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

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NCAA AP TOP 25 POLL  |  NCAA USA TODAY TOP 25 POLL  |  NCAA NET RANKINGS

WEEKLY RELEASE - JAN. 7

Big Ten. Big News.

• All 18 Big Ten teams have played at least three conference games. Michigan and Michigan State are the only two remaining undefeated teams, as both sit at 3-0, with five teams owning just one loss in league play.
• 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.
• Michigan State, Nebraska, and Oregon enter this week’s action with just two losses. They are among a group of 31 teams in the country with two or fewer losses. Sixty teams have three or fewer losses, including nine in the Big Ten.
• The Big Ten has collected 31 wins (31-25) against Quad 1 opponents and owns a 58-30 mark against Quad 1 and 2 teams combined.
• Ten different B1G teams were ranked or received votes in the Associated Press and/or USA Today Coaches Top 25 polls released on January 6. Illinois led the way in the media poll at No. 13, followed by No. 15 Oregon, No. 16 Michigan State, No. 20 Purdue, No. 22 UCLA, and No. 24 Michigan. The coaches included the Spartans at No. 14, followed by the Illini at 15, the Ducks at 17, the Boilermakers at 19, the Bruins at 18, and the Wolverines at 24. Indiana, Maryland, Nebraska, and Wisconsin also received votes in the polls.
• Ten Big Ten teams were ranked in the top 35 and 17 in the top 60 in the NET Rankings through games on January 6. Illinois leads the way at No. 7, followed by No. 14 Michigan, No. 18 UCLA, No. 19 Michigan State, No. 20 Oregon, No. 22 Maryland, and No. 25 Wisconsin. Purdue, Ohio State, Nebraska, and Penn State also rank in the top 50. No other conference has more than nine teams in the top 35 (SEC) or 14 in the top 60 (SEC).
• Ten of the Big Ten’s 18 teams rank in the top 40 of the Kenpom Ratings entering games on Jan. 7, more than any other conference in the country. Illinois leads the way at No. 11, followed by No. 13 Michigan, No. 16 Michigan State, No. 18 Purdue, No. 20 UCLA, No. 21 Wisconsin, No. 26 Maryland, and No. 27 Oregon. The SEC and Big 12 also boast nine teams in the top 40.
• Milestone Watch... Wisconsin’s Greg Gard stands just two victories shy of 200 for his career. Gard will become the third Wisconsin head coach to reach the 200-win plateau, joining Bo Ryan (364 wins) and Walter Meanwell (246 wins).
• On Monday, the Big Ten announced its weekly men’s basketball awards. Purdue’s Braden Smith was named Player of the Week, while Illinois’ Kasparas Jakucionis and Rutgers’ Ace Bailey were named Co-Freshmen of the Week. Smith averaged 25.3 points, 9.7 assists, 5.3 rebounds, and 2.0 steals while shooting 27-of-55 from the field and 14-of-32 from three-point range with a 4.14 assist-turnover ratio as No. 20 Purdue went 3-0. The junior guard recorded a pair of points-assists double-doubles (34-12 vs. Toledo; 20-10 vs. Minnesota) and narrowly missed a third with 22 points, seven assists against Northwestern. Smith also became the first Big Ten player to have recorded 1,000 points, 500 assists and 400 rebounds in the player’s first three seasons, still with at least 17 games to play this season.
• Jakucionis averaged a team-best 16.0 points and 5.3 assists and along with 5.0 rebounds and 1.0 steals across three wins for No. 13 Illinois. The freshman recorded 16 second-half points with game-high six assists along with six rebounds in a 109-77 victory at then-No. 9 Oregon, as the Illini recorded the largest road win over a top-10 team in college basketball history. Bailey averaged 31.5 points on 57.4 percent shooting from the field, 8.0 rebounds, and 2.0 blocked shots, as Rutgers split a pair of games. Bailey tied the program freshman scoring record with 39 points with eight rebounds, four blocks and one steal on 16-of-29 shooting in an 84-74 loss to Indiana.
• Illinois returned to conference play with an impressive 109-77 win at then-No. 9 Oregon on Thursday. Shooting 57.5% from the field and 55.2% from 3-point range, the Illini surpassed the 100-point scoring mark away from home for the first time since 2016. The 109 points are the second-most any team has ever scored in a regulation road game against a top-10 opponent, trailing only Kansas State’s 116 at Texas in 2023, while the 32-point margin of victory is the largest ever by a road team over an AP Top 10 opponent.
• Penn State’s Ace Baldwin Jr. accomplished a rare feat in Thursday’s 84-80 win over Northwestern. The guard scored 17 points with just one field goal. Baldwin’s 17-point night included a 15-of-16 night from the free throw line, including a pair that sealed the victory in the game’s final seconds. During the game, Baldwin notched his 1,500th career point and recorded his 300th career steal in the first half. He becomes just the ninth Division I player since the 1947-48 season (77 years) to accumulate career marks of 1,500+ points, 700+ assists and 300+ steals. Baldwin Jr. is Division I’s active career leader in steals with 303.
• Wisconsin put on a record-breaking performance in its 116-85 win over Iowa on Friday. The Badgers set a Kohler Center record with 116 points, the program’s most ever in a conference game and the most by a Big Ten team in a conference game since February 1995. Wisconsin shot a blistering 21-of-31 from three-point range, setting both program and Big Ten marks for made three-pointers in a game.
• Michigan’s Danny Wolf stuffed the stat sheet in the Wolverines’ 85-74 win at USC on Saturday. Wolf went for 21 points, 13 rebounds, seven assists, six blocked shots and two steals. He is the first power conference player since Georgetown’s Mike Sweetney in 2003 to pair at least 21 points, 13 rebounds, seven assists, and six blocked shots. The six blocked shots are also the most by a Michigan player since 2008.
• Nebraska extended its current win streak to six with Saturday’s 66-58 win over then-No. 15 UCLA. The victory marked the Huskers’ 20th consecutive win inside Pinnacle Bank Arena. The win also marked Nebraska’s third consecutive home win over a top-15 team. Last season, Nebraska topped No. 1 Purdue on Jan. 9, 2024 and No. 6 Wisconsin on Feb. 1.
• Sunday’s loss to Purdue saw the end of Northwestern’s Brooks Barnhizer’s string of seven consecutive double-doubles come to an end. The run, which was the longest by any power conference guard this season, saw Barnhizer average 20.5 points and 10.4 rebounds and included five Wildcats’ victories.
• 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+.