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Multiple Big Ten schools miss chances to add quality nonconference wins

On a week with a light Big Ten schedule, Maryland, Northwestern, Ohio State, Oregon, and Wisconsin miss chances to get a Quad-1 win.
Benjamin Worgull|
Dec 19, 2025; Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA; Wisconsin Badgers head coach Greg Gard looks on in the second half against the Villanova Wildcats at the Fiserv Forum.
Dec 19, 2025; Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA; Wisconsin Badgers head coach Greg Gard looks on in the second half against the Villanova Wildcats at the Fiserv Forum. | Benny Sieu-Imagn Images

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Wisconsin Badgers

The Big Ten Christmas break has arrived with four days of no games on the schedule. And even the games that have been played or will be played this weekend don't amount to many headlines. That's why the performance from Maryland, Northwestern, Ohio State, Oregon, and Wisconsin were such letdowns.

All four schools scheduled a power-conference team before its holiday break and lost by a combined 18 points in regulation or in overtime. It was a golden opportunity for each school to add a Quad-1 nonconference win to their profiles, something none of them have and won't be able to get anymore this season. Coal in the stocking indeed.

A Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to our readers. Here is week eight of the Big Ten Power Rankings.

1, Michigan Wolverines (11-0, 2-0) Previous: 1

The Wolverines have won eight straight contests by double-digits, scoring 100 in five of the last six games, and winning by an average of 29.3 points per game against an early-season schedule that has included eight power-conference schools. The Wolverines have scored 50 points or more in 10 of 22 halves this season, including seven of the last 12.

The Wolverines have one final nonconference game left, and it has a chance to be a decent one against 10-2 McNeese, who statistically match up fairly evenly on paper albeit against much different schedules.

Up Next: Monday vs. McNeese

2, Michigan State Spartans (11-1, 2-0) Previous: 2

Junior forward Coen Carr scored a career-high 22 points, including 16 in the second half, in a 79-70 win over Oakland. Carr his 8-of-13 shots from the floor and 5-of-7 from the free throw line, while grabbing seven rebounds, adding two assists and two blocked shots.

Senior forward Jaxon Kohler had seventh double-double of the season, and third-straight, with 13 points and a game-high 13 rebounds, senior center Carson Cooper added 15 points, five rebounds and three blocked shots and sophomore guard Kur Teng added 10 points and five assists.

Oakland was just the second team to shoot above 40 percent against the Spartans, but MSU's tenacity on the glass (+16 edge in rebounds) was a big difference.

Up Next: Monday vs. Cornell

3, Purdue Boilermakers (11-1, 2-0) Previous: 3

Purdue has responded from its 25-point home loss to Iowa State with three straight 20+ point wins, knocking off Minnesota, Marquette and lastly No.21 Auburn

Trey Kaufman-Renn had 18 points and six rebounds, Braden Smith added 11 points and a season-high 14 assists, and C.J. Cox scored 14 in a 28-point win over the 21st-ranked Tigers, which shot only 36.2 percent from the field and finished with its lowest point total this season.

Up Next: Monday vs. Kent State

4, Nebraska Cornhuskers (12-0, 2-0) Previous: 4

The Huskers trailed by two points at halftime but easily took control by starting the second half on a 19-6 run to blowout North Dakota by 23. Berke Buyuktuncel had 12 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists for the fourth triple-double in school history, easily surpassing his season averages in all three categories.

Up Next: Tuesday vs. New Hampshire

5, Illinois Fighting Illini (9-3, 1-1) Previous: 5

The Illinois' aggressive early-season schedule has the Illini battled tested but not many quality results outside of a victory over No.13 Tennessee. Knocking off its rival in emphatic fashion falls in that quality category.

Freshman guard Keaton Wagler made a career-best five 3-pointers and scored 22 points to lead No. 20 Illinois to a 91-48 rout of Missouri, a game in which the Tigers waved the white flag early in the second half.

The largest previous margin of victory in the series, which has been played 45 times since 1980, was Illinois' 82-50 blowout in 2005, when it was coming off a Final Four run. Twenty-one years later, Illinois hopes for a repeat result.

Up Next: Monday vs. Southern

6, USC Trojans (12-1, 1-1) Previous: 6

Gabe Dynes had 16 points and Ezra Ausar, Chad Baker-Mazara and Jacob Cofie all reached double figures as Southern California rolled to a 102-63 victory over Division III member UC Santa Barbara, which was a late fill in after USC and Brown mutually agreed to cancel its game in wake of the campus shooting on Dec. 13.

With the season-ending injury to Rodney Rice, USC signed former Robert Morris guard Kam Woods last week. He joined practice on Thursday and had six rebounds, six assists and three steals in his Sunday debut.

Up Next: Jan.2 at No.2 Michigan

7, UCLA Bruins (10-3, 2-0) Previous: 7


Two home wins over two in-state mid-majors gave the Bruins a nice lift to cap an uneven first half, one where UCLA went 1-3 against nonconference power-conference competition (losing three winnable games by a combined 22 points) and went 2-0 to open conference play.

Up Next: Jan.3 at Iowa

8, Iowa Hawkeyes (10-2, 1-1) Previous: 10

A 55-point blowout win over Bucknell in Des Moines was big for two reasons for the Hawkeyes. Everyone knows the Hawkeyes can shoot, and they did by shooting 60 percent for the game, but the Hawkeyes are starting to show a real willingness to play defense.

After holding Western Michigan to 16 points in the first half in the previous outing, Iowa held Bucknell 21 points in the first half and 18 in the second. The Bison shot 37 percent from the field and committed 25 turnovers, 19 coming on steals with five Hawkeyes registering multiple swipes.

Secondly, Iowa is starting to see Alvaro Folgueiras get comfortable. The 2024-25 Horizon League Player of the Year struggled against mostly power-conference competition during a five-game stretch but looked solid with a team-high 17 points, three rebounds, two assists, and two steals in just 20 minutes.

Up Next: Monday vs. UMass Lowell

9, Ohio State Buckeyes (9-3, 1-1), Previous: 8

Knocking off Grambling is nice but a win over No.12 North Carolina would have been even sweeter for the Buckeyes, especially since they had multiple chances to win late.

John Mobley made a four-point play to put the Buckeyes ahead 70-67 with 48.7 seconds to go but promptly gave up a layup, committed a turnover and a dunk on the next three possessions, the latter coming with 7.2 seconds left. A missed three-pointer by Mobley and Devin Royal getting blocked at the rim on the offensive rebound was the last play in a 71-70 loss in Atlanta.

Royal led the Buckeyes with 18 points but Thornton - who came into the game shooting 60.2 percent - was held to 16 points on 7-of-16 shooting.

Up Next: Jan.2 at Rutgers

10, Wisconsin Badgers (8-4, 1-1) Previous: 9

Wisconsin continues to look great against home opponents and lost on the road. UW missed all three chances to register a quality nonconference win, the latest being an uneven performance against Villanova in front of a partisan crowd in Milwaukee. Beating up a bad Central Michigan team is nice, but the fact is that the Badgers' best nonconference result was a neutral-site win against Providence (No.75 in KenPom, No.100 in NET).

UW might have to go at least 10-8 in the Big Ten to get on the right side of the bubble, which will be no easy task for a team that has looked lost against equal or better competition.

Up Next: Tuesday vs. Milwaukee

11, Indiana Hoosiers (10-3, 1-1) Previous 11

Lamar Wilkerson is starting to catch fire for the Hoosiers. He shot better than 45 percent from the field in the last four games, scoring at least 18 points in all of them. In Monday's 21-point win over Siena, Wilkerson had 23 points on 7-for-15 shooting to go along with seven rebounds and four assists. A lot of his production has come from three, a theme with Indiana, but he's also getting to the free throw line and shooting 83.7 percent from the line (36-for-43)

Up Next: Jan.4 vs. Washington

12, Washington Huskies (8-4, 1-1) Previous: 12

Forward Hannes Steinbach continues to be one of the most impactful freshmen in the Big Ten. The German had 21 points and 14 rebounds in a 30-point victory over San Diego on Monday, giving him seven double-doubles in his nine games.

Up Next: Monday vs. Utah

13, Northwestern Wildcats (7-5, 0-2) Previous: 13

Without senior forward Nick Martinelli, who leads the Wildcats with 21.9 points per game, due to a concussion, the Wildcats shot only 35.9 percent and went 4-for-23 from three-point range in a three-point loss to Butler in Indianapolis. These close losses should sound familiar. Northwestern was 5-11 in games decided by six points or less last season and are 2-5 in such games this season.

Up Next: Tuesday vs. Howard

14, Oregon Ducks (6-6, 0-2) Previous: 14

The silver lining is the Ducks had one of their best performances of the season against, arguably, the toughest opponent they've faced this season.

Oregon getting Nate Bittle healthier from his ankle injury is the only way the Ducks are going to be competitive. Bittle finished with 28 points, nine rebounds, four blocks, and five assists while shooting 10-of-19 from the field.

The difference in the game was Gonzaga outscored Oregon's bench, 40-13, and scored 19 points off 11 Ducks turnovers. Oregon, by comparison, managed just four points off five Gonzaga turnovers.

Up Next: Sunday vs. Omaha

15, Maryland Terrapins (6-6, 0-2) Previous: 15

Playing with Pharrell Payne, arguably the Terps' best inside presence, Maryland managed only 12 points in the paint. They muddied up the water the best they could. Virginia’s offense, which entered Saturday averaging over 87 points per game, made just one basket over an 11:56 span. Through 20 minutes, there were more combined offensive rebounds (22) than defensive rebounds (21).

Maryland committed 19 turnovers, however, was a killer. The extra possessions and the lack of Payne helped Virginia shoot 21-of-33 in the second half

Up Next: Sunday vs. Old Dominion

16, Minnesota Gophers (7-5, 1-1): Previous: 17

Cade Tyson had 24 points and all five starters scored in double digits in Minnesota's 78-50 victory over Campbell on Sunday. Tyson, who scored a career-high 38 points last time out, made 10 of 15 shots against the Fightin’ Camels. He had seven rebounds and five assists.

Next: Monday vs. Fairleigh Dickinson

17, Penn State Nittany Lions (8-4, 0-2) Previous: 16

The Nittany Lions' weak nonconference schedule hasn't helped them prepare for power-conference play. Penn State has lost three straight, its first two Big Ten games and then by 34 to Pittsburgh. The Nittany Lions have struggled to containing three-point shooters and are lacking depth in the frontcourt, causing them to get exposed against capable shooting teams.

Penn State closes its nonconference with, of course, a Quad-4 opponent ... only this one is 0-10 on the season.

Up Next: Monday vs. N.C. Central

18, Rutgers Scarlet Knights (6-6, 0-2): Previous: 18

Tariq Francis scored a career-high 34 points and hit a 3-pointer with 0.6 seconds remaining, dribbling to the arc and drilled a long 3-pointer right before the horn, as Rutgers rallied past Fran McCaffery and Penn, 70-69, last Saturday.

Rutgers overcame a poor shooting night by living at the foul line and forcing late turnovers. The Scarlet Knights shot 3 of 20 (15 percent) from 3-point range but went 21-for-31 from the line. Francis went 15 of 19 at the line and scored nearly half of Rutgers’ points.

Up Next: Monday vs. Delaware State

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Benjamin Worgull
BENJAMIN WORGULL

Benjamin Worgull has covered Wisconsin men's basketball since 2004, having previously written for Rivals, USA Today, 247sports, Fox Sports, the Associated Press, the Janesville Gazette, and the Wisconsin State Journal.

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