Around the Big Ten Men’s Basketball: Feb. 4
The Big Ten’s top teams are still neck and neck at the top, while the rest of the conference is starting to play out.
Here's a dive into what is going on around the Big Ten in the last week and what is still to come.
The Illinois Fighting Illini have fought off the rest of the Big Ten top contenders in the last week. With matchups against the No. 10 Michigan State and No.11 Wisconsin that both resulted in victories for the Fighting Illini to put them 9-2 in the Big Ten and first place overall.
In second place of the Big Ten is the Michigan State Spartans who are only a half-game back of Illinois after the loss Illinois gave the Spartans. However, after that game, the Spartans were able to put together two wins over their rival Michigan Wolverines and a very close 65-63 victory over the Maryland Terrapins.
Moving on over to the No. 11 team in the country the Wisconsin Badgers have had two wins over Minnesota and Nebraska who are the bottom two teams in the Big Ten.
However, the Badgers were outmatched by Kofi Cockburn who had 37 points and 12 rebounds against them in their 80-67 loss to the Fighting Illini. Although, Johnny Davis did have a huge contribution to the game with 22 points for the Badgers.
The Purdue Boilermakers are starting to put it all together right now as they have been able to string together four wins in a row in the Big Ten.
With a huge win over No. 16 Ohio State from a Jaden Ivey game-winning 3-pointer to help the Boilermakers keep a tie for third place in the Big Ten with Wisconsin. Ivey ended the game with 21 points in the win over the Buckeyes.
Switching to the Ohio State Buckeyes, they have had two of their last four games postponed. In the two games they played they were able to defeat Minnesota and have a heartbreaking loss to Purdue. Look for the Buckeyes to get back as their next four games are against teams with lesser records in the Big Ten.
The Indiana Hoosiers could be considered the best of the rest after all the Big Ten ranked teams, but they are only two games back of Illinois for the top spot and tied with Ohio State in the Big Ten. The Hoosiers can show the Big Ten if they are worthy of being up there with the rest of the Big Ten as they will host the conference leader Illinois on Saturday.
Moving onto the last half of the pack in the Big Ten, Penn State and Iowa had a huge double-overtime battle. A Keegan Murray last-second tip-in allowed the game to go into overtime where the Nittany Lions were able to pull away from the Hawkeyes.
At the bottom of the conference, Minnesota will take on Nebraska on Wednesday in a battle that could potentially give the Cornhuskers their first Big Ten win of the season. On the other side, it could also help Minnesota get a win and separate themselves from the lower tier of Big Ten teams.
Dale Ostrander is a fourth-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email dko5097@psu.edu.
