Big Ten Weekly Men’s Basketball Central – November 25-December 1

Big Ten Weekly Men’s Basketball Central – November 25-December 1

Big Ten | Men’s Basketball | 2025-26 Standings          https://bigten.org/mbb/standings/   

Big Ten. Big News.

• Entering Tuesday’s action, the Big Ten owns an overall record of 88-12, the most wins and best win percentage (.880) of any conference in the country. Big Ten teams have defended home court to the tune of a 67-2 mark through the first three weeks of the season, winning games by nearly 21 points per game.  
• The Big Ten was represented by 12 teams in this week’s AP and USA Today Coaches Polls, released on Monday. Purdue leads the AP poll at No. 1, followed by No. 7 Michigan, No. 11 Michigan State, No. 13 Illinois, No. 18 UCLA, and No. 25 Indiana. The Boilermakers also hold the No. 1 spot in the Coaches Poll and are joined by No. 6 Michigan, No. 12 Michigan State, No. 14 Illinois, No. 19 UCLA, and No. 24 Indiana. Iowa, Nebraska, Ohio State, Oregon, USC, and Wisconsin also received votes in both polls.
• Big Ten teams will spend Thanksgiving week playing at events across the country. Iowa, Minnesota, and Washington will head to Palm Desert, Calif. for the Acrisure Series, while Maryland, Michigan, Oregon, and Rutgers will compete in the Players Era Festival in Las Vegas. Michigan State will head south to Fort Myers, Fla. for the Fort Myers Tip-Off, while USC competes at the Maui Invitational and Wisconsin travels to San Diego for the Rady Children’s Invitational. Three teams will also play neutral site games week, as UCLA faces San Francisco at the Chase Center tonight (10 p.m. ET/ESPN), Northwestern faces Oklahoma State on Thanksgiving (10:30 p.m. ET/ BTN), and Illinois meets Connecticut inside Madison Square Garden on Saturday afternoon (12:30 p.m. ET/FOX).
• On Monday, the Big Ten announced its weekly award winners. Maryland’s David Coit earned his first Player of the Week honor after scoring an XFINITY Center men’s basketball record 41 points, tied third all-time at Maryland, in the Terps’ 95-90 overtime win over Mount St. Mary’s. The graduate student recorded 16 of Maryland’s final 19 points in the last 6:27 of the second half, including the game-tying three-pointer to force overtime, finishing the game with a stat line that included 11-of-17 from the floor, 8-of-10 beyond the arc, and 11-of-11 at the free throw line.
• Nebraska’s Braden Frager collected Freshman of the Week honors after averaging 18.0 points and 7.0 rebounds per game off the bench in earning MVP honors at the Hall of Fame Classic. The Lincoln, Neb. native scored 20 points on 6-of-8 shooting, including 4-of-6 from three-point range, and a season-high eight rebounds in an 84-72 win over New Mexico. Frager added 16 points and six rebounds in Nebraska’s 86-85 win over previously unbeaten Kansas State.
• Milestone Watch… Northwestern head coach Chris Collins stands just one win shy of 200 for his career. Collins would join Arthur Lonborg (1927-50) as the only Northwestern coaches with 200 victories.
• With conference play set to begin on Dec. 2, Big Ten schedules are some of the most daunting in the country. Entering Tuesday’s games, 15 Big Ten teams rank in the nation’s top 22 toughest upcoming schedules, including nine teams in the top 11. Michigan tops the list, as its future opponents own a .845 cumulative win percentage. Purdue (#3 – .811) and Oregon (#5 – .809) also rank in the top five. All 18 Big Ten teams are included in the lists’ top 50.
• Nine Big Ten teams currently rank in the top 30 in the country in total attendance this season. Illinois is number six on the list with 73,768 fans, just ahead of Indiana’s 68,888 fans. Michigan State (#11 – 59,188), Wisconsin (#12 – 56,623), and Iowa (#16 – 50,455) also rank among the top 20.
• The 29th annual TIAA Big Ten Tournament will be played at the United Center in Chicago, March 10th – 15th, 2026. For the first time, all 18 Big Ten teams will compete for the tournament title. The tournament will open with a pair of games on Tuesday, March 10 and culminate with championship on Sunday March 15.
• For the second consecutive year, Purdue’s Braden Smith has been named the 2025-26 Big Ten Preseason Player of the Year, as chosen by a select media panel. The reigning Big Ten Player of the Year and consensus First Team All-American, Smith averaged 15.8 points, 8.7 rebounds, and 4.5 rebounds a season ago before being named the recipient of the Bob Cousy Award, given annually to the nation’s top point guard by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. In addition to setting a Big Ten record with 175 assists in conference play, Smith became the only player in NCAA history to amass at least 550 points, 300 assists, 150 rebounds, and 75 steals in a season.
• The media panel also selected a 10-member Preseason All-Big Ten Team. Eight of the Big Ten’s 18 teams are represented on the team, with Smith the lone unanimous selection. The Purdue guard is joined by teammate Trey Kaufman-Renn, Iowa’s Bennett Stirtz, Michigan’s Yaxel Lendenborg, Northwestern’s Nick Martinelli, Ohio State’s Bruce Thornton, Oregon duo Nate Bittle and Jackson Shelstad, UCLA’s Donovan Dent, and Wisconsin’s John Blackwell.