- Big Ten Weekly Women’s Basketball Central – Nov. 25-Dec. 1
- Big Ten | Women’s Basketball | 2025-26 Standings https://bigten.org/wbb/standings/
- Big Ten teams are taking part in nine different tournaments this week, which includes several matchups against ranked opponents. It all begins Wednesday with RV Ohio State taking on No. 21/20 West Virginia at the Baha Mar Hoops Pink Flamingo Championship in Nassau, Bahamas. The game will be streamed on FloHoops at 1:30 p.m. ET. A top-5 showdown is up next when No. 3 UCLA faces No. 4 Texas in the Players Era Women’s Championship in Las Vegas. Tipoff is set for 2 p.m. ET on TNT. No. 7/6 Maryland and No. 16/15 Kentucky meet at 5:30 p.m. ET on FloHoops as part of the Discover Puerto Rico Classic. Wisconsin is competing at the Dayton Beach Classic and will challenge No. 13 Ole Miss on Friday at 4 p.m. ET, streaming on BallerTV. The Bruins head back to Los Angeles to host No. 14/11 Tennessee on FS1 at 4:30 p.m. ET Sunday.
- The Big Ten paces all Division I conferences with 92 wins so far this season, followed by the SEC (90), Big 12 (80) and ACC (75). The conference has nine teams with unblemished records and owns an .885 win percentage, which ranks second behind the SEC (90-8, .918).
- The Big Ten currently leads all Division I conferences in assists (17.8 apg) while ranking second in scoring (80.2 ppg), rebounds (41.1 rpg), free throw percentage (.718) and field goal percentage (.472).
- Michigan State leads the nation in assist/turnover ratio (3.38), assists per game (27.0) and steals per game (19.0) while coming in third in scoring offense (102.3) and fourth in field goal percentage (.543).
- The Big Ten Conference had seven programs featured in this week’s Associated Press (AP) Top 25 poll. UCLA stayed steady at No. 3, followed by No. 6 Michigan, No. 7 Maryland, No. 11 Iowa, No. 18 USC, No. 20 Michigan State and No. 22 Washington. Ohio State, Nebraska and Oregon received votes.
- The same seven programs made an appearance in the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA)/USA Today Top 25 poll – No. 3 UCLA, No. 6 Maryland, No. 9 Michigan, No. 14 Iowa, No. 18 USC, No. 21 Michigan State and No. 23 Washington. Ohio State, Nebraska and Oregon garnered votes.
- Iowa’s Ava Heiden was selected as one of five Ann Meyers Drysdale National Players of the Week by the U.S. Basketball Writers Association (USBWA) on Tuesday. Heiden logged her third double-double of the season with 18 points and 11 rebounds in Iowa’s 57-52 upset of No. 7 Baylor. She also tallied 20 points on 9-for-11 shooting with six rebounds, two steals and a block against Miami (Fla.). Heiden was named the Big Ten Player of the Week on Monday for her efforts.
- Illinois’ Destiny Jackson was tabbed as the Big Ten Freshman of the Week on Monday. She delivered a career-high 18 points to go along with five assists, four rebounds and a steal versus Murray State. Jackson added five points, five assists and two rebounds at Florida State.
- A total of 14,361 fans watched the Illini best Murray State, 84-64, the third-largest crowd in program history and largest under head coach Shauna Green. It was the highest women’s basketball attendance in the State Farm Center since Feb. 21, 1999, and largest non-conference attendance in program history.
- Congratulations to Indiana head coach Teri Moren, who earned her 450th career win with a 72-53 victory over Butler. Moren previously secured her 250th win at the helm for the Hoosiers with a 76-72 triumph at Florida State. Moren is in her 12th year guiding Indiana and is already the program’s all-time wins leader (set in 2023).
- It proved to be a record-setting outing when the Wolverines hosted Binghamton (Nov. 16). Michigan scored a program-record 37 points in the first quarter and went on to seal the victory, 120-50, for the most points scored under head coach Kim Barnes Arico and second-highest total in program history.
- Penn State’s Gracie Merkle tallied 39 points against Princeton (Nov. 22) to surpass 1,000 for her career. She is the 42nd Lady Lion to join the 1,000-point club and her 39 points tied for fifth-most in a single game in program history.
- Gabriela Jaquez tallied the 1,000th point of her career in UCLA’s outing with Southern (Nov. 23).
- The 2025-26 season will be the final ride for storied Northwestern head coach Joe McKeown, who announced on March 24 that he intends to retire at the conclusion of season. McKeown is the longest-tenured and winningest head women’s basketball coach in Northwestern history. This is his 18th season in Evanston and his 40th season overall as a head coach.
- Each Big Ten institution will play an 18-game conference schedule for the seventh time in eight seasons. The conference season tips off on Saturday, Dec. 6, with three games, while the remaining 12 teams open conference action on Sunday, Dec. 7. The league slate pauses for the holidays and resumes on Sunday, Dec. 28 with a four-game lineup. During the conference season, each program will play one school both home and away, while facing 16 teams once. Of the single-play opponents, institutions will face eight at home and eight on the road.
- The 2026 Allstate Big Ten Women’s Basketball Tournament is set for March 4-8 at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, marking the 27th time the tournament will be played in Circle City. Fifteen teams will qualify for the tournament, with three first-round games slated for Wednesday, March 4 on Peacock. The second-round, quarterfinal and semifinal contests on Thursday, Friday and Saturday will be carried on the Big Ten Network. CBS will broadcast the championship game for the third year in a row on Sunday.
MATT’S MATCHUPS 2025-26 HOOPS – WEEK TWO
The 2025-26 campaign opened on a positive note as I went 5-1 (83 percent) last week. This past Saturday’s inclement weather forced some of the scheduled contests to be postponed until later this year. Records are final from the 2024-25 season unless noted. MONDAY...