Big Ten Basketball

The University of Wisconsin announced Thursday strength and conditioning director Erik Helland has resigned after being placed on administrative leave Monday for allegedly using a racial slur in the presence of Badgers men's basketball players. 

Brian Hamilton of The Athletic provided the Wisconsin athletic department's full statement:

Wisconsin director of strength and conditioning Erik Helland resigns, the school says. Relating to using "a racial epithet in the presence of multiple Wisconsin men’s basketball student-athletes." pic.twitter.com/v05oNTCmhD

— Brian Hamilton (@_Brian_Hamilton) February 6, 2020

Jeff Potrykus of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported Wednesday the school was "investigating an allegation that a racial epithet was directed at [Badgers guard] Kobe King by a UW staffer."

Per the department's statement, it found no evidence that Helland directed the slur at a specific player. However, it did confirm that he "used a racial epithet in the presence of multiple Wisconsin men's basketball student-athletes" while telling a story about his time working in the NBA.

Helland was in his seventh season as the strength and conditioning coach for the men's basketball team and was promoted in June 2015 to oversee the strength and conditioning programs of all the Badgers' teams.

The Wisconsin native is a graduate of UW-Eau Claire. Before arriving at Wisconsin, he spent 25 years with the Chicago Bulls on their strength and conditioning staff starting in 1988.

Michigan head coach Juwan Howard is reinstating Zavier Simpson after suspending his point guard Monday and forcing him to miss a game against Nebraska earlier this week. 

"After speaking with [Michigan Athletic Director] Warde [Manuel] before today's practice and after my media availability, we agreed to lift Zavier's suspension," Howard said in a statement released by the school. "I am looking forward to moving on from this. Anything further will continue to be handled within." 

Simpson will be able to rejoin the Wolverines when they face No. 25 Rutgers on Saturday afternoon. 

The senior was initially suspended for violating unspecified team rules. The senior, one of the top point guards in the nation, is currently averaging 12.8 points, 8.3 assists and 4.3 rebounds per game. 

"This past weekend I made some disappointing decisions which violated our team rules," Simpson said in a statement. "I accept full responsibility and having to sit out the Nebraska game was part of that. I deserved it and fully supported coach Howard's decision. Not being with my teammates made it a long night, however, it gave me the time to reflect. I know I let my coaches, teammates, and fans down as well as athletic department and community members. More importantly, I let myself and family down. They say you learn something new, or from something, every day and this is one of those times.

"I have apologized to my team and now apologize to everyone who continues to support me as well as our program. I am grateful for the opportunity to get back on the court Saturday and to represent this great university. Go Blue!"

Without Simpson in the lineup, Michigan defeated Nebraska 79-68, snapping a four-game losing streak in the Big Ten. The Wolverines (12-8, 3-6 Big Ten) had previously risen to No. 4 in the Associated Press poll early in the season before falling out of the Top 25 entirely. What started out as a promising season for Michigan in Howard's first year has quickly derailed with the Wolverines near the bottom of the Big Ten standings and 4.5 games back of co-leaders Michigan State and Illinois. 

Ohio State will be without guard D.J. Carton for an indefinite amount of time as the freshman announced he is stepping away from the program Thursday night. 

In a note posted to Twitter, Carton detailed mental health problems and cited the need to take time away from basketball to properly address the matter.

"After talking to my family, teammates and coaches I have decided it is best at this time to temporarily step away from the Ohio State basketball program," Carton wrote. "In making this decision I felt it was important to be transparent as to why I’m taking this break. I have been suffering with mental health issues for a couple years. I have been through a lot. I’m disappointed to say I’m not 100% right now.

"I am not doing my teammates justice if I don’t work on this now. I am doing everything in my power to strengthen my mental health. I will fight for my team and Buckeye Nation and I will come back stronger! If you are going through mental health issues, I have learned through this you are loved and valued. Thank you for the continuous love and support Buckeye Nation. Please respect my decision and my privacy." 

Carton's announcement comes just days after he led Ohio State (13-7, 3-6 Big Ten) to a 71-59 victory over Northwestern to snap the Buckeyes' two-game losing streak. Through 20 games this season, Carton is averaging 10.4 points and 2.9 assists while shooting 47.7 percent from the field and 40 percent from three-point range. 

After his 17 points and four rebounds against Northwestern, Carton noted just how much his teammates have helped him adjust to college basketball this season.

"I've been working hard on practice, and my teammates put a lot of belief in me and push me at practice," Carton said per the Associated Press, "so it's starting to come along and my confidence is building."

The Iowa native was a four-star recruit out of high school, according to 247Sports.com, and ranked as the fourth-best point guard in the nation with offers from Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Iowa and Creighton. He would up choosing the Buckeyes over the Hoosiers and Wolverines. 

Despite starting just three games this season, Carton was averaging 23.9 minutes per game for an Ohio State team that got off to a scorching hot start. The Buckeyes reached No. 2 in the AP poll in December before losing six of their next seven games and falling out of the Top 25 altogether. 

Ohio State is set to return to action Saturday when Indiana visits Value City Arena. 

Wisconsin guard Brad Davison has been suspended one game for striking Iowa's Connor McCaffery in the pelvic region as he fought past a screen during Monday's 68-62 loss, according to Jeff Borzello of ESPN.

Davison was hit with a flagrant 1 foul during the game for his actions.

"He grabbed me right in the—where you don't want to be grabbed in," McCaffery said about the play in question, per Mike Hlas of The Gazette. "He does that. He's marked for doing that. He's the type of player, unfortunately, who feels the need to do that stuff. Tonight he cost them the game."

The play occurred with 32 seconds left, while Joe Wieskamp was scoring a key bucket to put the Hawkeyes up 62-59. The Hawkeyes were given two free throws, making one, and also got the ball back.

Davison has earned a reputation for breaking the rules. As Ricky O'Donnell of SB Nation wrote, "It is hard to give Davison the benefit of the doubt at this point. He's pulled the junk-shot-while-trying-to-get-around-a-screen move before. He has appeared to trip opponents. He once took five charges in a game, and won a game for the Badgers by flopping on an inbounds pass."

The junior is averaging 8.8 points, 4.6 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game, shooting just 37.6 percent from the field and 31 percent from three this season. All of those numbers except for his rebounds are career lows. 

Wisconsin will now be without both Davison and Kobe King against Michigan State. King announced on Wednesday that he was leaving the program. 

Here's a word problem for you: If the Big Ten—which has 14 schools—sends 12 of those teams to the 2020 men's NCAA tournament, how many people are going to complain about it?

The answer is an awful lot, but it's time to start bracing for that possibility.

In most college basketball seasons, it's difficult to say with any certainty which conference is the best. As of late, it's usually the Big 12 as far as KenPom.com is concerned, but there are almost always two other leagues breathing right down its neck with a good argument for why they belong in the top spot.

This year, there's no such debate.

On Tuesday morning, the Big Ten had 12 of the top 36 teams on KenPom. In a sport with 353 teams at the D-I level, that can otherwise be read as one-third of the top 10 percent.

Compare that to one year ago, when the Big Ten—which was pretty solid top to bottom and sent eight teams to the NCAA tournament—finished the year with only five teams in the top 36.

Here's the thing about the Big Ten, though: Everyone (except for Nebraska and Northwestern) is good, but no one is great.

Maryland, Michigan, Michigan State and Ohio State each spent multiple weeks ranked in the Top 5 of the AP poll, but no one in the league is better than No. 15 at the moment.

As a result, the gap between the best team in the conference (arguably Michigan State) and the 12th-best team (arguably Indiana) is almost negligible. Per KenPom, the Hoosiers have a 43 percent chance of winning their home game against the Spartans later next week, even though Pomeroy's site is much higher on Michigan State (No. 6) than the AP voters are (No. 15).

For the sake of comparison: In the similarly sized ACC, Duke is projected to win by 11 at 12th-best North Carolina.

That "any Big Ten can beat any other Big Ten team at home" frame of mind certainly tracks with what has transpired thus far, as the home team is 35-6 in Big Ten play. Wisconsin has been the odd ball, losing at home to Illinois but winning at Penn State and Ohio State. However, aside from games involving the Badgers—and a few hosted by Nebraska or Northwestern—it's pretty much expected at this point that the home team is going to win every league game.

And if that trend continues for the next seven weeks, the Big Ten is going to make NCAA tournament history.

Conventional wisdom suggests there's no chance that a 14-team league can send 12 squads to the Big Dance. The Big East set the record with 11 bids in 2011, but that was also a 16-team league. The 15-team ACC had a few nine-bid years recently, but nine out of 15 (60 percent) is a heck of lot different from 12 out of 14 (85.7 percent).

While noting that he had 12 Big Ten teams in his latest bracket projection for NCAA.com, Andy Katz said: "There's no way, I don't see that happening long term. They're going to cannibalize each other. Some teams are going to fall out."

Are we sure about that?

KenPom currently has 12 Big Ten teams projected to finish 9-11 or better in league play. Each of those teams already has multiple Quadrant 1 wins—the Big East has the next-most with seven teams boasting at least two Q1 victories—and it's reasonable to assume all 12 would pick up at least three more in the process of reaching its projected win total.

Moreover, there's not a single Quadrant 4 loss in the bunch, and those 12 teams have suffered a combined total of five Quadrant 3 losses—Purdue and Iowa both lost at Nebraska, Illinois dropped a home game against Miami and Rutgers and Penn State lost to St. Bonaventure and Ole Miss, respectively, on neutral floors. And basically every game the rest of the way for all 12 teams will fall into the top two Quadrants.

Most important of all is the refrain that will be repeated on a near-hourly basis for the next 50 or so days: We have to get to 68 teams somehow.

The ACC is a hot mess this year and may well send only four teams to the NCAA tournament.

Neither the Pac-12 nor the SEC is in much better shape. Each possesses four solid tournament resumes and a couple of bubble teams.

Both the A-10 and the Mountain West are looking like one-bid leagues if Dayton and San Diego State can secure the automatic bids.

The West Coast Conference might be a three-bid league, but both BYU and Saint Mary's are one misstep away from falling by the wayside.

And aside from Liberty and maybe Northern Iowa, there isn't even a minor-conference darling out there threatening to steal an at-large bid if it happens to lose in its conference championship game. (Liberty theoretically could win every game between now and the Atlantic Sun title game, finish 31-2 and still get left out because of how awful its schedule is.)

But—and say it with me here—we have to get to 68 teams somehow.

If Penn State does finish in 12th place in the Big Ten with a 9-11 record, it would enter the Big Ten tournament at 19-12 overall. The Nittany Lions already have six wins over the top two Quadrants, and their only non-Q1 loss was a 74-72 neutral-site game against Ole Miss. And as things currently stand in the NET, they have eight Q1, three Q2 and three Q3 games remaining—plus whatever comes their way in the Big Ten tournament.

It's a similar story for Indiana, which suffered one forgivable non-conference loss (Arkansas) while also picking up good wins over Florida State, Notre Dame and Connecticut. If the Hoosiers finish 19-12 (9-11 in Big Ten), they should be golden.

Considering Ohio State got in last year with an 8-12 league record and a 19-14 overall record, it's hard to imagine Penn State or Indiana would get left out with that type of resume. And again, we're only looking at the teams projected to finish in 11th and 12th in the league. The path to the tournament only gets easier the further up the ladder you go.

They need to maintain the status quo, though. This hypothetical goes up in smoke if Northwestern starts winning road games or if a few teams separate from the pack and end up winning 14 or more conference games.

Regardless of how this ends, 12 teams from one conference in the projected field in mid-January is uncharted waters.

                                  

Data and records current through the start of play on Thursday.

Kerry Miller covers men's college basketball and college football for Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter: @kerrancejames.

The Michigan State Spartans extended their season-long winning streak to seven games thanks to Sunday's 87-69 victory over the No. 12 Michigan Wolverines.   

Currently ranked No. 14 in the Associated Press Top 25, Michigan State looked sluggish out of the gate this season with a 4-3 record in its first seven games. Head coach Tom Izzo has gotten his team back on track thanks in large part to a defense that has allowed 58.7 points per game over the past six games. 

The Spartans had everything working on both sides of the ball. Cassius Winston had a career-high 32 points and had nine of the team's 16 assists. Xavier Tillman had his fourth double-double in the past seven games. 

Michigan couldn't find a rhythm on offense and made just five of its 23 attempts from three-point range. The team had nearly as many turnovers (10) as assists (14) in the loss. 

Notable Game Performances

• Cassius Winston (MSU): 32 points (11-of-19), 9 assists, 2 rebounds
• Xavier Tillman (MSU): 20 points (5-of-11), 11 rebounds
• Aaron Henry (MSU): 6 points (3-of-6), 8 rebounds
• Jon Teske (MICH): 15 points (6-of-12), 5 rebounds, 2 blocks
• Zavier Simpson (MICH): 14 points (6-of-18), 8 assists
• Brandon Johns Jr. (MICH): 12 points (4-of-9), 2 rebounds

Winston, Tillman Shine in Spartans' Win

When Michigan State was trying to find its identity early this season, one problem was the health of Joshua Langford. The senior star ranked second on the team with 15.0 points per contest, but a left foot injury limited him to 13 games. 

The Spartans announced Dec. 19 that Langford would miss the entire 2019-20 season after having surgery to repair a stress fracture in his left foot. They were starting to round into form prior to their star scorer being ruled out, but they've hit their stride over the last four games. 

Winston has taken on an increased role with at least 20 points in five of the last six games. He was all over Michigan's defense in this game, getting to the rim seemingly at will. 

Cassius Winston straight to the hoop 🔥@MSU_Basketball pic.twitter.com/uN6TQemZue

— CBS Sports College Basketball 🏀 (@CBSSportsCBB) January 5, 2020

Sheeessshhh... Cassius Winston in traffic 😱@MSU_Basketball pic.twitter.com/r4n7DcZcF5

— CBS Sports College Basketball 🏀 (@CBSSportsCBB) January 5, 2020

The Spartans have one of the nation's best offenses, averaging 81.4 points per game entering Sunday and tied for second with 20.0 assists per game. That ability to spread the ball around makes it difficult for teams to commit all their attention to Winston. 

Cassius Winston is the smoothest Michigan State player I've watched since Steve Smith. He's that good, that composed, that mature, that refined. He's like a top-shelf scotch. Pure greatness. Unflappable. Consistent.

— Ryan Schuiling (@RyanSchuiling) January 5, 2020

Winston + Tillman = A DUO. 🔥@MSU_Basketball pic.twitter.com/Ip7n9AgBIv

— CBS Sports College Basketball 🏀 (@CBSSportsCBB) January 5, 2020

Winston's ability as a playmaker also opens up opportunities for his teammates. Tillman has taken off with at least 14 points in nine of the last 10 games and remains a strong presence on the defensive end. 

Impressive offensive first half for Michigan State -- shot better than 50% from the floor and took 17 free throws. Had some opportunities in transition. Cassius Winston and Xavier Tillman were superb, Tillman at both ends of the floor.

— Jeff Borzello (@jeffborzello) January 5, 2020

Izzo has routinely used the regular season to figure out his roster and have them peaking late in the year for the Big Ten and NCAA tournaments. It looked like the start of this season would require him to piece things together yet again, but now, the Spartans look like one of the best teams in the nation. 

Defensive Woes Continue to Hurt Michigan

First-year head coach Juwan Howard has seen his team fall off on the defensive end of the court during this current 3-4 stretch dating back to Dec. 3. 

The offense has been effective with at least 70 points in 12 of its first 14 games. Center Jon Teske had another strong outing Sunday with 15 points on 6-of-12 shooting.  

One big problem for the Wolverines on Sunday was the absence of Isaiah Livers. The team's second-leading scorer (13.6 points per game) missed his second straight game due to a groin injury. 

The Isaiah Livers injury really hurts Michigan on offense. Johns missed an early three and has passed up several more looks. Livers is a major threat in those spots.

— Dylan Burkhardt (@umhoops) January 5, 2020

Another, more significant issue for Howard is the performance of his defense since starting 7-0. Michigan entered this rivalry game ranked 111th in the nation with 63.7 points allowed per game. 

Since Dec. 6, a span of six games, the only teams that Michigan has held under 70 points are Presbyterian and UMass Lowell. 

Michigan State's offense put on a clinic against the Wolverines:

Michigan State's offense scoring 1.24 points per trip with no sign of slowing down. pic.twitter.com/8OXr971Ja6

— Dylan Burkhardt (@umhoops) January 5, 2020

Compounding the problems for Michigan, the offense didn't have any answers for what the Spartans were throwing at them. Their 36.2 shooting percentage was the second-worst of the season (25.9 percent vs. Louisville). 

If the Wolverines aren't going to shoot a high percentage, their defense has to step up in games like this to keep things close. There's still plenty of time for Howard and his coaching staff to figure things out, so it's not yet panic time in Ann Arbor. 

What's Next?

Michigan will head back to Ann Arbor to host Purdue on Jan. 9 at 7 p.m. ET. Michigan State will wrap up its five-game homestand when Minnesota visits the Jack Breslin Student Events Center on Jan. 9 at 9 p.m. ET.

Another Top Five men's college basketball team fell once again as No. 5 Ohio State lost to unranked Wisconsin 61-57 in Columbus' Value City Arena on Friday evening. 

Nate Reuvers led Wisconsin with 17 points and nine rebounds. He scored seven of Wisconsin's final 11 points in the last 3:20 to turn a 51-50 deficit into a 61-57 victory.

Kobe King added 13 points on 6-of-7 shooting for the Badgers.

Kaleb Wesson dropped 22 points on 7-of-10 shooting and 13 rebounds for the Buckeyes, who shot just 12-of-37 otherwise. Duane Washington Jr. added 18 points for OSU.

OSU, which lost to No. 22 West Virginia on Sunday, has dropped two straight.

Ohio State looked like it may cruise to victory after holding Wisconsin scoreless for the first six minutes of the game, but the Buckeyes couldn't get much going offensively themselves en route to scoring only seven points during that span.

Wisconsin eventually ended the first half on a 14-6 run to take a 29-25 lead.

The second half started out similarly, with OSU clamping down on defense and extending its lead to seven points. A Kaleb Wesson layup capped a 13-2 run in a three-minute stretch after halftime.

But Wisconsin slowly clawed its way back en route to tying the game at 47 thanks to a King steal and layup.

Kobe King looks like a free safety taking an interception to the house on this one! @BadgerMBB pic.twitter.com/kxFI13v6uP

— Wisconsin On BTN (@WisconsinOnBTN) January 4, 2020

The two teams traded buckets and points before an 8-0 Wisconsin run gave it a 55-51 lead. A Brevin Pritzl three-pointer capped the stretch:

Brevin Pritzl 3 points here helps @BadgerMBB get the upset and their first signature win of the season. pic.twitter.com/EbV3t1o2Lh

— Wisconsin On BTN (@WisconsinOnBTN) January 4, 2020

Ohio State's offense struggled for the second straight game after losing 67-59 to West Virginia on Sunday. Kaleb Wesson, Andre Wesson and Washington combined to score all but eight of OSU's points.

As for Wisconsin, the Badgers won as a +285 money line underdog, per B/R Betting.

ESPN Stats & Info also put the 10th Top Five upset of the season into context:

Wisconsin defeated 5th-ranked Ohio State tonight. This marks the 10th time this season an unranked team has beaten an AP Top 5 opponent.

Through this date last season, there hadn't been a single win by an unranked team over an AP Top 5 opponent. pic.twitter.com/7JOKxxelVz

— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) January 4, 2020

Ohio State will visit No. 15 Maryland on Tuesday at 7 p.m. ET. Wisconsin will host Illinois on Wednesday at 9 p.m.

It's unfathomable that Pat Chambers still has a job.

That's not because he's an incompetent coach, an insufferable individual or in any way bad for Penn State's men's basketball program.

It's simply because nobody gets this long to make the NCAA tournament for the first time at a major-conference program.

If you're lucky, and if you inherited a mess of a roster situation, maybe you get three tournament-free years before landing on the hot seat and five years before you get run out of town. That has been the formula at DePaul, Rutgers and Washington State, each of which has an active tournament drought of at least a decade and no head coaches who made it into a sixth season during that seemingly endless dry spell.

Boston College has cracked the mold by retaining Jim Christian for a sixth year, but type his name or "college basketball hot seat" into your preferred search engine and see what comes up. Barring some miraculous turnaround from an 8-6 start to this season, the Eagles will likely hit the reset button with a different coach in 2020-21.

But this is Chambers' ninth season in Happy Valley, and he has yet to don a pair of dancing shoes.

There's an argument to be made that the Nittany Lions deserved to make the tourney two years ago when they went 3-0 against a solid Ohio State team and entered Selection Sunday ranked 29th on KenPom.com. Either way, we're talking about one time in eight years with at least 19 wins or with a non-losing record in Big Ten play.

Before this season, Chambers had a record of 127-140 with Penn State.

It hasn't exactly been a successful near-decade for the Nittany Lions, and it's almost unprecedented that they didn't make a coaching change.

And that's what makes this 11-2 start so poetically perfect. A coach who "isn't supposed to" be there anymore is leading Penn State to one of the best seasons in program history.

I understand Pat Chambers hasn’t gone to NCAA tourney. But not sure who they could hire at Penn State that would. Solid decision to bring Chambers back. https://t.co/MRsviKyZvV

— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanHoops) March 15, 2019

There's still quite a ways to go before we consider them a possible Elite Eight- or Final Four-caliber squad, but the Nittany Lions are No. 21 in the AP poll. When they broke into the Top 25 on Dec. 16, it was the first time they cracked the poll since they ended the 1995-96 campaign at No. 18—and that season was the first time they were ranked since December 1954.

According to the New Year's Day Bracket Matrix update, Penn State is projected for a No. 5 seed in the 2020 NCAA tournament. That would match the program's high-water mark of the No. 5 seed it received in 1996, and it would be just its fifth trip to the Big Dance in the past 55 years.

Penn State fans are accustomed to success in football and wrestling, but these are uncharted waters on the hardwood.

It just so happens that I've done a lot of radio hits in the Penn State market throughout Chambers' tenure, and it's been fun over the past few weeks to chat with the local sports talk hosts who have lived through many awful seasons of basketball and are feeling like some combination of Ricky Bobby not knowing what to do with his hands and Charlie Brown waiting for Lucy to pull the football away.

This team feels like the real deal, though, as the Nittany Lions have been building toward this moment for years.

The biggest reason vice president for intercollegiate athletics Sandy Barbour stuck with Chambers this long—aside from the unanswerable "Who could we get that's better?"—has been his ability to recruit the Philadelphia market, and that increase in talent is finally paying dividends in the form of wins.

Before Chambers, the idea that Penn State could put together a top-50 recruiting class seemed impossible. But the Nittany Lions ranked 41st in 2015, led by Josh Reaves and Philadelphia-area big man Mike Watkins. The latter is now a fifth-year senior who's averaging 11.2 points, 9.4 rebounds and a near-best-in-the-nation 3.5 blocks per game. The former graduated last year, but his defensive intensity and leadership changed the way this team approached the game, which persists even though he's gone.

Chambers took it one step further with the 26th-ranked class in 2016. Three of the four players in that class were teammates at Roman Catholic in Philadelphia, and the fourth, Joe Hampton, was a former teammate of Reaves' at Oak Hill Academy in Virginia.

It's hardly a mystery that they improved drastically in the span of two years and won the 2018 NIT, given the amount of skill and cohesion baked into those sophomore and junior classes.

After that postseason run, they lost four of their seven leading scorers, while a fifth (Watkins) missed early action and never quite looked like himself. As a result, they sputtered to a 14-18 record last year, but the advanced metrics suggested they were a lot better than that.

With a healthy Watkins and with the lone remaining member of the 2016 class, Lamar Stevens, blossoming into a legitimate Big Ten Player of the Year candidate, Chambers and Co. have something special brewing.

Penn State already has blowout wins over Georgetown, Syracuse and Wake Forest. It also has a statement win over then-AP No. 4 Maryland and an almost equally impressive victory over Alabama in which it persevered through early foul trouble and a significant deficit on a rough shooting night to grind out the type of "bad-game win" that even great teams need from time to time.

It only took the Nittany Lions 11 contests to get five wins over major-conference opponents. Even during the NIT championship season, they didn't get that fifth victory until game No. 22 in late January. They only had one such nonconference victory in each of the past two years, and they haven't had three in a single regular season—let alone four—in any year since before they joined the Big Ten in 1992-93. It's possible it never happened before this year.

And even in the first of its two losses, Penn State led Ole Miss by 21 in the second half before going polar-vortex cold from the field for the final 16 minutes and losing by two.

This team is outstanding on defense, it's playing faster and more fluid than ever and it is making buckets with regularity for a change—What a novel concept!—shooting better than 50 percent from inside the arc (54.7 percent, in fact) for the first time in more than two decades.

Saturday's game against No. 23 Iowa (in Philadelphia) should be Penn State's first legitimate test since it became a ranked team. But given how much difficulty the Hawkeyes often have on the defensive end, this may well just be another case of the Nittany Lions emphatically showing that you need to take them seriously.

                                      

Recruit rankings courtesy of 247 Sports.

Kerry Miller covers men's college basketball and college football for Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter: @kerrancejames.

Freshman guard Miles McBride scored a career-high 21 points off the bench as No. 22 West Virginia upset No. 2 Ohio State 67-59 on Sunday at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland.

The upset comes one day after No. 3 Louisville lost to No. 19 Kentucky in overtime, continuing a chaotic men's college hoops season where upsets of Top Five teams regularly occur.

OSU led 54-53 after an Andre Wesson three-pointer with 4:43 remaining, but the Buckeyes then failed to score for nearly four minutes.

WVU took advantage of OSU's shooting slump with an 8-0 run, which included a nifty McBride 20-footer that floated into the hoop.

A Kaleb Wesson triple with 50.7 seconds left finally ended the slump. OSU had a chance to cut the lead to one after a CJ Walker steal, but the Buckeyes came up empty on their possession. 

WVU then scored four straight off two free throws and a steal-and-score to effectively put the game away.

OSU shot 30.6 percent from the field and scored 22 second-half points. The Buckeyes also committed 22 turnovers.

Kaleb Wesson led the Buckeyes with 17 points. Duane Washington Jr. had 12, while two other Buckeyes scored 10.

The game served as a coming-out party for McBride, who entered the game having averaged 12.5 points in his last two contests.

McBride continued his hot stretch against an Ohio State team that KenPom.com ranked first in overall efficiency and fourth in adjusted defensive efficiency pregame.

The first-year Mountaineer shot 6-of-12 from the field, 3-of-4 from three-point range and 6-of-8 from the free-throw line in leading a WVU offense where no other player scored more than 10 points.

McBride was the catalyst of a 7-0 early second-half run when WVU turned a 40-34 deficit into a 41-40 lead. This mid-range jumper capped the stretch:

Miles McBride is on 🔥🔥🔥

He takes back the lead for @WVUhoops pic.twitter.com/H7tCrefNOw

— FOX College Hoops (@CBBonFOX) December 29, 2019

WVU never trailed by more than two points from that moment onward thanks to some tenacious defense and McBride magic. The freshman notably pulled off the famous Michael Jordan shrug after hitting his late 20-footer as well.

Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports also gave credit where it was due.

Miles McBride. You should have bought stock a long time ago.

— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) December 29, 2019

The 11-1 Mountaineers have a chance to upset another Top Five team when they visit No. 5 Kansas on Saturday.

The 11-2 Buckeyes will host Wisconsin on Friday at 7 p.m. ET.

Fifth-ranked Ohio State earned its third win over a Top 25 opponent, beating No. 6 Kentucky 71-65 on Saturday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

Defense has been the Buckeyes' calling card all season. Entering Saturday, opposing teams had shot just 34.6 percent against OSU, the second-lowest percentage in Division I. Villanova and North Carolina scored 51 and 49 points, respectively, when matched up with Ohio State earlier in the year.

That suffocating defense claimed another victim, as Kentucky shot 42.4 percent from the floor but went 7-of-23 from beyond the arc.

Ohio State was unable to pull away despite its excellent defensive effort. CJ Walker finally iced the game with a three-pointer as the shot clock expired with 26.6 seconds remaining.

DAGGER!@OhioStateHoops pic.twitter.com/Gy37xAYez1

— CBS Sports College Basketball 🏀 (@CBSSportsCBB) December 22, 2019

           

Notable Performers

• Kaleb Wesson, F, Ohio State: 12 points, eight rebounds, two assists, one block
• Kyle Young, F, Ohio State: 10 points, six rebounds, one assist, one steal, one block
• Nate Sestina, F, Kentucky: 17 points, four rebounds, one assist
• Tyrese Maxey, G, Kentucky: 15 points, six rebounds, three assists, one steal
• Ashton Hagans, G, Kentucky: 14 points, one rebound, nine assists, three steals

           

Ohio State Outmuscles Kentucky with Physical Approach

Ohio State hit 19 combined three-pointers in those aforementioned wins over Villanova and North Carolina. The Buckeyes entered Saturday having connected on 41.6 percent of their long-range attempts.

They struggled to find their shooting stroke from three-point range against Kentucky and instead adopted a more direct route to the basket. Ohio State attacked Kentucky inside, which often resulted in either a made basket or a trip to the charity stripe.

D.J. Carton is doing it all here early on for the Buckeyes.@DJCarton | @OhioStateHoops pic.twitter.com/K5jyofCy4m

— CBS Sports College Basketball 🏀 (@CBSSportsCBB) December 21, 2019

The Buckeyes scored 26 points in the paint and got another 21 points at the foul line.

Their success in the paint went beyond scoring, too. They out-rebounded the Wildcats 33-26 and had seven blocks as a team. D.J. Carton and Andre Wesson each had an emphatic chase-down block in the second half. Taking four points off the board was important in a game as tightly contested as this one.

GET. THAT. STUFF. OUTTA. HERE. D.J. Carton with the big time rejection, a la @KingJames.@OhioStateHoops pic.twitter.com/XnQ18Y6Ilv

— CBS Sports College Basketball 🏀 (@CBSSportsCBB) December 22, 2019

"What a great effort! SENSATIONAL!"@OhioStateHoops pic.twitter.com/sNETtelbyZ

— CBS Sports College Basketball 🏀 (@CBSSportsCBB) December 22, 2019

Kentucky didn't have much answer for Ohio State's starting frontcourt trio of the Wesson brothers and Kyle Young.

Ohio State's front line has taken Kentucky's to school today. Total mismatch.

— Justin Rowland (@RowlandRIVALS) December 22, 2019

Kaleb Wesson fouled out with 3:30 left in the game and Ohio State ahead 62-56. The Wildcats couldn't take advantage of his absence and close the gap.

       

Sestina's Big Day Not Enough for Kentucky

Wildcats graduate transfer Nate Sestina had some experience playing against Ohio State. He was part of a Bucknell squad that lost to the Buckeyes last season. That might have provided the senior forward with a slight advantage as he came off the bench to provide a much-needed offensive spark for Kentucky.

Sestina was the only real perimeter threat for John Calipari on Saturday.

That first-half Nate Sestina performance is what Kentucky was hoping for when it landed him as a grad transfer. A big who can stretch the floor, make perimeter shots.

Wildcats made a total of 11 3s as a team in the three games Sestina missed.

— Jeff Borzello (@jeffborzello) December 21, 2019

Why leave Sestina on the pick and pop? No one else on this team has made a three.

— Seth Davis (@SethDavisHoops) December 22, 2019

Whitney doesn’t get that basket without the spacing Sestina gives UK when he’s out there.

— Eric Crawford (@ericcrawford) December 22, 2019

In addition to its poor shooting, Kentucky's foul trouble doomed it to a defeat. Sestina and Nick Richards finished with four fouls, while Tyrese Maxey fouled out.

Sestina, Maxey, Richards all with four fouls. That's 23 fouls on Kentucky. OSU bricked two free throws, though, and it's five-point deficit for the Cats, 2-plus to play.

— Kyle Tucker (@KyleTucker_ATH) December 22, 2019

That not only allowed Ohio State to have a decided edge in foul shooting but also hamstrung the Wildcats in terms of attempting to match the Buckeyes' physicality inside.

            

What's Next?

The Buckeyes play No. 25 West Virginia on Dec. 29 in Cleveland before their focus shifts to conference play. The Wildcats face off with in-state rival Louisville, who sit third in the AP Top 25 poll, on Dec. 28 in Lexington.