The year of the freshman continues as a pair of first-year players are battling for the Big Ten lead in assists.
Illinois’ Dee Brown is first with a 5.00 average (95 assists in 19 games) with Iowa’s Jeff Horner third at 4.56 (82 in 18 games). They are aiming to become the first freshmen since 1983 and just the third freshmen since 1975 to accomplish that feat.
The only other freshmen to lead the League in handouts were the Illini’s Bruce Douglas in 1983 (5.7 apg) and Michigan State’s Earvin Johnson in 1978 (6.8 apg).
The last Hawkeye to lead the Big Ten in assists was Dean Oliver in 2001 (5.2 apg) while the last Illini was Tony Wysinger in 1987 (6.1 apg).
Right attitude: Kenny Lowe doesn’t expect Purdue’s results–or attitude–to change just because the Boilermakers are ranked for the first time in two years. If anything, he expects the them to work harder to stay in first place.
“We’re just the same team,” Lowe said. “We’re not going to go out there and play any different. If we’re going to play different, we’re going to play harder. We don’t care about the ranking. We just want to be at our best in March.”
The Boilermakers (15-4, 7-1) are ranked for the first time since March 2000 and are on pace for their first NCAA tourney appearance in three years.
“If being ranked is going to help us, that’s lovely,” Lowe said. “We’re still going to play hard and play Purdue basketball.”
Looking up: At the unofficial halfway point of league play this season, every Big Ten school has at least one loss and only one, Penn State, is winless.
Joining the Nittany Lions nationally are Chicago State of the Mid-Continent Conference, Dartmouth and Columbia of the Ivy League, Buffalo of the Mid-American Conference, North Carolina A&T of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, Tennessee State of the Ohio Valley Conference, Washington State of the Pac-10, Army of the Patriot League, and Florida International of the Sun Belt.
On the other hand, through Thursday, nine schools had yet to lose in conference play: Dayton of the Atlantic 10, Weber State of the Big Sky, Louisville of Conference USA, Brown, Penn and Princeton of the Ivy League, South Carolina State of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, Kentucky of the Southeastern Conference and Gonzaga of the West Coast Conference.
Also: The Boilermakers are 12-0 at home and beat Wisconsin for the 28th straight time at Mackey Arena. . . . Michigan State has won two straight–both against ranked teams–after losing six of eight in its worst slump since 1996-97, Tom Izzo’s second season as coach. . . . Illinois missed an opportunity to become the first team to win two straight games in the Breslin Center since Purdue did it during the 1996-97 and 1997-98 seasons. In fact, since the start of the 1998-99 season, Michigan State has won 69 of 72 games at home. . . . Ohio State’s bench outscored Minnesota’s reserves 31-8 in the Buckeyes’ victory on Wednesday night.
