Big Ten Weekly Men’s Basketball Central – Nov. 12-18

Big Ten Weekly Men’s Basketball Central – Nov. 12-18

• The Big Ten currently boasts a 36-4 overall record through Monday’s contests. Among those wins, the conference went a perfect 35-0 on their home courts with a 25.8-point average margin of victory. The Big Ten’s .900 win percentage ranks second among Div. I conferences, behind the Big 12 (30-3, .909).
• Eleven Big Ten teams were recognized in the first AP and USA Today Coaches Polls of the 2024-25 regular season. The AP Top 25 included No. 13 Purdue, No. 16 Indiana, No. 21 Ohio State, and No. 24 Rutgers, while the coaches listed the Boilermakers at No. 12, the Hoosiers at No. 16, Illinois at No. 20, the Buckeyes at No. 22, and Scarlet Knights at 24. Maryland, Michigan, Michigan State, Oregon, UCLA, and Wisconsin also received votes in one or both polls.
• This week’s schedules included five contests against ranked opponents. Tonight, Michigan State will face No. 1 Kansas at the Champions Classic in Atlanta. On Friday, No. 13 Purdue will host No. 2 Alabama (7 p.m. ET, Peacock), while Maryland welcomes No. 15 Marquette to College Park at 8 p.m. ET (FS1). At 9 p.m. ET, No. 21 Ohio State and No. 23 Texas A&M will meet in College Station, Texas (SEC Network), as Wisconsin plays host to No. 9 Arizona (Peacock).
• Eleven of the Big Ten’s 18 teams rank in the top 40 of the Kenpom Ratings through Monday’s games, with all 18 listing in the top 81. Purdue leads the way at No. 12, followed by Ohio State (#15), Illinois (#19), Oregon (#22), Michigan (#29), UCLA (#30), Maryland (#32), Michigan State (#34), Northwestern (#37), Wisconsin (#39), and Indiana (#30). No other conference has more than nine teams in the top 40 or more than 16 teams in the top 100.
• On Monday, the Big Ten announced its first weekly awards of the 2024-25 campaign. Northwestern’s Nick Martinelli was named Big Ten Player of the Week, while Illinois’ Will Riley claimed Freshman of the Week honors. Martinelli led the Wildcats with 29.0 points on 75 percent shooting, including 5-for-5 from three point range, and 12.0 rebounds in Northwestern‘s 1-1 week. The junior forward opened the season with a 26-point, 10-rebound performance in a 90-46 win over Lehigh before pairing 32 points and 14 boards in a 71-66 loss at Dayton.
• Riley made the most of his collegiate debut, as the Kitchener, Ontario native hit 10-13 from the floor, including 5-for-6 from deep, en route to 31 points in the Illini’s 112-67 season-opening win over Eastern Illinois, breaking the program’s freshman single-game scoring record. The freshman added a 14-point, seven rebound outing in Illinois’ 90-58 victory over SIU-Edwardsville.
• Last week, the Los Angeles Athletic Club announced the John R. Wooden Awards Preseason Top 50 Watch List. Eleven players from the Big Ten were included on the list of players considered early front-runners for the Wooden Award All-America Team and Most Outstanding Player Award. The players named to the list are Ace Bailey (RUT), Ace Baldwin Jr. (PSU), Oumar Ballo (IND), Dawson Garcia (MINN), Dylan Harper (RUT), Great Osobor (WASH), Payton Sandfort (IOWA), Braden Smith (PUR), and Bruce Thornton (OSU).
• Three Big Ten players, Ballo, Smith, and Bailey, were also named to the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Preseason Player of the Year Watch List. The trio was also among the 10 Big Ten players named to the Jersey Mike’s Naismith Trophy Player of the Year Watch List presented by AXIA Time. Also named to the list were Baldwin Jr. (PSU), Garcia (MINN), Harper (RUT), Osobor (WASH), Sandfort (IOWA), Jackson Shelstad (ORE), and Thornton (OSU).
• The Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame recently announced the preseason watch lists for its national player of the year awards at the five traditional court positions. Sixteen student-athletes from 12 different Big Ten schools were named to the preseason watch lists at all five positions. A complete list of honors can be found on Page 2.
• 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+.