Quick Recap
Nebraska has stayed undefeated, moving to 20-0 on the season. More on them below.
Michigan State dominated again this week, and they currently have the best defense in the country. In a 91-48 win over Maryland, Jeremy Fears put up 17 points and 17 assists with only 4 turnovers.
Illinois got the biggest win of the week with a road win over Purdue behind 46 points from Keaton Wagler.
Michigan picked up two home wins over Indiana and Ohio State, and the defense looked like it's starting to be very elite once again.
After entering the week 7-0 in Big Ten play, Purdue dropped
Score recap (Away Team - Home Team)
Minnesota 74 - Ohio State 82 (OT)
Indiana 72 - Michigan 86
Rutgers 62 - Iowa 68
Michigan State 68 - Oregon 52
Purdue 67 - UCLA 69
Maryland 70 - Illinois 89
Washington 66 - Nebraska 76
Northwestern 74 - USC 68
Wisconsin 98 - Penn State 71
Indiana 82 - Rutgers 59
Ohio State 62 - Michigan 74
Maryland 48 - Michigan State 91
Nebraska 76 - Minnesota 57
Illinois 88 - Purdue 82
Northwestern 64 - UCLA 71
Oregon 57 - Washington 72
USC 73 - Wisconsin 71
Penn State 78 - Ohio State 84
5 Trends and Observations
1.) Keaton Wagler is HIM
Keaton Wagler hasn't just played himself into probably locking up the Big Ten Freshman of the Year. Big Ten Player of the Year and All-American status are both up for grabs for the potential lottery pick.
Wagler went for 46 points against Purdue, breaking many records along the way. I doubt he has another shooting performance like this all season, but it was one for the ages as he went 9/11 from 3 and 4/6 from 2.
He was sun running against Purdue, but this has more or less been who Wagler has been all season long.
On the season, Wagler is averaging 17.5 points, 5.0 rebounds, 4.0 assists, and 1.5 turnovers in 31.7 minutes a game. He's shooting 2.6/5.0 (52.5%) from 2 per game and 2.5/5.8 (43.5%) from 3 per game.
Here's the shot chart for Wagler on the season. He hasn't taken many mid range shots, under 1 a game, so that doesn't bug me too much that he's only 2/15 from there. The three point shooting aside, it's been impressive how he's been able to convert inside of the paint at a high rate. Coming into college, that was my big question with him was could he get into and finish inside the paint. We knew the three point shooting would be elite, but Wagler has answered pretty much every question there needs to be.
On the season, Wagler is now 23/49 (46.9%) on pull up 3s, and he's been one of the most efficient pull up shooters in the country. Wagler isn't going to blind you with speed, but he has a quick first step and quicker release that allows him to get to his looks. Against Purdue, Wagler went 7/9 on pull up 3s, just an absurd rate to have.
Keaton Wagler once again shows why coaches need to trust themselves and not just rankings. Keaton Wagler was ranked #261 coming out of high school, and I'm pretty confident there are not 260 better freshman than him in the country.
2.) Alijah Arenas Debuts
Alijah Arenas made his debut against Northwestern, a game in which he did end up playing 29 minutes.
It wasn't the debut Arenas wanted as he had 8 points on 3/15 shooting, including 0/6 from three. He also went 2/6 from free throw line, had 2 rebounds, 2 assists, and 1 turnover.
USC is going to see themselves quickly fall out of brackets, unless they're able to build off this Wisconsin win. It's a shame that we won't get to see the backcourt trio of Rodney Rice, Chad Baker-Mazara, and Alijah Arenas on the floor together. That would've been an incredibly tough cover.
Arenas has a lot of skill, but he still seems to be pretty raw right now. He had an incredible highlight which included a 360 layup, but he also really seemed to be forcing and took a lot of tough shots that weren't in the flow of the offense. He can be a 6'6 point guard, which fits perfectly with what Muss wants, but it's going to take time for him to fully become comfortable at the collegiate level.
He looked a bit better in his second game of the season as USC got a road win against Wisconsin. He had 7 points on 3/12 shooting, 5 rebounds, 1 block, and 1 steal. The jumper obviously has a lot of work to do, but he seemed to be just a bit more comfortable within the offense and defense.
It shouldn't be a shock that Arenas may take a bit of time to adjust to college as he's a true freshman still, and all the other freshmen are very close to being sophomores. Regardless, it was good to see him out there still, and if USC wants a chance of making the tournament, Arenas will have to play a part in it.
3.) UCLA's Run
Don't look now, but UCLA is 14-6 overall and 6-3 in the Big Ten. Granted, they're 1-5 against tourney level type teams, but that 1 win was a big one against Purdue. Bracket Matrix currently has UCLA as an 11 seed.
It was great to see Donovan Dent start to look like Donovan Dent again, after being one of the larger transfer portal disappointments for much of the season. He had 23 points and 13 assists against Purdue, and followed it up with 13 points and 5 assists against Northwestern.
He doesn't have to do it all on his own though because Tyler Bilodeau has been lights out shooting the ball, and Trent Perry is having a breakout sophomore season. Both Bilodeau and Perry had 18 points against Northwestern, and Bilodeau hit the game winning shot against Purdue. This team isn't deep at all, but their top 5 (6 when Skyy Clark returns) has the talent to compete against anyone in the conference. The consistency just hasn't been there this year.
UCLA could go on a bit of a run here though. They do have 3 of their next 4 home games at home, and their only road game is at a depleted Oregon team. I'm sure Mick Cronin will still find a way to complain about the scheduling.
4.) Nebrasketball
This is just a reminder that Nebraska is good. They already hold wins over Illinois and Michigan State. They're beating bad teams by large margins. They're undefeated. They're AWESOME.
Northwestern has gotten through a bit of an easier stretch of their schedule with very little scare. They had a close one against Ohio State, and needed a comeback against Indiana. After that, they've knocked off Oregon, Northwestern, Washington, and Minnesota while more or less controlling the entirety of the game.
The next stretch of the schedule is Nebraska's most difficult part remaining. They play 3 of the top 5 teams in the Big Ten, and although Rutgers is far from the top of the conference, that's a long travel to go to New Jersey in the middle of it all.
If Nebraska loses 1 of these, it DOES NOT mean that they're frauds or anything like that. I know people are going to use this stretch of games to "see how legit Nebraska is". But this team, like I said above, already has wins against Illinois and Michigan State, and they are TWENTY AND OH (20-0).
In terms of winning a Big Ten title, going 3-1 in this stretch doesn't guarantee a championship, but it puts them in an incredible spot to do so.
This is the last 7 games for Nebraska after the 4 game stretch. They have Iowa twice, which aren't easy games, and they do have their west coast road trip. I'd be surprised if they went 7-0 in this stretch, but hey, I would've been surprised if someone said they got to 20 wins before 1 loss.
If Nebraska can find a way to go 3-1 in the next 4, it gives them breathing room to slip up at least once, if not twice, down the stretch and still get at least a share of the Big Ten title.
5.) Point Guard Depth
This is something I was harping on in the preseason, and I'm very glad it's come to fruition.
The lead guard depth in the Big Ten is wild. Let's run through some of the names and their averages.
- Braden Smith - 15.2 points, 9.3 assists (1st in country)
- Jeremy Fears Jr - 13.4 points, 8.9 assists (2nd in country)
- Bennett Stirtz - 18.3 points, 5.0 assists
- Keaton Wagler - 17.5 points, 4.0 assists
Those 4 may well all end up on the 1st Team All-Big Ten. However, the depth of the lead guard room doesn't end there at all as there are other guys who very well could make one of the All-Big Ten teams.
- Bruce Thornton - 20.1 points, 3.6 assists
- Nick Boyd - 19.4 points, 3.6 assists
- Donovan Dent - 12.9 points, 6.7 assists
- Elliot Cadeau - 10.3 points, 5.2 assists
Then there's even another tier of players who at their best are All-Big Ten level players, and maybe have even been a bit underrated.
- Zoom Diallo - 15.2 points, 3.7 assists
- Tayton Conerway - 11.2 points, 4.1 assists
- Jamarques Lawrence - 10.1 points, 3.6 assists
- Sam Hoiberg - 8.7 points, 4.0 assists
- Isaac Asuma - 10.6 points, 4.3 assists
- Langston Reynolds - 10.8 points, 4.2 assists
- Jayden Reid - 10.9 points, 5.3 assists
There's even another tier of guys who still contribute, even if their teams aren't winning much.
- Diggy Coit - 15.2 points, 3.0 assists
- Kayden Mingo - 14.6 points, 4.6 assists
- Tariq Francis - 15.9 points, 2.3 assists
Oregon and USC are the only two teams without a player listed above, but that's really only because their star point guards, Jackson Shelstad and Rodney Rice, have dealt with injuries all season.
The names above don't even include the 2 guard players like John Blackwell, Lamar Wilkerson, Chad Baker-Mazara, and John Mobley, to name just a few.
That's a lot of names and stats to basically say that the point guard spot in the Big Ten is absolutely elite right now, day in and day out. I'm not going to act like I'm a complete Big Ten historian, so maybe the point guard play in like 1992 was better or something. However, I'd be pretty confident putting this lead guard group up against really any in Big Ten history.
For a conference that has been known for post play and big men for the last decade, the tide may be shifting to where really perimeter players dominate the conference. Maybe that'll lead to a Big Ten National Championship?
Team of the Week
Illinois Fighting Illini
Illinois got the biggest win of the week with a road win against Purdue, after beating up on Maryland at home.
Between the two games, Illinois went 21/40 from 2 and 33/78 from 3, basically taking twice as many threes as twos this week.
Player of the Week
Keaton Wagler - Illinois
vs Maryland
- 33 minutes, 13 points, 8 assists, 7 rebounds, 0 turnovers
- 3/3 2s (100%), 1/9 3s (11.1%), 4/6 FTs (66.7%)
@ Purdue
- 39 minutes, 46 points, 4 assists, 3 turnovers
- 4/6 2s (66.7%), 9/11 3s (81.8%), 3/4 FTs (75%)
Week Schedule
Note - All times listed are in Eastern Standard Time
Game(s) of the Week
Nebraska @ Michigan - Tuesday, Jan 27 - 7:00 - Peacock
Michigan @ Michigan State - Friday, Jan 30 - 8:00 - FOX
Illinois @ Nebraska - Sunday, Feb 1 - 4:00 - FS1
Tuesday, January 27th
- Michigan State @ Rutgers - 6:30 - FS1
- Nebraska @ Michigan - 7:00 - Peacock
- Purdue @ Indiana - 9:00 - Peacock
Wednesday, January 28th
- USC @ Iowa - 7:00 - Big Ten Network
- Minnesota @ Wisconsin - 9:00 - Big Ten Network
- UCLA @ Oregon - 11:00 - Big Ten Network
Thursday, January 29th
- Penn State @ Northwestern - 8:00 - Peacock
- Washington @ Illinois - 9:00 - FS1
Friday, January 30th
- Michigan @ Michigan State - 8:00 - FOX
Saturday, January 31st
- Ohio State @ Wisconsin - 2:00 - FOX
- Indiana @ UCLA - 5:00 - Peacock
- Rutgers @ USC - 7:00 - Peacock
- Washington @ Northwestern - 8:00 - Peacock
Sunday, February 1st
- Purdue @ Maryland - 1:00 - CBS
- Minnesota @ Penn State - 2:00 - Peacock
- Illinois @ Nebraska - 4:00 -FS1
- Iowa @ Oregon - 8:00 - FS1
