Michigan State surges and Purdue tumbles as the Big Ten race marches on.
A new favorite has emerged in the Big Ten race but the Spartans are poised for even greater achievements
It was a very eventful week of Big Ten basketball. The Michigan State Spartans were able to complete the west coast swing with a sweep of Washington and Oregon. On Saturday, MSU shook off any hint of jetlag and demolished the Maryland Terrapins at the Breslin Center.
Elsewhere in the Big Ten, Nebraska, Michigan, and Illinois all picked up two additional wins. But it was a tough week for Purdue. The Boilermakers lost in the final minute at UCLA and then were upset at home on Saturday by the Fighting Illini.
As a result, Table 1 below gives the updated Big Ten enhanced standings through Saturday, Jan. 24.
Table 1: Enhanced Big Ten standings through Jan. 24, 2026.
The Cornhuskers sit alone at the top of the standings with a perfect 9-0 record, an impressive road win/home loss score of +5, and a strength of resume of +4.46 wins better than expected for an average power four team playing the Huskers' conference schedule to date.
Michigan State, Illinois, and Michigan are tied for second place at 8-1. Purdue has slid back to fourth place at 7-2. The Boilermakers are a half game ahead of Wisconsin pending Sunday's game between the Badgers and USC in Madison.
The updated Big Ten wins matrix is shown below in Table 2.
