Big Ten Weekly Men's Basketball Central - Feb. 21-24

WEEKLY RELEASE - FEB. 21

Big Ten. Big News.

Entering this weekend’s action, Michigan was at the top of the B1G standings with a 12-2 mark in conference play. They were followed closely by Michigan State in second at 11-3, then Wisconsin in third at 11-4, Purdue and Maryland were tied for fifth at 11-5, UCLA was sixth at 10-6, Illinois was seventh at 9-8, Oregon was eighth at 8-8, and Nebraska and Ohio State were tied for ninth at 7-9. All 18 teams in the league have registered at least 4 league wins this season.
The Division I Men’s Basketball Committee unveiled its top 16 teams on the Bracket Preview Show on CBS on Saturday and included three Big Ten teams. Purdue led the trio at No. 7, followed by No. 11 Wisconsin and No. 14 Michigan. The Boilermakers were listed as a potential two seed, while the Badgers and Wolverines fell on the three and four lines, respectively. The official NCAA Tournament bracket will be unveiled on Sunday, March 16 at 6 p.m. ET on CBS.
The Atlanta Tipoff Club recognized four Big Ten coaches on Friday, as the organization announced its 2025 Werner Ladder Naismith Men’s College Coach of the Year Watch List presented by AXIA Time. Michigan’s Dusty May, Michigan State’s Tom Izzo, Purdue’s Matt Painter, and Wisconsin’s Greg Gard were listed among the 15 coaches for the award, which is presented to an outstanding coach who has achieved great on-court success.
Congratulations to Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo, who won his 354th Big Ten game on Saturday. The Spartans’ 79-65 win at Illinois broke the mark previously held by Indiana’s Bobby Knight.
Milestone Watch... UCLA’s Mick Cronin stands just one victory from becoming the fourth Big Ten head coach with 500 career wins. Cronin could join the exclusive club on Sunday, as the Bruins host Ohio State (3:45 p.m. ET, CBS)... Nebraska’s Fred Hoiberg collected his 195th career victory on Sunday.
Maryland, Michigan, Michigan State, Purdue, UCLA, and Wisconsin have clinched their spots in the 2025 Big Ten Men’s Basketball Tournament. Over the next two weeks, 15 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.
Saturday’s matchup vs. Duke is the Illini’s latest regular-season non-conference game since recording a 59-57 road win at #4 Georgia Tech on March 1, 1986. Illinois’ last February non-conference game came on Feb. 16, 2002, a 75-65 road win at Seton Hall.
Indiana’s Oumar Ballo is one of five active players to score 1,600 career points and grab 1,100 career rebounds. He joins Johni Broome (Auburn), Norchad Omier (Baylor), Hunter Dickinson (Kansas), and Nelly Junior Joseph (New Mexico) on the exclusive list. Ballo, who recently claimed his 42nd career double-double, has posted seven double-doubles across his last 13 contests. During that stretch, he has averaged 14.5 points and 9.7 rebounds per game.
In the five games without the team’s leading scorer and rebounder Owen Freeman, junior Josh Dix is averaging 18 points, 2.8 rebounds and two assists, while senior Payton Sandfort is averaging 17.8 points and a team-best seven rebounds and 3.4 assists. The duo has six combined 20-point games during the stretch.
Maryland’s Julian Reese (19 points, 10 rebounds) and Derik Queen (13 points, 17 rebounds) posted double-doubles in the Terps’ win over USC. This marks the fourth consecutive game the duo has recorded double-doubles. Their five double-doubles this season are the most of any duo in college basketball.
Michigan heads into Saturday’s battle at Michigan State on a six-game winning streak. During the streak, all six victories have been decided for four or fewer points. U-M has 13 games (9-4) decided by four or fewer points, including 10 (9-1) in B1G play.
Michigan State boasts six players averaging at least 20.0 minutes per game and 10 players at least 10.0 minutes. The Spartans are the only team in the country with 10 players averaging at least 15.0 minutes per game.
Minnesota was just the second Big Ten team this year to travel to Los Angeles and sweep USC and UCLA. Between the USC win on Saturday and the UCLA win on Tuesday, Minnesota led for 3 minutes and 12 seconds and returned to win both games. In Saturday’s win at USC, the Gophers led at the end of the game for 2 minutes and 46 seconds. The Gophers trailed UCLA until the final 26 seconds and came back to win.
Nebraska’s Connor Essegian a team-high 20 points in the Huskers’ loss at Penn State, his fourth 20-point game of the season and sixth of his career. It marked the 25th double-figure effort by a Husker reserve this season.
Northwestern junior Nick Martinelli leads the Big Ten Conference in scoring and ranks 17th nationally averaging 19.8 points per game this season. He is the first Wildcat to average at least 19.8 points per game, while shooting at least 46% from the field since Evan Eschmeyer in 1997-98 (21.7 ppg, 61.0%). Martinelli is currently on a career-best streak of scoring 15+ points in 11 straight contests and is the first Wildcat to do so since Shurna from Jan. 11 - Feb. 18, 2012.
Ohio State guard Bruce Thornton has dished out 31 assists with just six turnovers in the last six games. That’s a 5.17 to-1 assist to turnover ratio. His career ratio of 2.95-to-1 would be second among active players once he qualifies with his 400th assist (just 17 away).
Oregon’s Supreme Cook secured his 1,000th career rebound against Rutgers. The senior is one of just 11 players in Division I to amass 1,000 career boards, accomplishing the feat in 147 games.
Penn State shot 60.7 percent from the field in its win over Nebraska. The Nittany Lions hadn’t converted better than 60 percent of their field goals in a game since Nov. 11, 2019 against Bucknell and it had not done so in a Big Ten game since shooting 64 percent against Michigan State on Jan. 3, 2007.
Purdue enters this weekend’s action ranked fifth in the Big Ten, surrendering 70.0 points per game. The Boilermakers are 11-0 when holding opponents to 69 or fewer points, but 8-8 when allowing 70 or more points.
Rutgers’ Dylan Harper scored 34 points in the Scarlet Knights’ overtime win over Washington. It was the fifth time this season that a Rutgers player had at least 34 points (Harper - 2, Ace Bailey - 3). There have only been three other 34 point performances by Big Ten players this year (Wisconsin’s John Tonje - 41, Michigan’s Vladislav Goldin - 36, Purdue’s Braden Smith - 34)
UCLA has three guards who have each tallied at least 70 assists. Dylan Andrews leads the trio with 79 dimes, while Kobe Johnson has 78 and Skyy Clark 71. UCLA’s 2016-17 squad was the last Bruins’ team to have at least three players with 70 or more assists. That team’s five leading scorers each finished with 70 or more assists. Lonzo Ball set a school single season record in assists (274), while Aaron Holiday totaled 158. Rounding out the list of assist leaders were Isaac Hamilton (99), Bryce Alford (92) and TJ Leaf (85)
USC freshman Wesley Yates III has built on his success as the season continues as his numbers have increased every single month. In November, Yates averaged 7.9 points per game while shooting at 43.9 percent from the field and 27.3 percent from three. In February, he is averaging 18.7 points per game while shooting at 48.1 percent from the field and an impressive 60.9 percent from three.
With its 94-75 win over Illinois, Wisconsin reached 90 points in back-to-back games for the first time since doing so in three straight from Dec. 14-28, 1995. The last time the Badgers scored at least 90 points in back-to-back Big Ten games was Feb. 20 and 26, 1992 in a 92-78 win over Illinois and a 96-78 win over Michigan.

Big Ten Weekly Men's Basketball Central - Feb. 21-24

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