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

Two buzzer-beaters, three one possession games across Thursday’s Big Ten action

The Big Ten has the notion to be one of the tightest leagues from top to bottom, and the conference played right into that notion on Thursday night. Heading into the night, Minnesota at Michigan, Maryland at Northwestern, and Rutgers at Nebraska might not exactly light sparks as matchups, but all three delivered in a big way.

Michigan and Minnesota opened the night, and the overtime thriller spilt into the late slate with the other two games. Minnesota came into the game 0-6 in league play, while Michigan entered Williams Arena on a five-game winning streak and undefeated 5-0 mark in Big Ten play. Of course, all of these streaks would end for better or worse, in a game where neither team had control for the final five minutes of regulation and in the overtime period.

After falling behind 51-41, Minnesota rattled off a 10-0 run to even things up with 10:17 to go. With 5:40 to go, Danny Wolf pushed the Michigan lead back up to five, before an 8-0 Minnesota run, capped off by a Mike Mitchell jumper, put the Gophers ahead 64-61.

Flash forward to under a minute to go, and Lu’Cye Patterson had given Minnesota a 69-68 advantage. After Vlad Goldin missed the front end of a one-and-one, the ball caromed out of bounds in favor of Minnesota. 39 seconds left and in possession, the Gophers were in the driver’s seat to get their first Big Ten victory.

If you’re familiar with how Minnesota basketball and Big Ten basketball works though, this was only the beginning. Minnesota would get the ball in bounds, before throwing it off the back of the backboard out of bounds for a turnover. Wolf made the Gophers pay with a three to take the lead.

But the nation’s 351st best free throw shooting team came to play last night, with Dawson Garcia hitting two clutch free throws with seven seconds left to send the game to overtime tied at 71-71.

The overtime was filled with drama and missed free throws (of course), but the excitement began with Danny Wolf securing a rebound with 18 seconds to go. 11 seconds later, he would put the ball into the net to tie the game at 81-81.

Seven seconds, no timeouts for the Big Ten’s only winless team to go the length of the floor to win the game.

It was no problem for Dawson Garcia though, who after inbounding the ball to Patterson was trailing the play the entire time. Patterson laid it off to him with a little over a second to go, and the rest is history.

Garcia’s high arching shot from just inside halfcourt swished perfectly through the net, and the hometown hero led the celebrations as Minnesota picked up a much-needed victory, both in terms of morale and staying alive for the conference tournament race.

The Minnesota guards did their jobs throughout, with Patterson scoring a season-high 22 points and Mitchell contributing 20 of his own. Michigan lacked the guard contribution, but as he’s done all season, Danny Wolf came up big with 23 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists.

The only problem? He was outplayed by the man who hit the game winner, maybe one of the most underappreciated players in the sport because of the team he plays for, Dawson Garcia. Garcia’s heave from the logo gave him a final tally of 27 points, 12 rebounds, four assists, three steals, and two blocks. All of that while matched up on the Big Ten’s “premier” post player, Danny Wolf.

All this had happened in the Big Ten, and meanwhile Maryland/Northwestern and Rutgers/Nebraska were just getting underway. These two games finished at nearly identical times, with overtime drama at Welsh-Ryan Arena and an upset road victory for Rutgers at Pinnacle Bank Arena.

I only had an opportunity to watch the final seconds of these thrillers, but you could still feel the excitement. With Brooks Barnhizer leading the way with 20 points, ten rebounds, and five assists, Northwestern had a chance to win it from underneath their own basket on an inbounds play with 0.7 seconds to go.

Nick Martinelli came around a curl, caught the ball, and released it just before time expired to sink the conference’s second game-winning buzzer-beater of the night. Martinelli’s bucket gave him 22 points on the night, and the Wildcats now have an impressive 3-0 mark in overtime this season, including wins over Illinois and Maryland.

Meanwhile in Lincoln, the stud freshmen duo was getting the job done on the road. Ace Bailey finished with 24 points, 11 rebounds, and four assists while Dylan Harper added 21 points, five rebounds, and four assists. The duo combined for over half of Rutgers points and half of its assists in the win.

Now with back-to-back wins over UCLA and Nebraska, maybe all hope isn’t dead for the 10-8 Scarlet Knights to sneak into the dance.

You never know what storylines the Big Ten will bring you on a night-to-night basis, but I’m loving the fact there’s action from the conference on Sundays, Mondays, Thursdays, and Fridays, which are usually the four quietest days of the college basketball week.

Other Things to Note:

• Michael Rataj goes for 29 as Oregon State stuns #16 Gonzaga 97-89 in overtime
• Court storm in the AAC as Temple beats #18 Memphis 88-81
• Ohio, Akron go head-to-head with both undefeated in MAC play (6:00 ET, CBSSN)
• Villanova looks to bounce back against Providence after falling to Xavier (7:00 ET, FS1)
• Mountain West powers meet in The Pit as Boise State visits New Mexico (11:00 ET, FS1)