Four of the six major conferences were in action on Tuesday, and each league’s slate featured a game with two teams that have legitimate hopes of a trip to the NCAA Tournament. Three of the games were close down the stretch, and one wasn’t. All four taught us something about each team.

Ohio State 70, Purdue 66: The Buckeyes’ win at Purdue was remarkable and necessary. Down 15, Ohio State was eight minutes from falling to 1-4 in Big Ten play thanks to Robbie Hummel’s 29-point, first-half outbreak. Instead, Evan Turner made Chris Kramer and Purdue — one of the best defenders and best defensive teams in the nation respectively — look like something far less than that.

Turner played all 40 minutes, scoring 32 points and pulling down nine rebounds. Neither Turner nor his coach, Thad Matta, believe that the sophomore is at full strength after missing most of seven games with a scary back injury, but the point-forward was plenty good enough to help OSU get to 2-3 in conference. Read More »