Big Ten Weekly Men's Basketball Central - Feb. 28-March 3

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WEEKLY RELEASE - FEB. 28

Big Ten. Big News.

• With just over a week left in the regular season, Michigan and Michigan State remain tied atop the Big Ten standings at 14-3, followed by Wisconsin at 12-5. Three teams, Maryland, Purdue, and UCLA, sit in a tie for fourth at 11-6. Seventh place Illinois (10-8) is followed by Oregon (9-8), Indiana (8-9). The top four seed in the final Big Ten standings will earn double-bye into Friday’s quarterfinal round, while seeds 5-9 will open play on Thursday.
• Milestone Watch... Congratulations to UCLA’s Mick Cronin, who recently joined the 500-career win club. Cronin joins Dana Altman (775), Tom Izzo (730), and Fran McCaffery (546) among the 24 active Division I head coaches with 500 career victories. McCaffery and Nebraska’s Fred Hoiberg are also approaching milestones, as McCaffery has 295 wins at Iowa, while Hoiberg owns 195 career wins.
• Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Michigan State, Purdue, UCLA, and Wisconsin have clinched their spots in the 2025 Big Ten Men’s Basketball Tournament. Over the next week, eight more teams will secure their spots in the tournament, set to return to Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis on March 12-16. The tournament will be the first to feature a 15-team field and begin.
• Illinois committed just five turnovers in its win over Iowa, the team’s fewest in a conference game since registering four turnovers against Minnesota on Feb. 28, 2024. The Illini also forced 16 Iowa turnovers, the team’s second most in a game this season and the team’s most in a Big Ten game since Jan. 31, 2023.
• Indiana’s Trey Galloway has dished out more than 100 assists in each of the last two seasons. He is the first Hoosier to achieve the feat since Kevin “Yogi’ Ferrell handed out 100-plus assists in four-straight seasons (2012-16). For his career, Galloway has handed out at least five helpers in 37 career games and at least eight dimes in eight contests. The Hoosiers hold a record of 7-1 in those games.
• Iowa is third in the Big Ten and is 17th nationally, averaging 83.1 points per game. The Hawkeyes have the top effective field goal percentage (.568) and second-best field goal (.490) in the Big Ten. The Hawkeyes have made at least eight 3-point field goals in 22 games, including at least 1+ in 13 contests -- the most in a season since 2022-23 and rank second in the Big Ten with 9.8 makes per game.
• Maryland is averaging 82.6 points, third in the Big Ten, and leads the league and ranks eighth nationally with a 15.7 points per game scoring margin. The bulk of Maryland’s offense has been bolstered by fast starts as the Terps average 40.9 points in the first half of games. That ranks fourth nationally and is the best average for a Big Ten team over the last 15 seasons.
• Michigan’s Danny Wolf averages a near double-double (12.6 ppg and 9.8 rpg) and is second in the Big Ten with 12 double-doubles (Maryland’s Julian Reese, 13). Wolf has grabbed 10-plus rebounds in 15 of his 20 games as a Wolverine. Wolf has a chance to become the first Wolverine to average a double-double since Robert Traylor (1997-98; 16.2 ppg, 10.1 rpg) and Chris Webber -- 1992-93 (24.3 ppg, 12.7 rpg) and 1991-92 (19.4 ppg, 12.5 rpg).
• Jase Richardson was the only Spartan to score in double figures in Michigan State’s win at Maryland but was one of 10 players to mark the scoring column. The win marked the 17th time this season the Spartans have had at least 10 players score points.
• Minnesota‘s Lu’cye Patterson is one of just two Golder Gophers to start every game this season. In addition to scoring 11.5 points per game, second on the team, the senior ranks third in the Big Ten and 24th in the country with a 2.76 assist-turnover ratio (94 assists, 34 turnovers).
• Nebraska’s Brice Williams has played in 62 games at Nebraska, and he is averaging 19.7 ppg over his last 32 games dating back to the 2024 Big Ten Tournament. He has been in double figures in 30 of the last 32 contests, including 18 20-point games. Williams averaged just 12.5 ppg over his first 30 games at Nebraska in 2023-24.
• Northwestern is scoring an average of 73.5 points per game this season, its highest scoring season since the 1993-94 team averaged 75.0 points per game. The Wildcats have scored 70+ points in 13 conference games this season, their most since 1989-90 (13).
• Ohio State’s Micah Parrish is the only active player with more than 1,500 career points, 200 three-pointers, 200 steals and 750 rebounds. He is also tied for fourth among active players with 163 games played.
• Oregon trailed by 17 points late in the first half of its overtime win at Wisconsin. It was the first time the Ducks have erased such a large deficit in a victory since a home win over Cal last January and the first time doing it on the road since Nov. 27, 2019, against Seton Hall.
• Five different Penn State players average double-digit points: Ace Baldwin Jr. (14.0 ppg), Yanic Konan Niederhauser (13.0 ppg), Nick Kern Jr. (11.8 ppg), Zach Hicks (11.7 ppg) and Puff Johnson (10.2 ppg). On the season, seven different players have led the team in scoring in a game, while six players have recorded a game of at least 20 points. 
• Purdue’s Braden Smith needs 12 assists to become the 12th player in NCAA history with 700 assists by the end of his junior year and seven assists to become the first player in Big Ten history with two seasons of at least 250 assists. He is one of eight players in NCAA history to have played at least 75 games and average 12.0 PPG, 6.5 APG and 4.5 RPG. He is the first player since Marist’s Jared Jordan (2004-07) to reach those marks.
• Thursday’s game against Michigan marked the third consecutive game that Rutgers has scored 80 points. This is the first time the Scarlet Knights have scored 80 in three straight games since December 2022 and the first time it has happened in three conference games since joining the Big Ten in 2014-15. The last time Rutgers scored hit the 80-point plateau in three straight conference games was in February 1991 as a member of the Atlantic 10.
• With just three regular-season games left (through 28 total games), no player on UCLA’s roster has averaged more than 29 minutes per game. Senior Kobe Johnson leads the team in minutes (averaging 28.9 mpg). Since UCLA began recording minutes in 1978-79, the Bruins have always had at least one player average 30.0 or more minutes per game (by the end of the year). In 2019-20, then-freshman guard Tyger Campbell finished the year as the Bruins’ leader in minutes per game, at exactly 30.0 mpg. This year’s team has 10 players who have averaged at least 10.0 minutes per contest.
• Saint Thomas is only player to start every game for USC. He currently averages 34:06 minutes per game, the fifth-most in the Big Ten. The senior leads the Trojans with 6.0 rebounds and 4.2 assists per game, while his 9.6 points list fifth on the team. His 1.2 steals and 0.4 blocks are also good for second on the team.
• A career 37.6 percent three-point shooter, Washington’s Mekhi Mason has found his deep stroke of late. The junior is shooting nearly 42 percent from three-point range this season and has shot 16-for-30 over his last four games and is averaging 17.0 points during the stretch.
• With the 26-point win, over Washington, Wisconsin has now tallied five conference wins this season by at least 20 points, matching the most in program history. The only other season UW posted five 20-point Big Ten wins was 2003-04. The Badgers became the first Big Ten team this season to record five wins of 20 points in conference action.
• 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+.