Big Ten Weekly Men's Basketball Central - Feb. 7-9

WEEKLY RELEASE - FEB. 7

Big Ten. Big News.

Entering this weekend’s action, Purdue sits atop the Big Ten standings at 10-2, owning a slim lead over both Michigan and Michigan State at 9-2. Wisconsin and UCLA enter the weekend at 8-4, while Maryland have won seven conference games. Nine teams can also claim between 4-6 wins in league play.
Milestone Watch... Michigan State’s Tom Izzo has collected 352 Big Ten wins, just one shy of tying Bob Knight’s all-time conference wins mark... UCLA’s Mick Cronin stands just three victories from becoming the fourth Big Ten head coach with 500 career wins.
The Naismith Hall of Fame continued to announce its top 10 lists for its Starting Five Awards. On Wednesday, Iowa’s Payton Sandfort and Rutgers’ Ace Bailey were two of 10 players among the top 10 candidates for the 2025 Julius Erving Award as the nation’s top small forward. Michigan’s Danny Wolf was named to the top 10 list for the 2025 Karl Malone Award, recognizing the country’s top power forward. On Friday, Maryland’s Derik Queen, Michigan’s Vladislav Goldin, and Minnesota’s Dawson Garcia were named to the top 10 list for the 2025 Kareem Abdul Jabbar Award for the nation’s top center.
Also on Wednesday, Penn State’s Ace Baldwin Jr. was named as one of 15 players to be named to the Naismith National Defensive Player of the Year Watch List, as announced by the Atlanta Tipoff Club. Baldwin was also a semifinalist for the award in 2024.
Illinois shot 41.5 percent from the field, while holding the Scarlet Knights to 40.7 percent in Wednesday’s loss at Rutgers. The 82-73 loss marked the first time this season the Illini have lost a game when outshooting their opponents (14-1).
Indiana’s Oumar Ballo is one of seven active players to score 1,500 career points and grab 1,000 career rebounds. He joins Johni Broome (Auburn), Norchad Omier (Baylor), Ryan Kalkbreener (Creighton), Hunter Dickinson (Kansas), Christian Shumate (McNeese) and Nelly Junior Joseph (New Mexico) on the exclusive list. He recorded his 41st career double-double (14 points, 10 rebounds) against Maryland (Jan. 26) and has posted seven double-doubles across his last 12 contests.
Iowa currently leads the Big Ten and ranks fifth in the nation, scoring 85.5 points per game. It would be the team’s highest scoring average since 1988-89 (89.6 points). The Hawkeyes scored at least 80 points in 11 consecutive games from Nov. 26-Jan. 17, the longest stretch of the McCaffery era and the longest for the program since the 1988-89 season (13 straight). This season, Iowa has scored at least 90 points six times this season and eclipsed the 100-point mark three times.
Maryland is one of four major conference programs with all five starters scoring double-figures while starting at least 50 percent of the team’s games, joining the Terps are Arizona State, Kentucky and Michigan. The quintet, who account for the team’s top five scorers, have a combined scoring average of 67.7, the highest among all major conference programs.
After pairing 15 points and 12 rebounds in Michigan’s win over Oregon on Wednesday, Danny Wolf recorded his Big Ten-leading 10th double-double. He is the only player in the league to average a double-double, entering this weekend’s action with 12.3 points and 10.0 rebounds per game.
After scoring just 61 points in a loss at UCLA, Michigan State has now scored below 70 points five times this season. The Spartans are just 1-4 in those games and 17-0 when they score at least 70.
After going 0-6 in his previous five games, Minnesota’s Brennan Rigsby was perfect in the Gophers win at Penn State. The senior guard went 5-5 from the field, including 2-2 from three-point range, and 2-2 from the free throw line, becoming the third Gopher since 2011-12 to post that shooting line.
Over the last three seasons, Nebraska has played some of its best basketball down the stretch. NU is 18-11 in Big Ten games after Feb. 1 over the last three-plus seasons, including 6-2 in 2022-23 and 7-3 last season.
Junior Nick Martinelli paired 27 points and 13 rebounds, including 10 on the offensive glass, in Tuesday’s win over USC. Martinelli joined Purdue’s Zach Edey and Iowa’s Luka Garza as the only Big Ten players since 2005-06 to record at least 25 points and 10 offensive rebounds in a game and the first Wildcat to pull down 10+ offensive rebounds in a game since Jan. 2, 2018.
Ohio State’s Devin Royal has made a major jump from his freshman campaign. The sophomore is averaging 13.9 points and 7.5 rebounds per game. That is an increase of nearly 10 points and five rebounds per game from his rookie season. He’s led the team in scoring six times this season and is shooting over 54 percent from the floor.
Oregon is 11-3 this season when recording five or more steals and 3-0 when posting double-digit steals in a game. Five Ducks have recorded north of 20 steals on the season, led by TJ Bamba’s 42 thefts, good for fourth in the Big Ten.
Penn State’s Ace Baldwin Jr. is Division I’s active career leader in steals (314) and assists (787). He is the only active Division I player and one of just nine Division I players since the 1947-48 season (77 years) with more than 1,500 career points (1,593), 700 career assists (782), and 300 career steals (313).
Purdue’s Trey Kaufman-Renn is the only player nationally to average 18.0 points, 6.0 rebounds, 2.5 assists and shoot at least 60 percent from the field. This century, only three other players have done that (2023 - Drew Timme; 2004 - Adam Mark; 2001 - Michael Bradley).
Rutgers’ five true freshman Ace Bailey, Bryce Dortch, Dylan Grant, Dylan Harper, and Lathan Sommerville combined for 58 of the team’s 82 points (71%) and had 30 of the team’s 40 rebounds (75%) in Wednesday’s win over Illinois. On the season, Rutgers’ five freshmen average 44.82 points per team game, second most in the country.
UCLA sophomore Aday Mara, who stands at 7-foot-3, has averaged 11.8 points and 5.8 rebounds over the Bruins’ last five games (all wins). He has shot 58.5 percent from the field in those games, making 24 of 41 shots. He has totaled 17 blocks over the past five games, averaging 3.4 blocks per game (24.6 minutes per game).
USC enters tonight’s game at Purdue averaging 76.6 points per game. Throughout the season, the Trojans are 11-0 when they score at least 77 points, but just 2-9 when they net south of 76 points.
Over the last five games, Washington’s Great Osobor is averaging 21.2 points, 9.4 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game » During the stretch, Osobor has posted three stat lines of at least 20 points, eight rebounds, and three assists, registering one such game in the first 16 games of the season.
Tuesday’s win over Indiana improved the Badgers to 12-1 in the Kohl Center this season. The win was also Wisconsin’s 21st consecutive home win over the Hoosiers, Wisconsin’s second-longest home win streak against a single opponent, trailing only their active 22-game home win streak against Penn State.
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+.

Big Ten Weekly Men's Basketball Central - Feb. 7-9

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