B1G Ten Weekly Men’s basketball release

WEEKLY RELEASE – JAN. 10

Big Ten. Big News.

• Five Big Ten student-athletes were included on the Midseason Top 25 Watch List for the John R. Wooden Award, presented by Principal, the Los Angeles Athletic Club announced Tuesday. Rutgers’ Ace Bailey and Dylan Harper, Illinois Kasparas Jakucionis, Maryland’s Derik Queen, and Purdue’s Braden Smith were among the 25 student-athletes who are frontrunners for the most prestigious honors in college basketball: the Wooden Award All-American Team and the Wooden Award Most Outstanding Player.
• Milestone Watch… Congratulations to Oregon’s Keeshawn Barthelemy, Penn State’s Zach Hicks, and Purdue’s Fletcher Loyer who surpassed the 1,000 career point plateau this week… 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).
• Three Illinois players, Ben Humrichous, Tre White, and Morez Johnson Jr., scored at least 20 points in Wednesday’s win over Penn State. This marks just the third time since the 2010-11 season that three Illini have scored at least 20 points in the same game.
• Indiana’s victory over USC on Wednesday improved the Hoosiers to 11-0 inside Assembly Hall, the best home start to a season since winning their first 12 home games in 2021-22. the win also improved Indiana to 4-1 in conference play, the team’s best start since going 7-0 in its 2015-16 Big Ten championship season.
• Josh Dix and Payton Sandfort recorded 31 and 30 points, respectively, as the Hawkeyes rallied from a 15-point deficit to score a 97-87 overtime win over Nebraska. They are the first set of Hawkeye teammates to score at least 30 points in a game since Keegan Murray (30) and Jordan Bohannon (30) at Maryland in 2022. They are also the first Division I teammates, each with 30 points and six three-pointers in the same game in five years and the first high major teammates to do it since Notre Dame’s Ben Hansbrough and Tim Abromaitis in 2011.
• Maryland’s Derik Queen leads the team in scoring at 16.0 points per game and is second with 8.0 rebounds per game. His scoring average is third-best among all-time Maryland freshmen dating back to 1947-48. Since 2008-09, there have been 34 20-point games by Maryland freshmen. In just his first 15 games, Queen already has five.
• Michigan got career days from Vladislav Goldin and Tre Donaldson in the Wolverines’ 94-75 win over UCLA. Golding tallied a career-best 36 points, 10 better than his previous high, while Donaldson added 20 points on six three-pointers and matched a career high with seven assists.
• Michigan State’s defense was on full display in Thursday’s 88-54 win over Washington, as the Spartans held the Huskies to 32.7 percent shooting. The game marked the 14th time this season Michigan State has held an opponent below 50.0 percent shooting and the Spartans are 12-2 in those games. The Spartans are also 13-0 when outshooting their opponent (52.5% to 32.7%).
• Minnesota’s scoring defense ranks fourth in the Big Ten. Minnesota has allowed 66.7 points per game (1,000 total) in its 15 games into the season, which trails only UCLA, Maryland and Northwestern. Minnesota holds the Big Ten lead in blocks averaging 5.4 and that ranks 20th nationally. They also rank third in assist/turnover ratio (1.62).
• Nebraska’s Brice Williams tallied a team-high 28 points in the loss at Iowa. The senior has scored at least 20 points seven times this season and 23 times in his career. He has now reached double figures for the 14th time in 15 games, and 18th in the last 19 games.
• Entering their game against No. 16 Michigan State, Northwestern has won 23 of its last 25 games inside Welsh-Ryan Arena, dating back to last season. The Wildcats have won five straight home games against AP ranked teams, which is tied for the fourth-longest streak in the country. Northwestern has also won four of its last six against Michigan State, including two of the last three in Evanston.
• Ohio State has shot 50 percent of better in a game nine times this season, one more than it did all of last season. After Thursday’s game against Oregon, the Buckeyes are shooting 48.6 percent from the floor, sixth in the Big Ten and 42nd in the country, while their 37.8 three-point field goal percentage lists fourth in the conference and 33rd nationally.
• Oregon’s Jackson Shelstad scored a career best 24 points in Thursday’s 72-71 win over Ohio State. The sophomore guard shot eight-of-eleven shooting and four-of-five from three-point range and hos now connected on his nine of his last 11 three-point attempts. Shelstad’s two most important points in the win came with seven seconds to play, as he drained a pair of game-winning free throws.
• Penn State ranks 10th in Division I in turnovers forced per game (16.75) and 24th in steals per game (9.7). The Nittany Lions own a 327-177 advantage in points scored off turnovers through the first 16 games of the season.
• Thursday night’s 68-50 win at Rutgers marked Purdue’s fourth consecutive victory by at least 18 points, including three wins over Big Ten foes. The Boilermakers have won three straight Big Ten games by 18 or more points for the first time since Jan. 13-20, 2018.
• Rutgers’ Dylan Harper and Ace Bailey are the two leading freshman scorers in the country, averaging 20.1 and 18.9 points per game. They are the only freshmen in the country to have a game of at least 35 points and the second pair of freshman teammates over the last 15 years to each post at least 37-point game in the same season, joining Kentucky’s De’Aaron Fox and Malik Monk, who did it in 2016-17.
• UCLA led the Pac-12 in scoring defense in 2021-22, 2022-23 and 2023-24 and are currently leading the Big Ten. UCLA enters this weekend’s action ranked No. 10 in the nation in scoring defense (61.5 ppg), No. 5 in turnovers forced per game (17.7) and No. 5 in turnover margin (+6.3). In addition, the Bruins are ranked No. 31 in the nation in scoring margin (14.4 points per game).
• Over their last six games, USC’s Desmond Claude and Chibuzo Agbo have combined for more than 31 points and nine rebounds per contest. The duo has accounted for nearly 40 percent of the team’s scoring, while leading he Trojans to a 4-2 mark during the stretch.
• Washington owns a +94 scoring margin in the second half, compared to a -53 margin in the first half of its games this season. The Huskies have outscored their opponents in the second half of 11-of-16 games, including seven of the last eight. Washington has also made 22 more three-pointers in the second stanza than it has in the first.
• Wisconsin shot 54.4% from the field (31-for-57) in Monday’s win at Rutgers. After shooting 64.5% in last Friday’s win over Iowa, UW has now shot over 50% in back-to-back Big Ten games for the first time since Jan. 2 and Jan. 6, 2024, versus Iowa and Nebraska, respectively. The Badgers have not lost when shooting over 50% from the field since Jan. 11, 2019, against Purdue, a streak of 32 games.
• 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+.