Big Ten. Big News.
- With each Big Ten team playing at least seven games, Michigan State remains atop the league standings at 7-0, followed closely by Purdue at 7-1 and Michigan at 6-1. Wisconsin, Indiana, and Illinois have each claimed six wins, while Oregon and Maryland are two of eight teams sitting at or above .500.
- Michigan State enters this week’s action with just two losses. The Spartans are among a group of eight teams in the country with two or fewer losses. Oregon and Wisconsin join a group of 22 teams nationally with three of fewer defeats.
- The Big Ten has collected 38 wins against Quad 1 opponents and 85 victories against Quad 1 and 2 teams combined. Oregon leads the Big Ten with seven Quad 1 victories, three more than Illinois, Purdue, and Michigan State, while the Boilermakers join the Ducks with nine wins over Quad 1 and 2 opponents combined.
- Through games on Jan. 19, 13 different unranked Big Ten teams have scored wins over AP Top 25 teams, nearly double the next highest Division I conference. The SEC has seven such wins, one more than the Big 12.
- Seven B1G teams were ranked or received votes in the Associated Press and/or USA Today Coaches Top 25 polls released on January 20. Michigan State led the way in the media poll at No. 8, followed by No. 11 Purdue, No. 15 Oregon, No. 17 Illinois, No. 18 Wisconsin, and No. 21 Michigan. The coaches also included the Spartans at No. 8, followed by the Boilermakers at 12, the Ducks at 15, the Illini at 17, the Badgers at 19, and the Wolverines at 20. Maryland also received votes in both polls.
- Nine Big Ten teams were ranked in the top 40 and 14 in the top 65 in the NET Rankings through games on January 20. Illinois leads the way at No. 8, followed by No. 10 Purdue, No. 12 Michigan, No. 16 Michigan State, No. 21 Wisconsin, No. 22 Oregon, and No. 24 Maryland. UCLA, Ohio State, Penn State, and Nebraska also rank in the top 50. Only the SEC has more teams in the top 40 (12), while its 14 top 65 entrants match the Big Ten.
- Nine of the Big Ten’s 18 teams rank in the top 40 of the Kenpom Ratings entering games on Jan. 21, one shy of the SEC for the most of any conference in the country. Illinois leads the way at No. 9, followed by No. 10 Purdue, No. 11 Michigan, No. 13 Michigan State, No. 21 Wisconsin, No. 23 Maryland, No. 25 Oregon, No. 31 UCLA, and No. 34 Ohio State.
- Milestone Watch… Congratulations to Maryland’s Ja’Kobi Gillespie who eclipsed 1,000 career points in Maryland’s win over Nebraska… Congratulations to Nebraska’s Juwan Gary and Andrew Morgan, who recorded their 1,000th career points against Maryland… Michigan State’s Tom Izzo has collected 350 Big Ten wins, just three shy of tying Bob knight’s all-time conference wins mark.
- On Monday, the Big Ten announced its weekly men’s basketball awards. Purdue’s Trey Kaufman-Renn was named Player of the Week, while Rutgers’ Ace Bailey collected Freshman of the Week honors, both winning their second weekly awards of the season. Kaufman-Renn, who was also named Naismith Men’s College Basketball Player of the Week, averaged 21.0 points, 8.5 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game, leading No. 11 Purdue to a pair of road victories. The junior paired 23 points, including 9-for-9 from the free throw line, and 11 rebounds in a 65-58 win at then-No 13 Oregon and scored 19 points, including six in the second half, in a come-from-behind 69-58 win over Washington.
- Bailey averaged 22 points, 10.5 rebounds. 3.0 assists, and 3.0 blocked shots, as Rutgers scored a pair of wins. The freshman posted 24 points, 11 rebounds, four assists, three blocks, and a game-sealing steal in the final minute of an 85-82 win at Nebraska. Bailey was the first freshman to reach that stat line since 2021 (Duke’s Jalen Johnson), a stat line of that caliber had been done only eight times previously since 2005, and only once by a Big Ten player (Ohio State’s Greg Oden vs. Tennessee). Bailey also led the Scarlet Knights with 20 points and 10 rebounds in a 75-68 win over UCLA, becoming third Division I player this season to have a game with at least 20 points, 10 rebounds, three blocks, two assists, and one steal.
- Indiana’s 77-76 overtime at Ohio State marked the first time the Hoosiers have won consecutive games in Columbus since 1995-1996. It was also Indiana’s first road overtime win since topping Northwestern on Feb. 10, 2021 in Evanston.
- After their win over Nebraska, the Terps are 12-1 at home, tied for the second-most home wins among all teams in Division I. Only Missouri (14-0) has more home wins than the Terps.
- Michigan has started the season 9-0 at home for the first time since the 2020-21 season, when U-M rattled off 12 straight wins at Crisler.
- Michigan State has won 11 straight games, its longest since winning 13 in a row in 2018-19. The Spartans are also 7-0 in conference play, the first time MSU has started at least 7-0 since winning its first nine conference games in 2018-19.
- After Saturday’s win at Oregon, Purdue’s junior and senior class has now won in every possible Big Ten arena that it has played in (15 different arenas). The junior class will get the chance to win in every Big Ten arena next season when the Boilermakers travel to UCLA and USC.
- Rutgers’ Ace Bailey recorded 30 points in Monday’s loss at Penn State, Bailey shot 13-of-15 from the field (86.7%), the third most field goals made in a Big Ten game for an RU player, and the second highest shooting percentage of any qualified RU player in a league game, just behind Caleb McConnell’s 8-of-8 performance against Nebraska in January of 2020.
- In their win over Iowa, the Bruins led at the intermission, 57-24. That marked UCLA’s highest point total in a half since 2016 and the program’s largest halftime lead since an 100-70 win at home versus James Madison on Nov. 15, 2012. The Bruins led James Madison by 34 points (63-29) at halftime in that contest in 2012.
- Wisconsin’s win over USC marked the Badgers’ seventh straight victory, including 5 in a row in conference play. This marks the 3rd time in the last 4 seasons that UW has put together a Big Ten win streak of five games or longer.
- With one nonconference game remaining, the Big Ten owns a 160-37 record in nonconference games, besting last season’ 144 nonconference victories. Among those wins, the B1G was 122-7 (.946) at home. The Big Ten’s 160 wins and .812 nonconference win percentage sit behind only the SEC’s 185 wins and .889 (185-23) win percentage.
- The 2025 Big Ten Men’s Basketball Tournament will return to Gainbridge Fieldhouse on March 12-16. This will mark the 14th time the tournament has been held in Indianapolis. The tournament will be the first to feature a 15-team field and begin with three games on Wednesday, March 12. Peacock will televise the opening three games of the 2025 Big Ten Men’s Basketball Tournament, with second-round and quarterfinal games on Thursday and Friday slated for Big Ten Network. For the 28th consecutive year, CBS Sports will broadcast the semifinals and championship game on CBS, with those games also streaming live on Paramount+.