B1G Ten Men’s Weekly Awards

Big Ten. Big News.

• Michigan and Michigan State remain tied atop the Big Ten standings at 5-0 entering Tuesday’s games, while Purdue sits third at 5-1. Illinois, Indiana, and Oregon are tied for fourth at 4-2, with Iowa, Maryland, and Wisconsin sitting at or north of .500 in the conference standings.
• Michigan State and Oregon enter this week’s action with just two losses. They are among a group of 16 teams in the country with two or fewer losses. Michigan and Wisconsin join a group of 40 teams nationally with three of fewer defeats.
• The Big Ten has collected 33 wins against Quad 1 opponents and 69 victories against Quad 1 and 2 teams combined.
• Nine B1G teams were ranked or received votes in the Associated Press and/or USA Today Coaches Top 25 polls released on January 13. Michigan State led the way in the media poll at No. 12, followed by No. 13 Oregon, No. 17 Purdue, No. 19 Oregon, No. 20 Michigan, and No. 24 Wisconsin. The coaches included the Spartans at No. 12, followed by the Ducks at 14, the Boilermakers at 15, the Wolverines at 19, and the Illini at 20. Indiana, Maryland, and UCLA also received votes in the polls.
• Nine Big Ten teams were ranked in the top 40 and 14 in the top 60 in the NET Rankings through games on January 13. Illinois leads the way at No. 9, followed by No. 11 Michigan, No. 14 Purdue, No. 15 Michigan State, No. 21 Oregon, No. 23 Maryland, and No. 24 Wisconsin. Ohio State, UCLA, Iowa, Nebraska, and Penn State also rank in the top 50. Only the SEC has more teams in the top 40 (11), while its 14 top 50 entrants match the Big Ten.
• Ten of the Big Ten’s 18 teams rank in the top 40 of the Kenpom Ratings entering games on Jan. 14, tied with the SEC for the most of other conference in the country. Michigan leads the way at No. 10, followed by No. 12 Purdue, No. 13 Illinois, No. 14 Michigan State, No. 22 Wisconsin, No. 24 Maryland, No. 26 Oregon, No. 31 Ohio State, No. 35 UCLA, and No. 38 Iowa.
• Milestone Watch… Congratulations to Michigan State’s Jaden Akins who became the 57th Spartan to reach 1,000 career points in Sunday’s win at Northwestern… Wisconsin’s Greg Gard stands just one victory 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)… Michigan State’s Tom Izzo has collected 348 Big Ten wins, just five shy of tying Bob knight’s all-time conference wins mark.
• On Monday, the Big Ten announced its weekly men’s basketball awards. Iowa’s Payton Sandfort and Michigan’s Vladislav Goldin shared Player of the Week honors, while USC’s Wesley Yates III was named Freshman of the Week. Sandfort claimed his second career Player of the Year honor after averaging 26.5 points, six rebounds, and 3.5 steals in leading the Hawkeyes to a pair of wins. The senior shot 55.6 percent from the floor (15-of-27), 52.6 (10-of-19) from 3-point range and 92.9 (13-of-14) from the free throw stripe. Sandfort tied a career high with 30 points in a 97-87 overtime win over Nebraska, scoring all 30 after the halftime break and added a game-high 23 points and six boards in Iowa’s 85-60 win over Indiana.
• Goldin, who scored his second Player of the Week accolade this season, averaged 27.5 points, 7.0 rebounds, and 2.5 assists while shooting 76.0 percent (19-of-25) from the field, 78.9 percent (15-of-19) on free throws, and added two more three-pointers (2-of-4) as No. 20 Michigan went 2-0. The graduate transfer shot 13-of-18 from the field and 9-of-11 from the free throw line and scored a career-high 36 points in a 94-75 win at then-No. 22 UCLA. Goldin’s 36 points were the most by a Wolverine since Daniel Horton had 39 against Illinois on Feb. 21, 2006. Golding also scored game-high honors with 19 points to lead the Wolverines to a 91-75 win over Washington.
• Yates averaged 16.5 points on 63.2 percent shooting from the field (12-of-19), five rebounds and 2.5 assists, as the Trojans split a pair of contests. The freshman from Beaumont, Texas tallied a team-high 18 points in an 82-69 loss at Indiana before pairing 15 points and six boards in an 82-72 win at then-No. 13 Illinois.
• Purdue’s Braden Smith recorded back-to-back games of 14 assists last week, as the Boilermakers topped Rutgers and Nebraska. In recording his fourth and fifth 14-assist games of his career, Smith became the first Big Ten player since Ohio State’s Shannon Scott (Dec. 2014) to have back-to-back games of 14+ assists. He also surpassed 600 career assists in the win over Nebraska, becoming the second player in NCAA history to have 1,000 points, 600 assists and 450 rebounds in their first three seasons.
• Maryland’s Derik Queen recorded 27 points in Monday’s win over Minnesota, the 14th time this season he has scored in double-figures. His career-high 27 points are the most points by a Maryland freshman since Justin Jackson had 28 vs. Minnesota on Jan. 28, 2017. It was his sixth game scoring 20 or more points. Since 2008-09, there have been 35 20-point games by Maryland freshmen. In just his first 17 games, Queen has six. Queen’s points per game mark (16.2) ranks second-best among Maryland freshmen dating back to 1947-48.
• Rutgers’ Ace Bailey paired 20 points, 10 rebounds, three blocked shots, two assists, and a steal in the Scarlet Knight’s 75-68 win over UCLA. Bailey was just the third Division I player this season to have a game with at least 20 points, 10 rebounds, three blocks, two assists and one steal.
• Nick Martinelli scored 25 points in Northwestern’s 78-68 loss to Michigan State on Sunday. He became the fifth Wildcat since 2005-06 to score at least 25 points against two ranked teams in a single season, which he also did against Illinois (Dec. 6). Martinelli recorded his fifth 25-point game of the season, which is the most in a season by a Northwestern forward since John Shurna had six such games in 2011-12.
• 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.
• 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+.