand for the Hoosiers.

Indiana hit 22 of 56 shots from the field for 39.3% that included a three of twelve day behind the arc for 25%. The Hoosiers did have a strong night at the charity stripe by cashing in on 14 of 18 shots.

Penn State had a miserable start to the game and only with a better second half did they remain in the game.

For the contest, the Nittany Lions were 16 of 58 from the floor for 27.6% and a miserable day from behind the arc at 25.9% on seven makes in twenty-seven attempts. They too benefited from the line as the team made 20 of 24 attempts.

Donovan Christopher (Puff) Johnson led the way with 16 while Zack Hicks would be the only other Penn State player in double-figures with eleven.

Andre (Ace) Baldwin, Jr. scored nine points, five rebounds and six assists.

Indiana now 19 and 13 move on to the Semifinals to face Nebraska.