Big Ten Basketball

The Nebraska Cornhuskers and former Iowa State and Chicago Bulls head coach Fred Hoiberg have been "actively talking" about the team's head-coaching vacancy, according to Evan Daniels of 247Sports.com.

Per that report, "Nebraska has identified Hoiberg as their top target, and while a formal agreement hasn't been finalized, one source believes they aren't far off." 

Nebraska fired former head coach Tim Miles on Tuesday after seven seasons at the helm, per Chris Heady of the Omaha.com.

Miles went 116-114 in his tenure, though the team reached just one NCAA tournament in that time. Nebraska came into the 2018-19 season with high hopes, but it disappointed, going just 19-17 and losing in the second round of the NIT. While injuries played their part in derailing the season, the Cornhuskers also trended in the wrong direction after starting 11-2 and rising to as high as No. 24 in the rankings. 

Nebraska athletic director Bill Moos spoke about Miles in a press release, per Heady:

"Tim Miles is a good basketball coach who has put his heart, soul and energy into the Nebraska men's basketball program over the past seven years. Ultimately, we have not maintained a level of consistent success and stability on the court, and after a full review I have made the decision to move in another direction for the leadership of our program."

Hoiberg had a great deal of success at the college level, meanwhile, going 115-56 and leading the Cyclones to four NCAA tournament appearances and two Big-12 conference tournament championships in five seasons. He would be a solid upgrade for a Nebraska basketball program that has traditionally been pushed to the background in favor of football.

The Nebraska Cornhuskers have fired head basketball coach Tim Miles after seven seasons.

"Tim Miles is a good basketball coach who has put his heart, soul and energy into the Nebraska men's basketball program over the past seven years," Nebraska athletic director Bill Moos said in a statement on the team's official website.

"Ultimately, we have not maintained a level of consistent success and stability on the court, and after a full review I have made the decision to move in another direction for the leadership of our program."

Miles took to Twitter to offer his thoughts:

Miles went 116-114 while reaching the NCAA tournament just once during his seven years on the sideline in Lincoln. Nebraska went one-and-done in its lone NCAA tournament appearance under Miles, losing to Baylor in the Round of 64 back in 2013-14.

While an 11-2 start to this past season helped the Cornhuskers become ranked for the first time since since 2014-15, losing 15 of their final 23 games resulted in a 19-17 season. It marked the second consecutive year in which they were relegated to the NIT, where it was bounced by TCU in the second round.

Prior to Miles' arrival, the Cornhuskers were in the midst of a 14-year playoff drought. He wound up taking the team to the Big Dance in his second year on the job, but was unable to get it back there over the final five seasons.

Nebraska's 22 wins in 2017-18 were the most the program had recorded since 1990-91. However, the inability to truly build on that success proved costly.

Miles previously coached at Colorado State 2007 to 2012. While his 71-88 overall record may not stand out, he took the Rams from seven wins in his first season to 20 wins and an NCAA tournament berth in his final year.

The third-seeded Purdue Boilermakers coasted past the sixth-seeded Villanova Wildcats on Saturday 87-61, and Carsen Edwards is a big reason for it.

The junior guard went off for 42 points and shot a perfect 9-of-9 from beyond the arc in the second-round win in Hartford, Connecticut.

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Edwards fell two points short of the Purdue scoring record in a single NCAA tournament game. Glenn Robinson poured in 44 points in a Sweet 16 victory over the Kansas Jayhawks in 1994.

CBS Sports' Jon Rothstein noted Edwards' output was the highest in the Big Dance since former Syracuse Orange star Gerry McNamara had 43 points against the BYU Cougars in the first round in 2004.

Edwards' final field goal of the game was a step-back three-pointer in the face of Villanova guard Phil Booth.

In Villanova's defense, few could've predicted Edwards would have such a big day from the perimeter. He was a 33.5 percent three-point shooter entering Saturday, and he had been particularly bad in the buildup to the second round.

Purdue moves into the regional semifinals for the third straight season. The Boilermakers will hope Edwards can have a repeat performance to get to the Elite Eight for the first time since 2000.    

There will be a new national champion in college basketball after the Purdue Boilermakers picked apart the Villanova Wildcats 87-61 on Saturday in the South Region.

In addition to sending Villanova home early, the Boilermakers extended their streak of reaching the Sweet 16 to three straight seasons. Head coach Matt Painter has his team back on track after it lost two of its final three games in the regular season and Big Ten tournament.

Carsen Edwards cracked the 40-point mark for the second time this season. The Purdue junior finished with 42 points on 12-of-21 shooting. Matt Haarms added 18 points and nine rebounds.

Villanova shot just 34.5 percent from the field, and its 87 points allowed were a season-high. Senior Eric Paschall ended his college career with a team-high 19 points.

Edwards had his most efficient game since scoring 25 points on 16 field-goal attempts against Ohio State on March 2.

In Purdue's first tournament win over Old Dominion, Edwards needed 23 shots to score 26 points. He showed how quickly the Boilermakers offense can strike when he's on top of his game against Villanova.

It wasn't just Edwards who was causing Villanova headaches. The defending national champs gave up 12 offensive rebounds and had more turnovers (10) than assists (seven).

The first half, in particular, saw Purdue playing at a rapid pace that would have given any team in the country headaches. It went into the intermission with 43 points and shot 9-of-18 from three-point range.

The Boilermakers ended the season losing two of their last three games—both defeats were against Minnesota. Their last win over an opponent ranked in the AP Top 25 was on Jan. 27 over Michigan State.

Because of those struggles, as well as the team's history of blowing big leads in tournament games, Purdue fans were still uneasy after going up by 19 at halftime.

Seemingly out to prove this game wouldn't be a repeat of the 2015 loss to Cincinnati—up 56-49 in the final minute—and 2016 loss to Little Rock after being up 13 with 3:33 remaining, the Boilermakers started the second half on a 16-0 run.

There was a moment when Edwards had outscored Villanova by himself during that run:

Despite being given a No. 6 seed, the Wildcats had hoped to make a deep run in the tournament. They won six of their previous seven games, including the Big East tournament. Head coach Jay Wright did an excellent job of building this team up throughout the season.

But Wright also had to replace seven players from the 2017-18 title team, including his top four scorers.

A 26-win season with all of the talent that left speaks to how well Wright and his coaching staff have done recruiting for the Wildcats. They are still the class of the Big East and figure to be better next season with two of the nation's top 15 recruits committed to the program, per 247Sports.

Purdue's statement win will give Painter and company more confidence heading into the Sweet 16. The program hasn't reached the Elite Eight since 1999-00. The Boilermakers are well-positioned to end that drought with two easy tournament wins this week.

What's Next?

Purdue will play the winner of Sunday's No. 10 Iowa-No. 2 Tennessee matchup in Louisville, Kentucky, on Thursday.

No. 2 Michigan State won a battle of Big Ten schools in the second round of the NCAA men's basketball tournament, earning a 70-50 win over No. 10 Minnesota.

Cassius Winston totaled 13 points, nine assists and two steals in Saturday's win in Des Moines, Iowa, helping the Spartans reach the Sweet 16 for the first time in the last four years. The Big Ten tournament champions continued their success against the rest of their own league, following up on a 24-point win against Minnesota earlier this season.

Amir Coffey did everything he could to help the Golden Gophers with 27 points, but it wasn't enough to keep his team's season alive.

Minnesota was forced to play mostly without double-double machine Jordan Murphy, who dealt with back issues and saw limited action.

The senior played only four minutes, not including his cameo at the end of the game where he was cheered off the court.

This led to a lopsided night, as Michigan State made things difficult on the defensive end.

The Gophers were stuck at 11 points for the first 14 minutes and finished the first half making 22.6 percent of their shots.

On the other end, the Spartans pounded the ball inside to get easy looks throughout the day:

When there were rare Spartan misses, the big men were there to clean it up:

It was clear the favorites were taking advantage of Murphy's absence.

Still, 11 Michigan State turnovers in the first half kept it at a 33-19 halftime advantage. The team ended the night with 22 giveaways in a sloppy offensive performance.

Coffey then did everything he could to keep the score close, including this powerful dunk:

The junior finished 8-of-24 from the field, but he was the only player on his team doing anything offensively. He totaled 54 percent of his team's points as well as four of his team's seven assists.

He helped cut the deficit to nine in the second half, but Michigan State was too good to be held down for long.

Winston helped the Spartans pull away with a personal 7-0 run, ending with this fast-break three:

The Big Ten Player of the Year allowed a balanced attack offensively but took control when needed to help the No. 2 seed pull away.

The Spartans struggled with No. 15 Bradley in the first round, trailing late in the second half before holding on for an 11-point win. This performance should have the team feeling much more confident heading into the second weekend.

What's Next?

Michigan State will advance to the Sweet 16 in Washington D.C., where it will face No. 3 LSU on Friday.

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After struggling through the first half of Saturday's second-round NCAA men's basketball tournament game against Michigan State, Amir Coffey provided a spark for Minnesota with a massive dunk that left Aaron Henry turned around.

Coffey simply used his speed and power to overwhelm Henry, who got so twisted he was able to keep his momentum going to run back to the other end of the court when the Spartans inbounded the ball.

Defense, defense, defense. If the Michigan Wolverines continue to advance at the NCAA men's basketball tournament, it will be on the back of their defense.

Just ask the Florida Gators. Michigan smothered Florida on Saturday in second-round play in the West Region, holding the Gators to 34.5 percent shooting from the field in a 64-49 win. Michigan is now off to the Sweet 16 for the third consecutive season.

While the Wolverines locked down on defense, Jordan Poole led the offense with 19 points on 4-of-9 shooting from three. Florida's regular-season leading scorer, KeVaughn Allen, was held in check, scoring just eight points.

Zavier Simpson was also excellent in the win, just missing out on a triple-double with nine points, nine boards and nine assists, while Jon Teske added eight points and 10 rebounds and Isaiah Livers chipped in with 10 points off the bench.

It was a team effort for the Wolverines, who have given up on average just 52 points in their first two tournament games. Their defense continues to be suffocating.

But the Wolverines are only going to go as far as Poole can take them. Michigan isn't a good offensive team, and for stretches against Florida on Saturday, the points didn't come easily.

If Poole is cooking, though, the Wolverines will be an extremely tough out.

And Michigan will get to have more scenes like this, too:

Getting consistent scoring from Ignas Brazdeikis—who was the team's leading scorer this season but posted just five points on 2-of-8 shooting against Florida—is also vital for the Wolverines. Poole can be streaky, and if neither he nor Brazdeikis are hitting shots, Michigan's offense often grinds to a halt.

In the regular season, the defense overcame any offensive woes more often than not. But with the competition now stiffening in the Sweet 16, Michigan's margin for error is shrinking.

On Saturday night, however, the Wolverines showed just how dominant they could be, squeezing the life out of Florida's offense. Poole and Co. have an elite ceiling. The question is how they'll fare against elite teams if the offense doesn't show up.

Up next for Michigan is a matchup against either third-seeded Texas Tech or sixth-seeded Buffalo on Thursday.

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With his team trailing in its second-round matchup against the third-seeded LSU Tigers, Maryland Terrapins forward Bruno Fernando did what he could do try to provide a spark early in the second half.

Fernando hauled in a rebound despite being surrounded by a trio Tigers and then threw it down with authority with one hand after finding an opening.

The dunk cut the Terrapins' deficit to single digits.

Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo again addressed his outburst toward Spartans forward Aaron Henry during the team's 76-65 win over No. 15 Bradley on Thursday in the first round of the 2019 NCAA men's basketball tournament.

"To me it was ridiculous the way it blew up," Izzo said Friday, per ESPN.com's Adam Teicher and Ed Aschoff. "There's a 10-second soundbite and a two-year relationship [with Henry]. I just think people don't understand that. This coach relies on relationships with his players I think more than any coach in the country. That's an egotistic or selfish statement, self-proclaimed. But I think it's been earned, and it's been talked about."

During the second half of Thursday's East Region game, the cameras caught Izzo yelling at Henry, so much that Michigan State guard Cassius Winston stepped in to separate the two.

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Winston acknowledged Izzo "can be tough at times" but that his tactics produce results.

"He's hard, but once you figure out what the message is and what he wants for you and from you, it gets a lot easier with him yelling at you," he said. "It's to challenge you to be the best player that you can possibly be. Once you figure it out in that sense, him yelling doesn't bother you."

Golden State Warriors star Draymond Green, who played four years at Michigan State, offered his opinion as well:

Izzo declined to apologize and defended his tactic immediately after the game, telling reporters Henry had failed to get back on defense during a sequence in the second half.

Henry finished with eight points and three rebounds in 29 minutes against the Braves. He's averaging 5.5 points, 3.6 rebounds and 1.4 assists per game in his first season with the Spartans.

He and his teammates will meet a familiar foe in the second round: Minnesota. The No. 10 Golden Gophers defeated the No. 7 Louisville Cardinals 86-76 to set up a rematch with No. 2 Michigan State. MSU prevailed 79-55 when the teams met Feb. 9 in East Lansing, Michigan.   

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Wisconsin overcame a slow start in its 2019 men's NCAA tournament debut against Oregon to finish the first half tied at 25. 

Khalil Iverson provided one of the Badgers' highlights with a monster dunk in the final seconds of the first half.  

Wisconsin trailed by as many as seven points early in the game, but Iverson tied the game and gave the Badgers momentum going into the intermission.