A massive weekend for men’s college basketball is in the books, with four top-10 matchups in 24 hours headlining a needle-moving slate of games across the sport’s landscape. The highest-profile games didn’t produce any instant classics, but we still learned plenty from those games as conference championship races continue to shape up with the calendar flipped to February.
Purdue cements itself as Big Ten favorites
Purdue has been the most popular pick for the Big Ten crown since the preseason, but entered the week a game behind Wisconsin at the top of the league. There was a path for the Badgers to surprise everyone and claim a third conference championship in five seasons, but that path likely required beating the Boilermakers in Madison Sunday. Instead, Purdue asserted itself firmly as the league’s team to beat with an impressive road win, finding a way to beat a top-10 team in a hostile environment despite shooting just 3-for-11 from three.
Wisconsin did impressive work to slow down Zach Edey, whose 18 points and 13 rebounds represent, somehow, a quieter afternoon for the defending National Player of the Year. But point guard Braden Smith was outstanding in the first half and veteran wing Lance Jones took over in the second, with the two combining for 39 points. Consider it a missed opportunity for the Badgers, who shot just 16% from three on the game and went 0-for-11 from beyond the arc in the second half.