Big Ten Weekly: Purdue and UCLA reign as the Big Ten Tournament crowns its champions

The confetti has fallen in Chicago and Indianapolis, the brackets are set and the Big Ten’s best teams have made their cases as March Madness is finally upon us. From Washington’s overtime stunner over USC on the men’s side, to UCLA’s 51-point domination in the women’s championship game, the Big Ten tournament delivered all the chaos you could’ve asked for. Purdue hoisted the championship trophy as the No. 7 seed while the Bruins made it look easy on the women’s side. This edition marks the final Big Ten Weekly of the 2025-26 season — here’s how it went down.

Men’s basketball

Game of the week: Washington Huskies defeat USC, 83-79

While not the highest-profile matchup of the week, it’s hard to pass up on this overtime bout. Down 13 at the half, the Huskies leaned on freshman guard Zoom Diallo, who finished with 22 points, 11 assists and the go-ahead bucket in OT in his first-ever Big Ten Tournament game, despite playing most of the latter stretch with four fouls. Quimari Peterson’s five triples and yet another double-double from Hannes Steinbach were just enough for Washington to survive a late push from USC.

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Player of the week: Nick Boyd (Wisconsin)

It was a toss-up between Boyd and his teammate John Blackwell — who had a career-high 34 points against Washington — but I went with Boyd based on his performance across all three contests. Boyd was no slouch in the game against the Huskies either, putting up 23 of his own on 5-for-6 from deep along with nine assists before outdoing Blackwell in their comeback win over Illinois with 38. Even in the loss to Michigan, Boyd was the catalyst for the offense, posting 14-5-5 and hitting a triple that gave the Badgers life in the final minute before ultimately falling. Both Boyd and Blackwell have the makings of a March Madness legend, and the Wisconsin should be a team to watch in terms of making a run.

Team of the week: Purdue Boilermakers

In a season that’s been full of plenty of ups and downs,…

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Publish date : 2026-03-16 17:10:00

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