We are just two weeks and one day away from the Big Ten Tournament tipping off in Indianapolis on Wednesday, March 12, but there are still so many dominos that are yet to fall in the 2025 edition of the Big Ten conference, and we saw that this past week.
This week featured a battle for sole possession of first place in the conference between two in-state rivals, a nasty blown lead by a team that would be a top four seed and one of the conference's best programs is in need of some soul searching rather late into the season. Let’s talk about it!
[ICYMI: Last week's edition, checking in on every Big Ten team's season so far: This Week in Big Ten Basketball Feb. 11-17: Izzo Passes Knight and 18 Stares in the Mirror
Michigan State snatched Michigan’s first place position at Crisler
Arguably the matchup of the year in the conference did not disappoint for about 24 minutes and then Michigan State ran away with yet another signature Quad One victory. The story for State once again is Jase Richardson who has been the Spartans’ pound-for-pound best player this season given the context. Richardson connected with a 3-pointer to start the game and you just knew it was going to be a vintage performance from the freshman from Denver.
But Michigan found itself shortly after going on a 15-0 run in the middle part of the first half and saw itself go up four at the half.
What the Spartans did to respond however, was vintage Michigan State. Simply, State did not panic. The Spartans trusted their gameplan and their coaching and did not make the mistakes that it could be susceptible to, unlike their opponent.
Two things really jump out for me that gave MSU the upper hand here — two massive 3-pointers by Tre Holloman around the 12-minute mark, and offensive rebounding. The Spartans out-rebounded Michigan on the offensive glass 14-7.
Plus, MSU just made plays when it needed to and forced enough turnovers (15) to get Michigan out of sorts.
A couple weeks ago, we were talking about the Spartans like they had not played anybody, and it was true, they had not. But since they have now beaten Michigan and Illinois both on the road by double-digits, in addition to wins over Purdue and Oregon.
Sparty will have its toughest week yet when it goes to Xfinity Center and faces Maryland on Wednesday and returns to Breslin to host Wisconsin.
The Wolverines must win out and gain some help from either the Terps, Badgers or Iowa who will host MSU next week.
But in order to win out, the Wolverines need to help themselves as well. I feel like I say this every week, because it is true, turnovers and rebounding are the difference between a Final Four berth and a first-weekend exit.
Indiana beats Purdue as Hoosiers gain ground near the bubble, four losses in a row for Boilers
Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall arguably was as loud as it was in February 2023, the last time the Hoosiers knocked off Purdue, the No. 1 team in the country at the time, but the stipulations were very different this time around. After a narrow Boilermaker victory at Mackey Arena earlier this season saw one of the best Hoosier performances all year, Indiana needed a win for its NCAA Tournament life. Purdue on the other hand entered on a three-game losing streak.
It looked as if it would be another Boiler victory at halftime with Purdue up 12, but a meteoric 28-3 run to start the second frame was too much for the Boilers to dig out of.
On Sunday, Indiana did something that not many other teams could do, holding both Braden Smith and Trey Kaufman-Renn both under 10 points each.
Myles Rice’s tremendous effort defensively propelled the Hoosiers to the feat above. Rice was bad in the first half but came out a different player in the second half. He and Anthony Leal had three steals each en route to a total of 16 Boilermaker turnovers.
This win moves Indiana closer and closer to the right side of the bubble. Jerry Palm of CBS has Indiana one of his first four in and Joe Lunardi has the Hoosiers moving up from the next four out to the first four out, behind only North Carolina (as of Feb. 25 at 1 p.m.).
If you want my take, I think Indiana will finish 3-1 to finish the regular season, with a loss at Oregon, and make the NCAA Tournament. Depending on the teams in front of them bubble wise, it could need a victory in the Big Ten Tournament but I think Indiana will get there.
For Purdue, three tricky matchups will determine its seed in the Big Ten Tournament, home to UCLA and Rutgers and then Illinois in Champaign.
Oregon capitalizes on Wisconsin’s catastrophic collapse
With 3:16 to go Wisconsin led Oregon by nine points after a John Tonje layup to go up 66-57. Then, within a blink of an eye, this beauty of a shot by Jackson Shelstad tied the game with 12 seconds to go.
Shelstad could’ve been 0-for-10 on the day and you still do not want him to shoot this. We say it against Ohio State as well, Shelstad is contagious to these clutch buckets.
In overtime, it was the Nate Bittle show, tallying six of Oregon’s 11 points in the final five minutes. Bittle finished with a game high 22 points.
Wisconsin got caught napping. You can’t let that happen against a team like Oregon who has maybe not the consistency, but the capacity to hurt you in short frames offensively.
Seventeen turnovers for Wisconsin, 11 in the second half, derailed them from its large lead.
My biggest takeaway from this game is how does Wisconsin respond? After its next matchup with Washington on Tuesday, it will face two (one obviously more than the other) hot teams, Michigan State and Minnesota both on the road.
A quick answer from me, it will go 2-1 in that stretch but seemingly have nothing going for them at Breslin resulting in either an ugly loss or a 5-10 point loss that Michigan State will seemingly not lose its grasp on.
Quick Hitters
Duke demolishes Illinois at MSG
Duke beat Illinois 110-67 at Madison Square Garden in a rare February non-conference matchup between the Blue Devils and Fighting Illini. Duke played 14 players and half of them had double-figures.
In its last three games, Illinois lost a lead at home to Michigan State, blown out by Wisconsin and blown out even more by Duke. What once was a team that could send nine guys to the plate at any time with hopes for a home run, just keep striking out.
Dawson Garcia and Brice Williams make the case for First Team All-Big Ten
Garcia had 32 points in Minnesota’s victory over UCLA. Williams continues to be the backbone for tournament-hopeful Nebraska.
Iowa, Minnesota and USC are above water in conference tournament conversation
All sitting at 6-10, these three have done just enough to (if the season ended today) see postseason play. Sixteenth-place Northwestern will play Iowa on Friday, USC will play 18th place Washington on March 5, Minnesota will face Northwestern Tuesday and 14th place Rutgers March 9.
Team of the Week
Jase Richardson (MSU)
Dawson Garcia (MINN)
Nate Bittle (UO)
Dylan Harper (RU)
Yanic Konan Niederhauser (PSU)
Freshman of the Week
Jase Richardson (MSU)
Games to Watch Feb. 25-March 2
Wednesday, Feb. 26
No. 8 Michigan State @ No. 16 Maryland, 6:30 p.m., BTN
Penn State @ Indiana, 8:30 p.m., BTN
Ohio State @ USC, 10:30, p.m., BTN
Thursday, Feb. 27
Rutgers @ No. 15 Michigan, 9 p.m., Peacock
Friday, Feb. 28
UCLA @ No. 20 Purdue, 8 p.m., FOX
Saturday, March 1(!!!!)
No. 16 Maryland @ Penn State, noon, BTN
Minnesota @ Nebraska, 2 p.m., BTN
Sunday, March 2
No. 11 Wisconsin @ No. 8 Michigan State, 1:30 p.m., CBS
Illinois @ No. 15 Michigan, 3:45 p.m., CBS
Power Rankings
1. Michigan State
2. Michigan
3. Maryland
4. Wisconsin
5. UCLA
6. Purdue
7. Oregon
8. Illinois
9. Indiana
10. Ohio State
11. Nebraska
12. Rutgers
13. Minnesota
14. Iowa
15. USC
16. Northwestern
17. Penn State
18. Washington
