Hello and welcome to Midweek Madness! This is The Floor Slap’s weekly CBB article from our CBB expert, Jordan Beckley… Hi, that’s me. Every Thursday, I will be recapping the week that was, the weekend ahead and doing so in a variety of recurring segments and superlatives. So, follow us (@thefloorslap) and have our site bookmarked to make sure you don’t miss a moment of the Madness all season long!
by Jordan Beckley
The Iso
Time to clear out and go 1 on 1 on this week’s Isolated Team.
Feast Week is here and oh boy is it awesome.
We opened by learning more about Indiana against UConn and Louisville (more about the Hoosiers later). Northwestern fell short to Mississippi State. Michigan fell short to Memphis last night and enters the losers bracket in Atlantis. Wisconsin upset Virginia and scrapped back against SMU to win the Fort Myers Tip-Off. But this week’s ISO will be about Purdue and the Maui Invitational.
Purdue started the absolutely loaded Maui Invitational with a rematch from last year’s Phil Knight Invitational matchup of Gonzaga. The Zags started hot and boasted new portal additions Graham Ike and Ryan Nembhard. Ike was stifling Edey in the post and dragging him out on defense by starting 2-2 from 3 and Nembhard lost defenders with his fast moving, curling penetration and smooth stop-and-start handle. Gonzaga lead the Boilers 35-30 at half.
For the second straight year, the Boilermakers outscored Gonzaga by double digits in the 2nd half to separate themselves. Purdue ratcheted up the defense in the second half forcing Mark Few’s team into turnovers, the Zags went cold from deep and allowed only 28 points. Lance Jones emphatically made his presence known and officially became a Purdue player with his breakneck speed opening up Purdue’s offense for 13 total points. Zach Edey was the inevitable beast he always is with 25 points, 14 rebounds and 3 blocks.
Gonzaga was better suited to stop Purdue and Edey this season. Their guards had quickness that stumped Purdue early. They had waves of big physical dudes like Anton Watson, Ben Gregg and Ike to rough up Edey and the doubles came early and often with no respect for Purdue’s shooters. Still, Matt Painter and Purdue figured out how to defend and then how to attack and won.
Their prize for winning? A matchup with another forwardly physical team in Tennessee.
And oh man, did this game get rough. In a top 7 matchup between two of the best coaches (Rick Barnes/Matt Painter) and All-American players (Dalton Knecht/Zach Edey), it was the refs who took over this game.
Undoubtedly there was plenty of contact on the court, but the refs ended up calling 51 fouls and derailed any momentum there was in the 2nd half.
Similar to Gonzaga, Tennessee jumped out early and Purdue rallied back and eventually smothered the Vols in the 2nd half. Fletcher Loyer kept the Boilers above water with a huge 26 point performance including 16 in the first half. Edey had a ho-hum 23pts/10reb with 9-17 from the FT line. Adjustments in the second half saw Purdue force Tennessee into mistakes on their way to a 71-67 win.
After beating Tennessee, Purdue met Marquette in the Title game after the Golden Eagles beat no. 1 Kansas by double digits in the semis. It was another rematch of a game from last year when Purdue beat Tyler Kolek and Shaka Smart 75-70 in the Gavitt Games.
Marquette is a tough matchup for Edey and Purdue with all their guards swirling around and a mobile big in Oso Ighodaro cutting past. This time the Boilermakers jumped out to the early lead in the first half and keeping a double digit lead for a good portion of the game. However, the Golden Eagles wouldn’t go down without a fight.
Some late turnovers, hot shooting, and missed free throws opened the doors for Marquette and they actually had two opportunities to tie the game before losing 78-75. It was Zach Edey’s tip in off a missed Braden Smith three that was the final dagger for Marquette as there was no answer for the National Player of the Year.
Edey finished with 28 points, 15 rebounds and 2 blocks. It was a total team effort with Braden Smith, Fletcher Loyer, Lance Jones, and Mason Gillis all contributing in big ways.
In a tournament with countless All-conference level players, four top ten teams, Rick Barnes, Mark Few and Bill Self, it was Matt Painter, Zach Edey and Purdue that reigned supreme as Maui Champions.
I’ve already written about how no one will care what Purdue does during the regular season, but the Boilermakers performance in Hawaii was impressive.
Every game in Feast Week is labeled as an ‘elite eight level’ or ‘Final Four’ kind of matchup by the announcers. Purdue survived several major tests for the third straight November. Will it finally translate to March?
Both Tennessee and Gonzaga hit Purdue in the mouth in the first half. But Purdue’s players never panicked.
I want to highlight one moment. Down a couple scores in the first half to the Vols, Zach Edey opened the game missing his first handful of free throws. When he finally made one, Edey, Braden Smith and Fletcher Loyer all smiled and were laughing. You could read Edey’s lips as he released his own frustration saying, “Finally!”
Part of what made Virginia be able to redeem themselves with a National Title and win miracle games against Purdue, Auburn and Texas Tech was that they were unflappable. The biggest nightmare had already happened to them. The Cavs were completely calm even in dire circumstances.
Purdue so far seems to be emulating that poise and belief in themselves. Despite elite teams giving the Boilers their best shot they have stayed calm, played their game, and controlled the second halves. You can actually see the path for Purdue to repeating Virginia’s 2019 run.
The Big 3
3 things I noticed in the world of CBB. Could be a big win, a big performance, a trend in the sport, a coach who made a dumb face on camera, really anything I want to talk about.
1. Roddy Gayle is Ohio State’s best player
The promise of Ohio State was based on another top recruiting class coming in and being great along with a leap from Ohio State’s sophomores and the transfers filling in the gaps.
While the transfers have filled gaps and the freshmen have been underwhelming, the Sophomore Buckeyes have taken the leap.
Bruce Thornton is officially the point god in Columbus through four games. Thornton is averaging 15 points and 4.5 assists with an assist:turnover ratio of 9:1. He looks more confident in running the offense and hunting his shot including his 24 point performance in a tough loss to a top 15 Texas A&M.
However, the best player on Ohio State is officially Roddy Gayle. The sophomore is averaging 14.8 ppg, 6.8 rpg, and 4.0 apg jumping up from 4.6ppg, 1.6rpg, 0.9apg last year. You started to see something at the end of last year with Gayle and it has materialized this season. It isn’t just a more minutes thing either, Gayle’s per 40 numbers are 18.7/8.6/5.1 compared to 11.3/4.0/2.2 last year. He is a dynamic interior scorer, his three pointer is passable, his rebounding and playmaking have improved and oh he can do this:
Gayle struggled against Texas A&M and that put Ohio State behind the 8 ball in a big way. The best version of Ohio State has Thornton as the 2nd or preferably 3rd leading scorer each night. The Buckeyes need Gayle to be the guy.
Ohio State will get better this year. The Freshman will improve. Scotty Middleton isn’t all the way there yet, Taison Chatman’s debut is coming, and honestly Devin Royal can’t play worse. The transfers are mostly doing their job. Jamison Battle is a scorer but is best as a supporting actor, Evan Mahaffey does everything well but won’t ever be a go-to scorer, and Dale Bonner has stepped up at times. More playing time will iron out the roles better and increase the chemistry.
Roddy Gayle made the leap. The hardest thing to do in Basketball is to be the guy your team goes to when they need a bucket. Let’s see what he does against no. 17 Alabama on Friday.
2. Where is the offense coming from for the Hoosiers?
Undoubtedly the big takeaway from early in Indiana’s season has been the struggles on the offensive end.
The Hoosiers’ lack of offense stood out in the UConn game on Sunday. Before running out of gas in the second half, IU’s defense was good enough to keep them in the game with the defending National Champs in the first. But on the other end, Mike Woodson needed Malik Reneau to take on triple teams to score any points.
It is officially time to be worried about Indiana’s offense. Kel’el Ware won’t be stifled by Donovan Clingan in every game and he was back to being great against the Louisville. Xavier Johnson looked better against Cardinals after a dismal game vs UConn, but the super-senior isn’t commanding the offense like expected. Five-Star Mackenzie Mgbako has been a no-show and has not stretched the floor at all going 1-13 from 3 so far. Trey Galloway has had to do too much for comfort.
Guys like Kaleb Banks, Anthony Walker, Payton Sparks, Gabe Cupps, CJ Gunn have all had moments, but that’s the problem. We only see bright spots for glimpses not for sustained periods. Indiana is 98th in offense on KenPom and only 69th on defense.
Now, Indiana isn’t expected to beat UConn in Madison Square Garden and they did beat Louisville on Monday to finish up the Saatva Empire Classic. Saatva is a luxury mattress company by the way and not some sort of investment firm like I thought. Still, the Huskies were the first and maybe only good team the Hoosiers have played this season.
Malik Reneau is clearly an awesome player who with his size, ball handling and speed will be a mismatch for almost every 4 in College Basketball. Kel’el Ware is going to be a go-to guy in 90% of matchups. But can anybody else score? Indiana is shooting 23% from three thru 5 games. At some point the Hoosiers will need to be able to score outside the paint.
3. Nebraska’s Quiet Competence
This article is running long, so for the Ray Allen part of the Big 3 I just want to mention the Cornhuskers.
Big Red is 6-0 and is 25th in offense and 76th in defense on KenPom. I get it, Nebraska hasn’t played anyone, but that hasn’t stopped other Big Ten teams from losing! Just keep an eye on them. Brice Williams is an All-Big Ten level dude. Rienk Mast is a game changer. Keisei Tominaga has yet to really erupt.
The Huskers have a huge game against Creighton creeping up in two weeks.
Good Game Bad Game
Loosely defined as a weekly game where I name one (or more) good game and bad game from a player, coach, ref, mascot, towel boy, jumbotron operator or anybody in CBB.
Good Game: Dillon Mitchell, Skyy Clark, Steven Crowl & Alex Karaban
Dillon Mitchell was one of my favorite recruits last year. It didn’t happen for him last year, as he struggled to score at the college level. Mitchell seems to have figured it out as a sophomore especially after his game against UConn. He had a stockpile of stats with 21 pts (9-12 shooting), 8 reb, 2 ast, 2 blk, and a steal. If you haven’t watched him his vertical is electrifying on both ends of the court. Could rise back up draft boards if he continues these performances.
Skyy Clark had an awesome game (20 pts, 4ast, 5reb) against Texas and almost was able to will the Cardinals to a victory. The Illinois transfer went 4-6 from three against the Longhorns. He has shot 2-17 from deep outside of that game.
Steven Crowl destroyed Virginia on Monday this week. I am not a big Crowl guy, but the Crowlers (is that his fan club?) had a good time watching him own Virginia. Crowl showed a bit of everything dominating the boards, setting lane-opening screens, scoring and improved playmaking. The Badgers sure could’ve used that against Providence!
Quick shoutout to Alex Karaban who has been a STUD to start his sophomore season. Karaban is averaging 16.8 pts and 6.2 rb on 82.6%(!!!) from inside the arc and 40% from beyond it. His uber-efficient play is part of what makes UConn a threat to repeat and has helped to lead the Huskies while Donovan Clingan gets back up to speed from his foot injury.
Bad Game: Dennis Evans & Virginia’s Big Men
5-Star big man and former Minnesota commit Dennis Evans has had an … interesting? start to the season for Louisville. Evans has started 4 of the 5 games, but hasn’t played more than 16 minutes or scored in double figures in any of them. Against Texas, Evans tallied 13 minutes, 2 points on 1 shot attempt, 0 rebounds and fouled out. Dennis Evans had a bad game.
Admittedly I put a wager on Virginia to beat Wisconsin this week. I was told after tip that UVA might lose because of rebounding. I scoffed thinking Wisconsin isn’t even that good on the boards… UVA was outrebounded 21-48 on the night. Tyler Wahl and Crowl had almost as many rebounds as the Cavs. Wisconsin had 20 offensive rebounds alone. It was a tough night for Blake Buchanan, Ryan Dunn, Jacob Groves and anyone for UVA trying to box out.
Weekend Wagers
I preview the biggest games in the weekend slate and give my moneyline picks. For picks ATS follow us on X.
Realistically, the games for the rest of the weekend are ones the Big Ten will be underdogs in or ones they play cupcakes. Let’s break down four of them quickly.
No. 3 Arizona (-5.5) vs No. 21 Michigan State O/U: 147.5
- Arizona and Michigan State meet in the Accrisure Classic in lieu of playing a MTE.
- This game had a lot more hype two weeks ago.
- Could Izzo surprise us and upset the Wildcats?
- I don’t think so, but it would be a very Michigan State thing to do.
- The Spartans don’t have an answer for Oumar Ballo down low.
- I like the over in a high scoring game and Arizona to cover.
Penn State (+7.5) vs No. 12 Texas A&M O/U: 137.5
- We get to see the Nittany Lions in their first true competition today.
- It is a rematch of the NCAA first round game that had Jalen Pickett sent the SEC runner up home early.
- Texas A&M is tough, but not perfect.
- The under is appealing to me here.
- 7.5 seems low as I think the Aggies should win by double digits, I just don’t know if this A&M team buries teams like that.
Iowa (+1.5) vs Oklahoma O/U: 158.5
- Similar to Penn State this is the first time we will get to see the Hawkeyes in real action
- Oklahoma was transformed via the portal this offseason and has done everything right against the directional schools
- KenPom favors Oklahoma over Iowa
- I think Iowa is underrated and will win this game.
- It is fun that Iowa’s football team has historic low unders and their basketball team has impossibly high overs
- This game should be high scoring and great background noise for Thanksgiving
- I believe Fran McCaffery and the Hawks get it done
No. 17 Alabama vs Ohio State
- OSU gets a tough matchup vs. Bama on Friday
- I really don’t think the Buckeyes have the dudes to run with Mark Sears, Aaron Estrada and Grant Nelson
- It will be a tremendous test for Bruce Thornton and Brice Sensabaugh to guard the Crimson Tide guards
- The Buckeyes don’t have the offense to hang with Alabama.
- Without seeing the line I like an Alabama cover, probably up to about 13 points.
Award Winning Wings
A rotating selection of made up superlatives and awards. Named fondly after how every restaurant has ‘award winning wings’
The “Don’t Jump With Me” Award
Coen Carr did this in a game.
After the game, Coen Carr said, “People don’t usually jump with me.” Cold Blooded. Carr is everyone’s favorite freshman this season.
Josh Ola-Joseph was honorable mention with this one:
The Wait… What? Upset of the Week
It seems like we are getting one Big Ten upset a week that makes you go, “Wait… What? They lost to Who?”
First, Michigan State lost to JMU. Then Maryland lost to UAB and Davidson. Now, right after I gassed up Michigan, Dug McDaniel and Phil Martelli all last week, the Wolverines lost at home in a tune up game with 1-2 Long Beach State.
The Long Beachers had beaten DePaul and lost to Portland and San Diego State before scoring 94 in the Crisler Center. The outing dropped Michigan’s defense 30+ spots in KenPom rankings. Marcus Tsohonis cooked the Wolverines for 35 points including the ‘defensive stoppers’ in Nimari Burnett and Terrance Williams.
With 29 2 point field goals made on almost 60% shooting, let’s keep an eye on Michigan’s rim protection going forward.
The “This is why you always shoot it” Award
Always let it fly before the buzzer. Eventually the rules will not count heaves towards field goal percentage. Still, Lance Jones proved in the Marquette game why you always shoot it at the buzzer.
Purdue won the game by 3 points. Theoretically, these three miraculous, 80+ feet from the hoop points.
Always take the shot, kids.
The “I See You” Award
Today’s under the radar, I See You guy is Wisconsin freshman John Blackwell. Badger fans have seen him, but the rest of the Big Ten hasn’t learned who he is yet.
The young bull has scored in double digits in 5 of the 6 games so far coming off the bench for Greg Gard. Blackwell isn’t just providing a punch in the lane like his high school tape showed, but also he is stretching the floor going 6-13 from three so far. Given the weird start for Connor Essegian, Blackwell has been much needed to stabilize the uneven Wisconsin offense.
Quick shoutout to the Badgers for beating SMU and Virginia to win the Fort Myers Tip-off!
Coach of the Week
Matt Painter wins coach of the week for winning the Maui Invitational. I already spilled too much ink on Purdue, so I will just leave you with a list of the teams Purdue has now beaten in the MTEs the past three years:
- North Carolina, 2021-22 (Made the National Championship)
- Villanova, 2021-22 (Made the Final Four)
- West Virginia, 2022-23
- Gonzaga, 2022-23 (Made Elite Eight)
- Duke, 2022-23 (ACC Tournament Champs)
- Gonzaga, 2023-24
- Tennessee, 2023-24
- Marquette, 2023-24
There is a reason why people consider him one of the best coaches in the country.
Player of the Week
This column is way too Purdue heavy, but the player of the week has to be Zach Edey. The Big Maple averaged 25ppg, 13rpg, 2bpg and 12 FT attempts in Honolulu. The scary part? I still don’t think he’s played his best yet.
Ethan Morton 3 Point Tracker
Ethan Morton is now 2/3 from deep so far thru 5 games played. Morton played 25 minutes thru his 3 games in Maui (Honolulu). He may not have gotten a shot up against Tennessee, but he did find time to get a 5-second call! Yes, those still exist!
Did Louisville win a game this week?
Yes, Kenny Payne did get a win last Friday against Chattanooga, but Cardinal fans forgot about that after Max Abmas tore their heart out.
Louisville didn’t just look competitive against no.19 Texas like they did against Indiana, they played well enough to win. Illinois transfer Skyy Clark looked awesome in his best collegiate game and perhaps Kenny Payne has the Cardinals ready to be more competitive than we thought. It was also impressive how Kenny Payne and Louisville managed to lose the Texas game.
No matter what, the weekly Louisville update looks to be a thrilling feature for this season.
No Explanation Power Rankings
I am just the humble mouthpiece for the No Explanation College Basketball Committee, who release their weekly Big Ten Rankings to me. I provide their rankings with… no explanation.
The committee didn’t seem to move much this week. I guess teams played to their expectation except for maybe Michigan and Wisconsin. Obviously, this is me interpreting their rankings. I of course was not given any explanation.
- Purdue
- Illinois
- Michigan State
- Wisconsin
- Northwestern
- Michigan
- Iowa
- Indiana
- Nebraska
- Ohio State
- Maryland
- Rutgers
- Penn State
- Minnesota
That’s it for this week’s Midweek Madness! We will be back next week to recap the remaining MTE’s and all the rest of the happenings in College Basketball.
Happy Thanksgiving!