Around Big Ten Basketball: Feb. 11
As we continue to get closer to the end of the college basketball regular season, the question isn’t who will win the regular season title but is more about who will come in second.
Even with a recent loss to Indiana, the Purdue Boilermakers hold a three-game lead over the Hoosiers as of Saturday night.
Purdue has only lost two games this season which are both conference defeats. Prior to its last loss the Boilermakers had won nine straight conference games which included five road wins.
Indiana’s win over the Boilermakers was the first of a pair of impressive recent victories.
On top of defeating Purdue, the Hoosiers followed that up with a victory over a ranked Rutgers team just three days later.
That propelled the Hoosiers back into the top 25 rankings currently sitting at No. 18 before making it three straight victories against Michigan on Saturday.
Behind the Hoosiers, both Northwestern and Illinois are a half-game back for a third-place tie.
The Wildcats rebounded after consecutive losses with back-to-back narrow victories this week against Wisconsin and Ohio State.
Both wins were on the road and the Wildcats won by a combined total of eight points, they’ll look to make it three in a row by taking on Purdue.
Illinois is also heating up with victories in four of its last five games.
That includes a win on Saturday against the Scarlet Knights where Coleman Hawkins finished with 18 points and eight rebounds.
Now, the Illini get set to hit the road this week for two consecutive games starting against a struggling Penn State team on Valentine’s Day before a big matchup against Indiana.
After Illinois in the Big Ten standings, five teams are within a game back with three of them being just a half-game back.
Michigan is one of those teams who were close to being higher up in the standings as of Saturday night but lost by one point against the Hoosiers.
Prior to that, the Wolverines had been on a three-game winning streak with each win being by eight points or more.
Maryland has also found itself on a nice run over the past few weeks.
Including Saturday’s win over the Nittany Lions, Maryland has now won five of its last six games.
Among those wins is a double-digit home win against a ranked Indiana team.
The last of these three teams has been mentioned a few times already and not for good reason as the Rutgers Scarlet Knights have fallen a few spots in the standings.
With consecutive losses against Indiana and Illinois, the Scarlet Knights have now lost three of their last five with their two wins being against teams that are in the bottom half of the conference.
There is still plenty of basketball to be played and still a lot up for grabs ahead of the Big Ten Tournament.
Logan Bourandas is a senior majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email lxb5412@psu.edu.
