By Stephen Vilardo, SuperWest Sports
This season some teams in the Big Ten have handled the increased travel better than others.
In the long road trips, traveling two-plus time zones in either direction, the league owns a combined 20-23 mark.
At the top of the standings, one game separates the top four.
Among those four, we have seen Michigan sweep a West Coast trip while Michigan State fell twice on a visit to L.A.
Wisconsin split their two games west and Purdue got the sweep of the Pacific Northwest teams.
How Road Trips Have Affected West Coast Big Ten Teams
Among the four West Coast teams in their East Coast swings, USC has gone 2-1, Oregon 3-3, Washington 2-3, and UCLA 1-4.
The road teams had lost seven in a row combined before UCLA broke that streak with a win at Indiana on Friday, marking the first road win for the Bruins away from the West Coast this season.
It also started a six-game win streak in such games for Big Ten road teams, which ended with the Rutgers win in Seattle last night.
UCLA’s win ended a road trip that began at Illinois.
Big Ten teams have gone 10-9 in the second contest of two-game trips. The win percentage improves as teams get accustomed to the trip.
Following that win over Indiana, I asked Mick Cronin if the second games were easier. He said they weren’t, and expressed his concerns about the duration of the trips, having just spent six days in the Midwest.
Cronin and Dana Altman both favor the former Pac-12 model, with two-game trips crammed into a long weekend on Thursday and Saturday.
The way the Big Ten schedules play out this season, each East Coast school goes west for a two-game set once. The four West Coast schools go east for three two-game sets and then take one single-game trip east.
The solo trips have been split 2-2 with USC and Washington getting wins at Nebraska and Minnesota while UCLA fell at Nebraska and Oregon dropped one at Minnesota.
Home Loss to Minnesota Exposes UCLA’s Rebounding Problems
UCLA followed up their first win outside of the Pacific Time Zone this season with an absolute clunker against Minnesota, a team with a star in Dawson Garcia but not much firepower beyond that.
UCLA needed to win that home game, and squandering a 17-point lead made it even worse.
The Bruins have a serious problem on the glass, and Minnesota exposed it.
The Gophers outrebounded UCLA 29-28—not a huge margin, but unacceptable against a UMN team that ranks 218th in the nation in total rebound rate.
In short, the Bruins were beaten on the boards by a bad rebounding team.
In the second half, Minnesota outrebounded UCLA 19-12 as the Gophers mounted their comeback with a 9-3 edge in second-chance scoring over the final 20 minutes.
UCLA is still seventh in the nation with 6.7 more scoring chances per game than opponents this season thanks to their ability to force turnovers.
The Bruins will need to fix their rebounding issues to make a long run in March when they’re likely to face teams that don’t turn it over.
Against Minnesota, they still were plus-10 in scoring chances, forcing 16 turnovers. Only six came in the second half, though, furthering the point.
And let’s be honest, Minnesota is not even close to the caliber of some teams the Bruins will face in March.
Oregon Rights Ship with Third-Straight Win after Five-Game Slide
Oregon opened its most recent Midwest swing with the win at Iowa last night and is looking at a huge game in Madison on Saturday.
The Badgers have been as hot as any team in the nation recently, and the win over Illinois on Tuesday brought their streak to five in a row.
The Ducks may have fallen out of contention for the Big Ten championship, thanks to a five-game slide, but seem to have righted themselves with a three-game winning streak.
Oregon can still get back to playing championship-caliber basketball and prepare for March with a win over Wisconsin.
The Ducks lack a true distributor and that has hurt them at times. Still, UO has moved the ball decently this season, with an assist rate of 55.5%, ranking them 84th in the nation.
Wisconsin has been very good at limiting assists this season.
If Oregon can be patient offensively on Saturday they could get some good looks, but the Ducks will need to make the extra pass as the Badgers will limit their open shots.
Washington in a Fight to Make the Conference Tournament
Washington lost a tight back-and-forth affair at home to Rutgers on Tuesday night and did so in the most excruciating way.
The game had a bit of a tournament feel to it—and for good reason.
Rutgers now has a leg up in the fight to get into the Big Ten Tournament while the Huskies may be on the outside looking in at the top 15 in the league.
Odds are one of them will get to Indianapolis, but both would be tough outs for any Day-One opponent if they do.
SuperWest Player of The Week: John Tonje, G, Wisconsin
In a pair of wins over Purdue and Illinois the Badger senior averaged 31.5 points, 4.5 rebounds, 2.0 steals, and 1.5 assists.
The Colorado State transfer has averaged 25.4 points during the Wisconsin five-game winning streak.
SuperWest Freshman of the Week: Derik Queen, C, Maryland
The Big Ten is loaded with really good freshmen this season and Queen might be starting to separate himself from the rest of the field.
Last week he averaged 21 points and 12 rebounds while leading the Terps to a pair of wins.
writes about various topics for SuperWest sports, including stats and records, college sports, and motorsports. He also founded and runs the Sports and Entertainment Research Center (SERC).