The calendar has turned, marking another checkpoint in the 2025 college basketball season. It’s time for conference play. It is shaping up to be one of the best seasons this decade. There is so much good in this edition of the Big Ten conference. But you knew that already from the first couple entries of this series.
To kick off conference play being restarted, we had four days of games. Let's talk about it.
Illinois goes out west and gets first top-10 road win in four years
Woah! We knew Illinois was capable of beating any Big Ten team, any time, any place. But this was just an emphatic display of what they are even more capable of.
Early in the broadcast, it was mentioned by the commentators that a handful of NBA scouts were at Knight Arena to see freshmen Kasparas Jakučionis and Will Riley. The game played out as if the entire Illini roster was worthy of the scouts’ attention.
Illinois hit 42 field goals and was 57% from the field and included 16 3-pointers.
If this team can go nine players deep consistently, especially on the road against top-10 teams, forget about it — Illinois is going to be a second-weekend team and beyond.
The MVP of this west coast road trip is undoubtedly Tre White. Jakučionis, Riley, Kylan Boswell and Ben Humrichous are Illinois’ constants, they are going to get theirs most of the time. I would bet two of those guys will be in double-figures in every Illinois game the rest of the season. But White came out of nowhere last weekend with 20 points against Oregon and 17 against Washington.
Plus, Dre Gibbs-Lawhorn has shot the ball very well on this stretch, 9-for-17 from the floor combined in both games.
How does Oregon get back on track? Beating Maryland is a great start
Oregon, who responded tremendously by beating Maryland (who went 0-2 on their west coast road trip), who was 18th in the NET at the time.
Oregon and Illinois could very much meet again in the semi-finals or championship of the Big Ten Tournament. This Oregon team has the horses to win this conference. They trailed the Terps late but found a way to win.
Every time I write about Oregon, it starts and ends with Jackson Shelstad. He had 23 points against Maryland.
Oregon’s featured stars, including Shelstad, just simply couldn’t keep up with Illinois and their fantastic shot making on Thursday. He, Nate Bittle and TJ Bamba had 32 points combined. Those points were made up by Illinois’ White and Humrichous, to choose a pair, who average way below the 20 and 18 they had respectively (the two now have a combined average of 18 points)
I fully expect Oregon to bounce back and stay in double-bye contention.
Purdue makes an adjustment, leads to dismantling of Minnesota and Northwestern
Ever since the injury to Daniel Jacobsen, the strategy that Purdue wanted to play with was seemingly erased. Already losing Zach Edey and Will Berg being unable to fill the role originally assigned for Jacobsen, Matt Painter was forced to go small. Originally with Myles Colvin and Camden Heide, C.J. Cox and Caleb Furst added a new line change. That change led to two nice early wins.
While the new lineup is an interesting aspect to Purdue’s success, something is blatantly obvious about a certain Boilermaker.
Braden Smith is flat-out making shots he didn’t need to in past years.
In his first two seasons, Smith accrued 94 3-point makes. Through 15 games this year, Smith has 42, just under half of that total.
Just when you think Purdue could be in line for a down year, Painter makes the adjustments and has the battle-tested Boilers back on track.
Quick Hitters
Hoosiers find their groove from 3, mitigate Bailey’s 39 points. Can they keep it up from beyond the arc?
The second gear for Indiana this year is and always was 3-point shooting. It was an emphasis in the portal and will be a cause and effect for every game it plays this year.
On Jan. 2 against Dylan Harper-less Rutgers, IU hit a season-high 12 3s to win despite Ace Bailey's 39-point night. Sunday at The Palestra, Indiana downed a tournament hopeful Penn State team with nine 3s, its second highest total this year.
Michigan and Michigan State top the Big Ten
Simple take: This conference is better when these two are at the top of it. I am biased but it’s true!
Games to watch Jan. 6 - Jan. 12:
Tuesday Jan. 7
No. 24 Michigan @ No. 22 UCLA, 10 p.m., Peacock
Wednesday Jan. 8
USC @ Indiana, 7 p.m., BTN
Penn State @ No. 13 Illinois, 9 p.m., BTN
Thursday Jan. 9
No. 15 Oregon @ Ohio State, 6 p.m., BTN
No. 20 Purdue @ Rutgers, 6 p.m., FS1
Washington @ No. 16 Michigan State, 8 p.m., BTN
Friday Jan. 10
No. 22 UCLA @ Maryland, 8 p.m., FOX
Saturday Jan. 11
Indiana @ Iowa, 8 p.m., FOX
Sunday Jan. 12
No. 16 Michigan State @ Northwestern, TBD, FOX
No. 15 Oregon @ Penn State, 4 p.m., BTN
Team of the Week
Ace Bailey (RU)
Tre White (ILL)
John Blackwell (WIS)
Braden Smith (PUR)
Jackson Shelstad (UO)
Freshman of the Week
Ace Bailey (RU)
Power Rankings
Illinois
Michigan State
Purdue
Oregon
Michigan
Maryland
UCLA
Indiana
Penn State
Northwestern
Nebraska
Wisconsin
Ohio State
Rutgers
Iowa
Washington
USC
Minnesota
