Big Ten tournament second round preview for Thursday, March 10

The second round of the Big Ten tournament is here! Thursday brings the second round of the tournament and four matchups. We will have Michigan taking on Indiana, Iowa playing Northwestern, Michigan State facing Maryland and Ohio State against Penn State.

The games start tipping off at 11:30 a.m. ET on the Big Ten Network, and the Big Ten Tournament is being held at the GainBridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana.

No. 9 Indiana vs. No. 8 Michigan: 11:30 a.m., BTN

Point Spread: Michigan -2
Point Total: 136.5

Indiana and Michigan open up their Big Ten tournament play with their second matchup of the season. In the first, Michigan came away with an 18-point victory on the road. Neither team played well in conference play with Indiana going 9-11 and Michigan going 11-9. Michigan alternated wins and losses, going 5-4 in their final nine games of the season. Indiana went 2-7 over the same span. The battle of the ugly conference performances kicks off the second round of tournament play.

The pick: Michigan -2

No. 12 Northwestern vs. No. 5 Iowa: Approx. 2:00 p.m., BTN

Point Spread: Iowa -7.5
Point Total: 147.5

Northwestern was down 15 points with 15 minutes left in the game and they clawed their way back and held off Nebraska long enough to pick up the win. Their reward? Now they face a fresh 5-seed Iowa who hasn’t had to play since March 6 when they dropped the regular-season finale to Illinois.

The No. 24 ranked Hawkeyes picked up a 21-point victory over Northwestern in their sole matchup in the regular season.

The pick: Iowa -7.5

No. 10 Maryland vs. No. 7 Michigan State: 6:30 p.m., BTN

Point Spread: Michigan State -3
Point Total: 139.5

The Terrapins met up with the Spartans twice in the regular season and Maryland took an L in both of those matchups. The biggest problem for the Terps is that the second loss came just four days ago and was in their regular-season finale. Maryland played them close in both games and Michigan State went 3-7 in their final 10 games of the regular season.

Even though the Spartans had the Terps number, I think Maryland puts it all on the line and surprises here.

The pick: Maryland +3

No. 11 Penn State vs. No. 6 Ohio State: Approx. 9:00 p.m., BTN

Point Spread: Ohio State -5
Point Total: 132.5

The Nittany Lions pulled away in a 60-51 win over Minnesota to advance to pick up their first win in four games. Few major college teams not named Virginia play slower than PSU, and the last game between these teams saw just 117 points scored.

The Buckeyes get Zed Key back for this one, but the status of Kyle Young is still up in the air as of now.

The pick: Over 132.5

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