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Big Ten Daily (Dec. 26): Games on Christmas Day a Huge Hit For League

With players sequestered on campus because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Big Ten opted to play four games on Christmas Day for the first time ever, and it turned out to be a full day of terrific basketball.
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WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Basketball on Christmas Day turned out great for the Big Ten on Friday.

Because all of its players are basically locked inside a bubble and can't be around groups of people because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the league decided to play four games on Christmas Day for the first time ever.

It turned out to be a great idea, with a full day and night of entertaining and dramatic basketball.

“We just felt that the safest, best place for them was here,” said Michigan State coach Tom Izzo, whose Spartans team lost to Wisconsin in the first game of the day. “And if they're going to be here, let’s do what they love to do. Let's help the mental health of everybody and do what they really love to do – and that was play.”

Izzo said he knows it's tough to be away from family, but this was the best thing to do in a tough situation.

“We tried to do the best we could do with the cards we were dealt,” Izzo said, “and I wasn't going to leave my players in their dorms or their apartments not able to do anything. So, we fought like hell to make sure that we could do something special.”

The players still get tested every day, and if someone tests positive, they miss nearly three weeks of the season. So everyone has bought in to do all the right things this year, so a complete season can be played

"This year, this is our family,'' said Illinois coach Brad Underwood, who hosts Indiana on Saturday. "Our players voted on this in the fall, and for our guys, it's very unusual. Times are different, and I hope that our players will look at this as an opportunity to be around people who care about them a great deal.

"You can't understand the sacrifice that these guys have gone through, and I''ll them that again today. We've had guys who haven't been able to go home. Giorgi (Bezhanishvili, who's from the country of Georgia), he's been isolated all year. They aren't meeting new people in classes. And now we tell them, come to practice and then go home and don't leave. It doesn't matter if you're local or not, all you get is a phone call, or a Zoom, and that's it. We'll have a little Christmas celebration ourselves, and that'll be it. It speaks volumes to their character, and the extend of their commitment to pull this thing off.''

Purdue guard Sasha Stefanovic played in the second game of the day against Maryland. He said he's dreamed of playing on Christmas Day since he was a little kid.

"Personally for me, playing on Christmas Day has always been kind of like a dream,'' Stefanovic said. "To play on Christmas Day this year, I've honestly never been more excited for a scheduled date for a game. Seeing that it was on the schedule and we got an opportunity to play as one of the teams because not everybody got a chance to do it, and it was really cool opportunity for me. To be on national television playing on that day, it's really special for me.''

“It’s a big opportunity,” Michigan State junior Aaron Henry said. “I've never played on Christmas before. I’m used to being at home with the family, but with everything that's happened in the past week, coming off of a loss and it’s Christmas coming up, I mean, there's no better day than this one. I'm just excited to go out there and compete.”

The star of the day was Minnesota's Marcus Carr, who went wild down the stretch to force overtime, where his Gophers upset No. 4-ranked Iowa 102-95. He scored 30 points and nailed a three-pointer at the buzzer to force the overtime.

"The experience that we have, we've been in those games,'' Carr said. "We were in those positions a lot last year, and we never wavered, even when we were down seven with like a minute and something left.

"It was amazing. It's a sacrifice not being with our families, but at the same time we all love this game. To go out there and get a big win on Christmas Day, that was huge. Having a lot of people watching it, that was great.''