Big Ten: The win of the year

Other than forfeits due to NCAA sanctions, only twice in the last half-century has a Big Ten team finished the regular season without a single conference victory. Northwestern is forced to own up to both forgettable seasons (1990-91 and 1999-2000), and in 2007-08 the Wildcats were dangerously close to adding a third such campaign until junior guard Craig Moore came to the rescue.

Moore began the game by nailing four of the team’s first five shots – all of them three-pointers – in helping to guide Northwestern to a commanding 36-25 halftime lead. But the Wildcats had been in that spot before – two-point halftime leads in their last two contests against Iowa and Indiana – and, as has happened before, things began to fall apart in the second half. Michigan compiled an 11-5 run to start; then, with less than two minutes to go, the Wolverines owned a 60-59 lead. Refusing to accept what could have been deemed fate, Moore answered back — with another three-pointer — and it was enough for Northwestern to help leave Ann Arbor will an ounce of pride to cling to.

Said Michigan coach John Beilein afterward, “This is the exact same game they played at Iowa and the exact same game they just played against Indiana. I don’t know if any of you got to see those games but they deserved to win either one.”

Had the Wildcats not beaten Michigan, it’s very possible they would have lost each of the remaining three games on their schedule. A road contest at Purdue and a home date against Wisconsin? Forget about it. That leaves Iowa as the only plausible game that could have saved the Wildcats conference season.

But coach Bill Carmody and his players need not worry about the ‘maybes’ now. They have a Big Ten win under their belt, and in a season with as many low points as this one, one can only hope that this team will spend ample time celebrating that victory.

Rising team: Wisconsin

Quick: who was the Badgers’ leading scorer in their recent win over Ohio State? Stumped? Don’t worry, you’re not alone. Wisconsin has been relying on a different player each night (on that particular night it was sophomore reserve guard Jason Bohannon), which epitomizes Bo Ryan-style basketball. It’s also why the Badgers have remained near the top of the conference despite experiencing so much turnover from a season ago.

Falling team: Illinois

Illinois is a team in freefall. While obvious to even the most casual fan, what is not so obvious is the depths to which Bruce Weber’s club has fallen. In its only appearance this week (thank heavens) the Illini scored just 43 points in a six-point loss to Michigan. Illinois is in jeopardy of posting its worst conference mark in a decade, and its worst overall record in more than three decades. Other than perhaps Ohio State, no Big Ten team is more anxious to see the month of February come to close than the Illini.

Player of the week: Armon Bassett, G, Indiana

I was tempted to pick either Kevin Coble or Craig Moore of Northwestern (no, seriously, I was) but Bassett’s two big games against Northwestern (24 points) and Ohio State (23) — with four three-pointers in each game — earned him the nod instead. Bassett also stepped forward in the wake of Kelvin Sampson’s resignation to act as a mouthpiece for a young Hoosier squad trying to hold the ship together.

Freshman of the week: Kosta Koufos, C, Ohio State

Albeit in two losing efforts, Koufos helped pace the Buckeyes in scoring and on the glass. His 21 points kept the Buckeyes in their contest against Indiana, and his 10-point, 10-rebound effort against Wisconsin was his seventh double-double of the season.

Stats of the week

4,401: Northwestern’s average attendance at home games this year — by far the lowest in the Big Ten.

37: Points scored by Northwestern sophomore forward Kevin Coble in his team’s 85-82 loss to Indiana.

5.54: The number of defensive rebounds that Indiana’s Jamarcus Ellis averages — the second most per game in the conference this season. Ellis is a 6-foot-5 guard/forward.

They said it

“He wasn’t just like a coach. He was more like a father to us. We just miss him.” — Indiana freshman guard Eric Gordon commenting on Kelvin Sampson’s resignation.

Key upcoming games

Thursday, Feb. 28
Michigan State at Wisconsin, 8 p.m. CST
Could the Badgers season take one final tumble? Seems unlikely at the Kohl Center, but Michigan State is hungry for conference respect.

Sunday, March 2
Indiana at Michigan State, 2 p.m. EST
Tough week for Tom Izzo’s club. The Hoosiers weren’t fazed by the Kelvin Sampson fiasco as much as outsiders predicted. In fact, it might just make them more determined heading into March.

Tuesday, March 4
Purdue at Ohio State, 7 p.m. EST
Last chance for the Buckeyes to prove their worth. For Purdue, it’s another in a long line of ‘tests’ to prove they are deserving of their standing atop the conference leaderboard.

Wisconsin-based writer Mike Beacom covers the Big Ten for Athlon