Ohio State and Purdue Both Lose, Tightening up Big Ten Basketball Standings

In Big Ten basketball, it seems like sooner or later Michigan State ends up at the top of the standings. The Spartans lost to Ohio State and Michigan a few weeks ago after running off a 14 game winning streak and dropped down behind the Buckeyes. Likewise, Purdue had a lengthy winning streak of 19 games going.

But with conference tournament time a couple of weeks away, Michigan State is relevant again. The Spartans, ranked #2 in the country, have won nine in a row, and with a 13-2 conference record (25-3) overall, are even with #8 Ohio State (13-2, 22-6) although the Buckeyes still have that tie breaker in head to head competition. That’s because Ohio State lost to Penn State 79-56 on February 15th. Both OSU conference losses have been to Penn State, so the Buckeyes would probably like to avoid the Nittany Lions in the conference tournament.

Purdue has now lost three in a row, first to Ohio State, then to Michigan State, and then on February 15th, 57-53 to a rebuilding Wisconsin team that is under .500 on the season. This will probably be the biggest win of the season for the Badgers, who uncharacteristically will not be in the NCAA Tournament. The Boilermakers are now 12-3 in the conference and 23-5 overall, but losses to the teams in front of them does not help their cause.

Purdue has a somewhat favorable schedule with Penn State, Illinois, and Minnesota on the docket. Michigan State has games with Northwestern, Illinois, and Wisconsin while Ohio State is at #22 Michigan on the 18th. They close the regular season with Rutgers and Indiana.