Wednesday Night Previews

Iowa (10-11) at Purdue (15-5) 7:00 BTN Pomeroy Rankings: Iowa #112, Purdue #35 Greenfield Team Rankings: Iowa #129, Purdue #40 Iowa has won 3 of their last 5 to find themselves sitting at 6th place in the Big Ten. The Hawkeyes are doing it mostly with solid team defense. During that 5 game span, Iowa is holding its opponents to 55 points per game. Purdue is coming off their biggest win of the last few years, a home win against Wisconsin. The Boilermakers are one of the hottest teams in the conference, they've won 5 straight and 8 of their last 9 games. These teams met two weeks ago in Iowa City, with Purdue winning 67-62. BTC Prediction: Purdue 61 Iowa 54 Texas-Pan American (14-10) at Northwestern (6-11) 8:00 BigTenNetwork.com Pomeroy: TX-Pan American #274, Northwestern #175 Greenfield: TX-Pan American #258, Northwestern #204 Fans who are without the Big Ten Network get a bonus treat tonight! Whether your cable provider carries BTN or not, all will be able to watch Texas-Pan American face off against Northwestern on the Big Ten Network's website. Of course the newest episode of America's Ballroom Challenge on PBS will probably provide more excitement. Anyways, for those interested Texas-Pan American has actually won seven straight games, of course all against teams ranked 270th or worse in Pomeroy's rankings. Northwestern is 0-7 in Big Ten play and have lost all seven by double-digits. The Wildcat's last win came out of conference two weeks ago against Chicago State. BTC Prediction: Northwestern 70 Texas-Pan American 60 Illinois (10-11) at Michigan State (18-2) 9:00 BTN Pomeroy: Illinois #34, Michigan State #17 Greenfield: Illinois #112, Michigan State #10 Illinois has actually played better than their record would suggest. The Illini are 2-6 in conference play but have played some good teams close on the road. Their last 4 losses have all come on the road and by 10 or less points to Ohio State, Purdue, Indiana and Wisconsin. The Illini's only head-scratching loss in Big Ten play came at Penn State in early January, but of course that was back when Geary Claxton was still suiting up for the Nittany Lions. The bad news for Illinois is you don't get any points for losing close on the road, and Michigan State has yet to drop a home game this year. In fact, the only team to beat the Spartans in East Lansing in the past three years was last year's National Runner-Up Ohio State. BTC Prediction: Michigan State 67 Illinois 58 BTC Predictions are 17-3 on the season