Busting Brackets
Fansided

Big Ten Basketball: Contenders and Pretenders for 2018-19 regular season title

By Ryan Kay

PISCATAWAY, NJ - NOVEMBER 30: Xavier Tillman #23 of the Michigan State Spartans reacts after a basket against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights during the second half of a college basketball game at the Rutgers Athletic Center on November 30, 2018 in Piscataway, New Jersey. Michigan State defeated Rutgers 78-67. (Photo by Rich Schultz/Getty Images,)
PISCATAWAY, NJ - NOVEMBER 30: Xavier Tillman #23 of the Michigan State Spartans reacts after a basket against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights during the second half of a college basketball game at the Rutgers Athletic Center on November 30, 2018 in Piscataway, New Jersey. Michigan State defeated Rutgers 78-67. (Photo by Rich Schultz/Getty Images,) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
2 of 3
Next
NEW YORK, NY – MARCH 01: Bruno Fernando #23 of the Maryland Terrapins reacts after he is called for a foul late in the second half against the Wisconsin Badgers during the second round of the Big Ten Basketball Tournament at Madison Square Garden on March 1, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY – MARCH 01: Bruno Fernando #23 of the Maryland Terrapins reacts after he is called for a foul late in the second half against the Wisconsin Badgers during the second round of the Big Ten Basketball Tournament at Madison Square Garden on March 1, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images) /

Those in the Middle of the Pack

Maryland

The Terrapins split their two early December Big Ten contests by beating Penn State at home by a score of 66-59 and losing a very close road game by 2 points and falling to Purdue by a final score of 62-60. Maryland entered January Big Ten play with a hard-fought victory against top 25 ranked Nebraska at home, 74-72.

Wisconsin

Badgers won had two competitive games early on in Big Ten play with a road victory at Iowa by a score of 72-66. They followed that up with an unexpectedly close game against Rutgers by a score of 69-64. However, in their 3rd Big Ten game at home, they only scored 14 points in the 1st half against Minnesota. The Badgers fought back in the 2nd half but ended up losing 59-52.

Minnesota

A tale of two early Big Ten games for the Golden Gophers. Minnesota suffered a bad 20 point road loss at Ohio State but bounced back with an impressive 85-78 win against Nebraska. The Gophers most impressive game in the Big Ten occurred when they traveled to Madison, to take on Wisconsin. They ended up taking a commanding 29-14 halftime lead. They withstood the Badges 2nd half comeback and came away with a key road victory against a quality opponent in Big Ten play.

Purdue

Similar to the Gophers, the Boilermakers got beat on the road at the hands of the Wolverines by a score of 76-57 but they won their second Big Ten game against Maryland in a closely contested game by a final score of 62-60. The Boilermakers had an outstanding game in their 3rd Big Ten contest when they hosted top 25 ranked Iowa and scored 52 first-half points on their way to a 16 point victory over the Hawkeyes.

Nebraska

Even though the Cornhuskers lost two out of their first three Big Ten games, they are nowhere near pretender status. They beat Illinois by 15 with a final score of 75-60. Then Nebraska lost a tough one on the road to Minnesota by a score of 85-78. The heartbreaker for the Cornhuskers came on the road with their first Big Ten game in January by losing a very close and competitive game to Maryland, 74-72.

Home/Big Ten