USA Today
Big Ten Roundup: Breakout Candidates for 2022-2023 Basketball Season
The Big Ten will be full of new stars next basketball season.
Out of the 17 players named to the first, second or third team All-Big Ten during the 2021-2022 season, only three players are back in the Big Ten for 2022-2023. Trayce Jackson-Davis (Indiana), Hunter Dickinson (Michigan) and Zach Edey (Purdue) return to their respective schools with high expectations for big seasons, but there are plenty of players across the league with the opportunity to step into bigger roles.
Here is a breakout candidate for each team ahead of the 2022-2023 Big Ten basketball season.
Illinois – R.J. Melendez
Melendez played just 8.5 minutes per game last season, but only Coleman Hawkins returns to Illinois with more experience playing for Brad Underwood. Illinois top five leaders in minutes played from 2021-2022 are all gone, creating opportunity for Melendez to play a bigger role. At 6-foot-7, Melendez can score inside and also shot 9-for-15 from 3 last season.
Underwood brought in experienced scorers Terrance Shannon Jr. from Texas Tech and Matthew Mayer from Baylor. They'll start and play a key role for the Illini, but Melendez showed flashes of high-level talent at the end of last season. Melendez was a four-star recruit and the No. 56 player in his class, according to ESPN. He scored a career high 14 points versus Northwestern, averaged 10.7 points over a three-game stretch from Feb. 8 to Feb. 16 and scored nine points against Houston in the NCAA Tournament.
Indiana – Tamar Bates
Bates arrived in Bloomington as the No. 23 player in his class, according to ESPN. He's a smooth ball-handler who knows how to find his shot in the paint, midrange and beyond the arc. He rarely looked rushed or flustered on the court as a freshman, but at times shots simply didn't fall.Playing 14.5 minutes per game in 32 appearances off the bench, Bates shot 33.8 percent from the field and 29.8 from 3.
He scored 3.9 points per game as a freshman, but with the departure of Parker Stewart and Rob Phinisee, that number could double. Described by his teammates as a gym rat, Bates has the chance to earn Stewart's spot in the starting lineup and be one of the Big Ten's most improved players. A breakout sophomore year seems more clear for Bates compared to Jordan Geronimo, who will have to compete with Race Thompson and Trayce Jackson-Davis for minutes.
Iowa – Payton Sandfort
The 6-foot-7 Sandfort emerged as a lethal 3-point shooter off the bench for the Hawkeyes on their way to a Big Ten Tournament title. He drilled 6-of-10 attempts from 3 across Iowa's four games, including 2-for-2 in the championship against Purdue. He shot 36 percent from 3 as a freshman and missed just one free throw, playing 10.5 minutes per game in 34 games off the bench.
The Hawkeyes lost 34.5 points per game with the departure of Keegan Murray and Jordan Bohannon, leaving opportunity for Sandfort to double his five points per game as a freshman. Sandfort was the Iowa Basketball Coaches Association 4A Player of the Year out of Waukee, Iowa. I expect Kris Murray to lead Iowa in scoring next season, but he seems like too obvious of a pick for a breakout season.
Maryland – Julian Reese
The Terrapins will be without Fatts Russell and Eric Ayala – Maryland's top-two leading scorers – and starting center Qudus Wahab is transferring back to Georgetown. This could open the door for Julian Reese, a former top-50 recruit and the No. 1 player from Maryland in his class.
Reese is entering his sophomore season after appearing in 32 games with one start last year. He had an impressive performance against Michigan, scoring 10 points with a pair of 3-pointers. At 6-foot-9, Reese could give opponents matchup problems with his size and versatility.
Michigan – Terrance Williams II
Entering his junior season, Williams should have the chance to step into a starting role with the loss of Caleb Houstan and Moussa Diabate to the NBA Draft. At 6-foot-7, Williams was Juwan Howard's first option off the bench last season thanks to his physicality on defense and 38.5 shooting percentage from 3.
Williams came to Ann Arbor as a four-star recruit and the No. 79 player in his class, according to ESPN. He was the 2020 Gatorade District of Columbia Player of the Year. Hunter Dickinson is Michigan's only returning starter, giving Williams a chance to make a big jump in year three.
Michigan State – Jaden Akins
Akins first flashed his potential with 12 points against Baylor and 10 points against Louisville early on in his freshman season. He'd only score double digits one more time the rest of the year, but that shouldn't diminish optimism about what Akins can bring as a sophomore.
Akins was a top-50 prospect out of basketball powerhouse Sunrise Christian Academy in Kansas. He helped the team to a 21-4 record and an appearance in the GEICO National Championship game where Akins scored 14 points. Michigan State loses its top three scorers from last season – Gabe Brown, Max Christie and Marcus Bingham Jr. – which creates opportunity for Akins in year two.
Minnesota – Isaiah Ihnen
Ihnen suffered a knee injury last July and missed all of his junior season. He has been cleared for full-contact practice, and second-year head coach Ben Johnson thinks Ihnen can become one of the best defensive players in the Big Ten.
Ihnen has played just 13.1 minutes per game in two seasons as a Golden Gopher, but will have a chance to earn a starting role with the departure of Payton Willis, Luke Loewe, E.J. Stephens and Eric Curry. At 6-foot-10, Ihnen is an explosive athlete that blocked 21 shots in 29 games off the bench as a sophomore.
Nebraska – C.J. Wilcher
Despite starting only two games for Nebraska, Wilcher finished the year with 13 double-digit performances. He was fourth on the team in points per game at 8.1, but led the Cornhuskers in 3-pointers made (52) and 3-point percentage (40.6).
Wilcher transferred to Nebraska after playing his freshman season at Xavier, and he could be the go-to guy with the loss of leading scorers Bryce McGowens and Alonzo Verge.
Northwestern – Julian Roper II
From a scoring perspective, Roper put his best three-game stretch of the season together across Northwestern's final three games. He went 3-for-4 from 3 in the Wildcats' season finale against Iowa, and gradually increased his role as his freshman season went on.
Roper is the eighth-highest ranked recruit in Northwestern basketball history as the No. 156 player in the class of 2021. Head coach Chris Collins called him a lockdown defender and powerful athlete as a wing player.
Ohio State – Zed Key
Key played second fiddle to E.J. Liddell in the post for the last two seasons, but he still started 23 games. Aside from Eugene Brown and Justice Sueing, who missed all but two games last season with injury, Key is the only Buckeye returner with any experience playing for Chris Holtmann.
Ohio State will look much different next year with potentially three transfers in the starting lineup – Isaac Likekele, Sean McNeil and Tanner Holden – but Key should be a consistent force on the block. Key averaged 7.8 points and 5.6 rebounds last season, but could average close to a double-double for the Buckeyes as a junior.
Penn State – Dallion Johnson
Johnson was the 2020 Gatorade Boys Basketball Player of the Year for Massachusetts at Phillips Academy, where he broke the school's career scoring record. He played in just eight games as a freshman, but showed signs of potential under first year head coach Micah Shrewsberry.
Johnson started his sophomore season on the bench, but he worked his way into the starting lineup over Penn State's final 14 games. He posted a career high 15 points on 5-of-9 shooting from 3 against Northwestern, and made solid contributions against Illinois and Purdue in March. Johnson enters next season with momentum after a strong end to his sophomore campaign.
Purdue – Brandon Newman
Newman started 23 games during his freshman season, but his role decreased as a sophomore playing behind veteran guards Jaden Ivey, Eric Hunter Jr. and Sasha Stefanovic. Newman scored in double digits in four of Purdue's first seven games, but reached this mark only once the rest of the year – a 12-point effort against Penn State.
With Ivey, Stefanovic, Hunter Jr. and Isaiah Thompson gone, Newman will likely step into a starting role and be relied upon to score more often after averaging 4.6 points last year. Newman came to Purdue as a four-star recruit, and was the 2019 Indiana Mr. Basketball runner-up.
Rutgers – Aundre Hyatt
Ron Harper Jr. and Geo Baker are pursuing NBA careers after leading the Scarlet Knights in scoring last season. Starters Caleb McConnell, Paul Mulcahy and Clifford Omoruyi are back, but Rutgers brings in the No. 89 recruiting class in the nation. Hyatt will have a good chance to start next year for head coach Steve Pikiell after leading the team with 12.8 minutes off the bench.
Before Rutgers, Hyatt was at LSU for three seasons where he started 15 games as a sophomore. According to Rivals, Hyatt was a four-star recruit. He was the Virginia state player of the year, leading Miller School with 18 points per game en route to a state championship. At 6-foot-7, Hyatt fits Pikiell's defensive identity, but he'll need to shoot better than 27 percent from 3 to have a true breakout season.
Wisconsin – Chucky Hepburn
As a freshman, Hepburn took at backseat to Big Ten Player of the Year Johnny Davis and veteran guard Brad Davison, but it'll be his backcourt to run next season. Hepburn banked in a 3 to clinch Wisconsin's share of the Big Ten regular season title, and scored 7.9 points per game in 33 starts.
A Bellevue, Neb. native, Hepburn was a four-star recruit, according to ESPN, and made the Big Ten All-Freshman team. Greg Gard gave high praise to Hepburn for his "vision and a feel to the floor that we've only had with a few guys the 20 years I've been here."
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