• Big Ten women’s basketball will be featured prominently on BTN and the FOX Sports app this week, with nine of the 12 scheduled conference games to be televised nationally, including BTN tripleheaders on Thursday and Jan. 18. In recognizing Martin Luther King Jr. Day during the latter tripleheader, BTN will feature several features on Big Ten players and coaches, discussing the meaning of the holiday and the lasting significance of Dr. King’s contributions towards social justice and equality in America.
• Big Ten players collected three major national player of the week awards earlier this week. Michigan’s Naz Hillmon, who was chosen as the Big Ten Player of the Week, also earned the espnW National Player of the Week and Ann Meyers Drysdale/United States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA) National Player of the Week honors. In addition, Maryland’s Ashley Owusu, who received mention on the Big Ten Weekly Honor Roll, was selected as the Naismith Trophy National Player of the Week on Tuesday.
• The Big Ten has five schools appearing in the top 20 and eight in the top 40 of the latest NCAA NET (NCAA Evaluation Tool) rankings released Tuesday. Both the Big Ten’s five top-20 schools and eight top-40 programs are the most of any conference in the country. The full NET rankings can be found on page 3 of the PDF version of this release.
• Five Big Ten programs are appearing in this week’s Associated Press and Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA)/USA Today Top 25 polls, with two others receiving votes. The Big Ten’s five Top 25 programs are second among all conferences. Maryland (No. 9/9), Michigan (No. 13/12) and Ohio State (No. 15/15) are all at their highest rankings this season, with Michigan’s current No. 12 coaches’ poll position tying the best in program history and the No. 13 AP ranking second-best in the school’s record book (the Wolverines were 12th in both polls on Dec. 24, 2001).
• According to Tuesday’s NCAA statistics report, the Big Ten leads all Division I conferences in scoring (77.0 ppg.), field-goal percentage (.448) and assists (16.2 apg.), while ranking fourth (tops among A5 conferences) in free-throw percentage (.721).
• Four Big Ten teams rank among the top 15 in the country (and three in the top five) in scoring offense. Maryland is No. 2 in the nation at 94.1 points per game, followed by Ohio State (4th – 90.8), Iowa (5th – 89.6) and Michigan (15th – 83.2). No other conference has more than two teams among the top 15 in the nation (and one in the top five) in scoring offense, as of Tuesday.
• The Big Ten has five programs among the nation’s top 20 (including three in the top 10) in field-goal percentage. Ohio State is No. 2 in the nation (.519), followed by Iowa (4th – .511), Michigan (7th – .499), Maryland (11th – .489) and Rutgers (20th – .473). No other conference currently has more than two schools in the top 20 nationally (or two in the top 10) in field-goal percentage.
• Michigan is off to the best start in program history (9-0) following Sunday’s win over visiting Illinois. The Wolverines previously began 7-0 in 1999-2000, 2011-12 and 2015-16. In addition, when combined with the Wolverine men opening their season 10-0, Michigan is the only school in the country with both basketball teams currently undefeated.
• Ohio State improved to 6-0 with its victory at Illinois on Jan. 7. It’s the Buckeyes’ best start since 2011-12, when they opened 15-0.
• Michigan’s Naz Hillmon piled up career highs of 35 points and 22 rebounds in the Wolverines’ victory over Nebraska on Jan. 7. It was the second 30-point, 20-rebound game in NCAA Division I this season and the first by a Big Ten player since Jan. 24, 2016, when Nebraska’s Jessica Shepard had 35 points and 20 rebounds at Michigan. It also was the second 30/20 game in Michigan program history and first since Jan. 20, 1979, when Abby Currier (33 points, 20 rebounds) did so against Notre Dame.
• Iowa’s Monika Czinano set a Big Ten record for field-goal percentage in a conference game (minimum of 12 attempts) with a .929 field-goal percentage (13-of-14) in the Hawkeyes’ loss at Northwestern on Jan. 10. Czinano broke the previous record of .917 (12-of-13), which had been achieved three times, most recently on Feb. 22, 1998, by Indiana’s Quacy Barnes against Michigan State. Czinano narrowly missed toppling the overall Big Ten record for field-goal percentage (1.000/13-of-13), shared by Iowa’s Megan Gustafson (Nov. 13, 2018, at Western Kentucky) and Indiana’s Mackenzie Holmes (Nov. 25, 2020, vs. Eastern Kentucky).
• Indiana’s Grace Berger became the first NCAA Division I player this season with two triple-doubles, recording 15 points, 12 assists and 10 rebounds in the Hoosiers’ win at Penn State on Jan. 7. Berger is the first Big Ten player with two triple-doubles in a season since 2014-15, when Iowa’s Samantha Logic and Minnesota’s Amanda Zahui B. both had a pair. Iowa’s Caitlin Clark and Rutgers’ Arella Guirantes also have triple-doubles this season, giving the Big Ten four of the seven triple-doubles registered by NCAA Division I players in 2020-21 and tying the conference record for triple-doubles in one season (set in both 2013-14 and 2014-15).
• Indiana was charged with only two turnovers in its Jan. 7 win at Penn State, tying a Big Ten record for the fewest turnovers in a conference game. That mark was originally set on Dec. 29, 1996, when Purdue had just two giveaways against Northwestern.
• With its Jan. 6 victory over Minnesota, Iowa extended its home winning streak to 42 games, the second-longest active string in the nation behind Baylor (61). The Hawkeyes’ run began on Feb. 4, 2018, with a 92-84 win over Minnesota. Of note, the Big Ten record for consecutive home wins is 46, set by Iowa from Jan. 3, 1986 to Jan. 12, 1990.
• The Big Ten women’s basketball television schedule has been updated through Jan. 25 and now includes 17 of the 25 scheduled games in that span slated for linear television (15-BTN/FOX Sports app, 2-ESPN2/ESPN app), including eight days with at least one Big Ten women’s basketball on linear television. Featured in this update are a trio of tripleheaders on BTN (Jan. 14, 18 and 21), as well as a Jan. 25 doubleheader. All conference games not airing on BTN or the ESPN family of networks through Jan. 25 will be streamed live on Big Ten Network+. The most current schedule of Big Ten women’s basketball games on TV may be found online at bigten.org/B1GWBBTV.
• The Big Ten is in position to set a new conference record for the best non-conference winning percentage in regular-season games in a single campaign, currently posting an .846 (44-8) mark to date — the previous record was set last year when conference teams went .788 (123-33) in non-conference play. This year’s record includes three non-conference wins over Top 25 teams — Maryland 115-96 over No. 14 Arkansas on Nov. 29 (a Big Ten record for points against a ranked team); Michigan 76-66 at No. RV/23 Notre Dame on Dec. 3; Iowa 82-80 over No. RV/24 Iowa State on Dec. 9.
• On Nov. 23, the Big Ten released its 2020-21 conference schedule, which will see schools play 20 Big Ten games, up two from the previous two seasons. Schools will play seven opponents twice (home and away) and the other six once (three at home and three on the road). To account for the additional games and preserve flexibility in the schedule, the Big Ten Women’s Basketball Tournament has been moved to March 9-13 and will continue to be played at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
• On Oct. 23, the Big Ten Conference announced the launch of the ‘United As One’ social justice campaign. ‘United As One’ is among several conference-wide Equality Coalition initiatives dedicated to constructively and collectively recognizing and eliminating racism and hate in our society by creating resources for inclusion, empowerment and accountability.
• The Big Ten Conference established the Equality Coalition in 2020 with 227 members including presidents and chancellors, directors of athletics, coaches, student-athletes, conference and school administrators, alumni, families and friends representing all 14 institutions.

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