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Big Ten Daily (Feb. 7): Cam Christie's Big Night Moves Minnesota to 4th in League Standings

Minnesota freshman Cam Christie came up clutch on Tuesday night, hitting five shots from long range in a 59-56 win over Michigan State. Thanks to his efforts, the Golden Gophers have now won three straight games and sit at fourth in the Big Ten standings.

Dustin Schutte

Big Ten Daily (Feb. 7): Cam Christie's Big Night Moves Minnesota to 4th in League Standings
Big Ten Daily (Feb. 7): Cam Christie's Big Night Moves Minnesota to 4th in League Standings /
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Cam Christie is elbowing his way into the conversation as the Big Ten's best freshman this college basketball season. The first-year guard pulled through in a huge way for Minnesota on Tuesday night, knocking down five shots from 3-point range, leading the Golden Gophers to a 59-56 victory over Michigan State.

Christie was a problem for the Spartans all night long, but hit the biggest shot of the night came in transition. His final bucket from behind the 3-point line was with just over four minutes to play, knocking down a pull-up jumper to give Minnesota a 51-50 advantage.

In the final 20 seconds of the game, the freshman also collected an important defensive rebound off of an AJ Hoggard missed free throw. Christie was fouled, walked down to the other end of the floor and knocked down two clutch free throws.

"We saw Cam Christie grow up right in front of our eyes. He took this basketball game over in that second half," Big Ten Network analyst Raphael Davis said. "Got whatever he wanted. When he came off that ball screen and hit that three in Jaden Akins' face, that was the play of the game. That's what won it for them."

Christie finished the game with 19 points, six rebounds and an assist. He connected on five of his seven attempts from behind the arc.

Tuesday's performance comes after a solid outing in Saturday's 75-66 overtime win over Northwestern. Christie scored 15 points, grabbed six rebounds and dished out three assists in 42 minutes on the floor.

Minnesota has now won three straight games, defeating Penn State, Northwestern and Michigan State. As a result, the Gophers sit 6-5 in Big Ten play, tied for fourth place in the standings.

"Don't kid yourself," Michigan State coach Tom Izzo said after the game. "That's a good basketball team."

Mahomes shouts out Clark at Super Bowl

Media Day at the Super Bowl is an event dedicated to silly questions and fun responses. So, of course someone asked Kansas City Chiefs quarterback and two-time NFL MVP Patrick Mahomes about Iowa women's basketball star Caitlin Clark.

Heading into this week, Clark needs just 66 points to break the NCAA college women's basketball all-time scoring record, set by Washington's Kelsey Plum. There's a possibility it happens on Super Bowl Sunday.

When asked about Clark's abilities on the court, he paid the Hawkeyes superstar a major compliment.

"I think she's close to breaking, maybe on Super Bowl Sunday, so, I don't know if I'll get to see it," Mahomes said. "Just a tremendous player, tremendous person. I've met with her and talked — you can tell she loves the game. She loves playing at Iowa.

"Gonna be one of the best women's basketball — one of the best college basketball players to ever play — and then go to the WNBA and dominate there, as well. Hopefully I never have to play her one-on-one, because she'll for sure be getting buckets on me."

Plum currently owns the record with 3,527 points. Clark sits at 3,462. The Hawkeyes host Penn State on Thursday (9 p.m. ET, Big Ten Network) before traveling to play Nebraska on Sunday (1 p.m. ET, Fox). 

The Rutgers-Maryland box score

Confession: I tweeted out the box score from last night's Rutgers-Maryland game to use it in today's Big Ten Daily. My apologies, but if I had to watch Tuesday night's game, then you at least have to see this image.

It's only fair.

Let me be clear, this is not the ugliest box score you'll ever see from a college basketball game. Far from it. But it certainly ain't pretty:

Give credit to Rutgers, this is how it wants every box score to look. The Scarlet Knights are bereft of shooters and need to muddy things up to win basketball games. That's exactly what happened on Tuesday night.

Doing it on the road? Even more impressive.

Mawot Mag and Jeremiah Williams put together great efforts for the Scarlet Knights, combining for 29 points on 11-of-18 shooting from the floor. They accounted for half of Rutgers field goals in the contest.

For those wondering, YES, we do get one more of these matchups this season. The Terrapins travel to Piscataway on Feb. 25 for a rematch. If Maryland hasn't figured out how to consistently shoot by then, it's going to be another ugly game.

Advantage Rutgers.

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Dustin Schutte
DUSTIN SCHUTTE

Dustin Schutte is a writer for Sports Illustrated/HoosiersNow.com. He has a more than a decade of experience covering the Big Ten Conference.

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