Busting Brackets
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NCAA Basketball: Purdue and Memphis among week’s biggest winners and losers

By Jason Burgess

Kris Murray and Keegan Murray stand for a photo during Iowa Men's basketball media day at Carver Hawkeye Arena, Monday, Oct. 11, 2021.Hawkbkb38 Jpg
Kris Murray and Keegan Murray stand for a photo during Iowa Men's basketball media day at Carver Hawkeye Arena, Monday, Oct. 11, 2021.Hawkbkb38 Jpg /
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NCAA Basketball Trayce Jackson-Davis Indiana Hoosiers (Photo by Rich Schultz/Getty Images)
NCAA Basketball Trayce Jackson-Davis Indiana Hoosiers (Photo by Rich Schultz/Getty Images) /

Big Ten Sophomores

Speaking of sophomores, second-year players in the Big Ten had themselves quite a week. Five guys, in particular, deserve to be recognized, a pair of Boilermakers, a pair of Hawkeye brothers and an Indiana Hoosier are at the head of the sophomore class in the deepest conference in the country.

Ivey and his 7-4 classmate Zach Edey helped lead Team USA to an under-19 World Championship this summer and this week led Purdue to the top ranking in the country with two wins this week. The sophomore duo combined for 30 points and 10 rebounds in the 93-65 blowout of Florida State and then got a big road conference win over Iowa with 26 points and nine rebounds.

Speaking of Iowa, they have a pair of sophomores of their own, in fact, a pair of twin brothers. The Murray twins, Keegan and Kris have been a driving force behind Iowa’s 7-1 start. Keegan is one of the top scorers in the country averaging nearly 25 per game and Kris is the Hawkeye’s third-leading scorer (11.7) and second-leading rebounder (5.7).

Unfortunately for Iowa, the brothers only got to play in one game together, a win over Virginia, because Keegan missed the game with Purdue due to injury. In the win over Virginia, Iowa scored 44 points in the first half, the most in the Tony Bennett era. Keegan had 18 points and nine rebounds in the win and then in the loss to Purdue Kris stepped into a starting role with 12 points and four rebounds. He was aided by another sophomore, Tony Perkins who added 14 points and a ton of energy, especially in the first half for the Hawkeyes.

The Big Ten sophomore who had the best week has to be Indiana’s Trayce Jackson-Davis who was a double-overtime loss away from a 2-0 week. Last Saturday the 6-9 soph netted 43 in a win over Marshall and followed that with a 31-point and 16-rebound effort in the Hoosiers’ 102-100 loss to Syracuse in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. Jackson-Davis was really efficient in the game missing just 5 of his 16 shots and his six offensive rebounds surpassed the rebounding total of any Orange player in the game.

Saturday, he led Indiana with 14 points in their win over Nebraska and added seven rebounds, three steals, and four blocks, making an impact on both ends of the floor.

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