Welcome to “The Daily Scoop”, an article to bring you up to date with the latest news from college basketball and a preview of the day ahead.

Daily Headlines

Illinois dominates Oregon on the road, Ace Bailey and Braden Smith shine in Thursday night action across the B1G

The marquee game on Thursday night went down late in Eugene, with #22 Illinois traveling to take on #9 Oregon. In what was a rather hyped game, what occurred was a shock to everyone. It wasn’t the fact that the Fighting Illini went on the road and won the game, it was the fact that their 32-point margin of victory was the largest by any team going on the road against an AP top 10 team.

Balance was the key for the visitors. Illinois saw six players reach double figures, with nobody scoring more than 20 points on the night. The Fighting Illini move the ball extremely well and when they are clicking, like they were last night, it becomes impossible for anyone to stop them. There’s plenty of versatility within their lineups, and nearly everyone that steps onto the court is a capable three-point shooter. In the 109-77 road win, Illinois shot 16-29 (55.2%) from three-point range, with Ben Humrichous and Kylan Boswell each hitting four three-pointers.

That was a case of a team truly shining together, putting up one of the best performances we’ve seen by a team this season, but there were also a couple of individual performances on Thursday night that should be recognized. The first of which comes in a loss. Rutgers star freshman Ace Bailey is known for his tough shot making ability, and that’s exactly what he did for 40 minutes at Indiana. Bailey hit 16 of his 29 shots en route to 39 points, but with Dylan Harper out due to injury, the short-handed Scarlet Knights fell 74-84 on the road.

Another great individual performance occurred inside Williams Arena last night, when Purdue met up with Minnesota to resume Big Ten play. This was one I was in attendance for, and it was my first time getting to see Purdue and Braden Smith play live. The final score of 81-61 may look like it was a route, but Minnesota had a second half lead and never trailed by more than nine until the final ten minutes. Smith was the guy that finally surged his team in front though, showing off his elite playmaking ability and speed, but also shining as a big shot maker down the stretch. 17 of Smith’s 20 came in the second half, switching his role from a distributor to a scorer when his team needed him to step up. Smith would finish with 20 points, six rebounds, and ten assists, solidifying himself as one of the best players I’ve seen in person over the last couple of seasons.

Other Things to Note:

• #19 Gonzaga dominates Portland 81-50 to improve to 2-0 in WCC play
• #21 Memphis opens up ACC play with 90-62 win over rivals FAU
• Penn State survives 84-80 at home against Northwestern after controversial goaltending sequence
• Washington picks up first-ever Big Ten conference win at home against Maryland
• #18 Michigan State travels to Columbus to take on Ohio State in important early Big Ten matchup (8:00 ET, FOX)