Feb. 14, 2005

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And Then There Was One: Illinois (25-0) is the only team in the nation that is undefeated this season and is closing in on the Big Ten's best start in League history. The Fighting Illini currently have the fourth-best Big Ten start and are only seven wins away from tying the record held by Indiana, which went undefeated with a 32-0 mark during the 1975-76 season. The Hoosiers are the last squad in the nation to go undefeated in a season.

Illinois' Record-Setting Season: With an 11-0 Conference mark, Illinois remains perfect in League play and is off to its best start in school history since opening the 1942-43 season with a 12-0 record. It also marks the best start by a Big Ten squad in League play since Indiana posted a 13-0 start during the 1993 Conference slate. The Illini have set a school record, notching 21 consecutive victories in Big Ten play, breaking the previous mark of 17 games set during the 1914-1915 season. It is the longest streak in Conference play since Indiana won 37 consecutive League games from December 27, 1975 to January 7, 1978 and is ranked as the third longest streak in Big Ten annals. The Illini have also tied the school record for consecutive victories in all games as Illinois won 25 straight games over parts of three seasons from 1914 through 1916.

The Conference Race: With just three weeks left in the Big Ten regular season, six teams are above .500 in Conference play as Illinois leads the League with an 11-0 mark. Michigan State follows in second place (8-2), while Wisconsin is 7-4 in League action. Indiana is only one game behind the Badgers, while Ohio State and Minnesota are tied for fifth place at 6-5. Of the top three teams, MSU and Wisconsin play three of their final six games at home while Illinois wraps up with three of five contests on the road. The Badgers face the toughest competition of the top three, as the combined record of their opponents is 25-27 (.481), including road tests at Michigan State and Ohio State. The Buckeyes face the toughest slate of the top six teams as their remaining opponents boast a .642 winning percentage (.642).

Non-Conference Success: The Big Ten wraps up a successful non-conference season this week as Northwestern hosts Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Monday. The League is on pace to record a non-conference winning percentage of over 70 percent for the eighth time in the past nine years, as League teams have built an out-of-conference mark of 96-41. The Big Ten's .701 winning percentage is an improvement of nearly five percent over last year's non-league mark of 81-43 (.653). In addition, the Big Ten is tied with the ACC for wins over non-conference teams rated in the Top 25. Entering this week, the Big Ten and ACC have both defeated eight ranked non-conference teams followed by the Big East (6), Big 12 (6), SEC (4) and Pac-10 (3).

The Importance of Defending the Homecourt: Winning home games can be crucial to a Big Ten title run, as Conference champion Illinois (7-1) and second-place finishers - Wisconsin (8-0) and Michigan State (7-1) were a combined 22-2 in the friendly confines last season. In fact, no Big Ten team in the past 12 seasons has lost more than one League home game and gone on to claim a share of the title. The last Conference squad to accomplish that feat was Indiana, as the Hoosiers went 7-2 at home in 1991 but earned a tie with Ohio State. From 1990-2004, teams that won or shared the Big Ten title have compiled a cumulative home record of 162-14 (.942) in League games only. So far in 2005, only two teams boast perfect home records in Conference play in Illinois (6-0) and Indiana (5-0) while three programs have dropped only one home contest.

RPI Success: The Big Ten, along with the ACC, are the only conferences in the nation with three teams in the Top 20 of the team standings in the latest RPI Report. Illinois leads the League at No. 2, followed by No. 14 Wisconsin and No. 16 Michigan State. The Big Ten continues to rank first in the non-conference RPI rankings, while facing the nation's second-toughest schedule in non-conference play.

The 1,000 Point Milestone: Michigan State's Alan Anderson (1,015) became the latest Big Ten standout to break the 1,000 point barrier, tallying 16 points against Michigan on Saturday. Anderson becomes the 11th active member of the 1,000-point club, joining Illinois' Luther Head (1,195), Dee Brown (1,153) and Roger Powell (1,011), Michigan's Daniel Horton (1,033), Michigan State's Kelvin Torbert (1,037) and Wisconsin's Sharif Chambliss (1,044). Four Conference players entered the 2004-05 campaign with more than 1,000 career points in Indiana's Bracey Wright (1,374), Michigan State's Chris Hill (1,459), Ohio State's Tony Stockman (1,438) and Wisconsin's Mike Wilkinson (1,351). Paul Davis (995) will look to claim his 1,000th career point this Wednesday against Minnesota as he only needs five more points.

Big Ten Scoring Crown Chase: With an average of 19.6 points per game this season, Purdue's Carl Landry is closing in on the Big Ten's scoring title with less than a month of Conference play. In only his first season on the Purdue squad, Landry would become the first Boilermaker to rank first in scoring since former Purdue All-American Glenn Robinson won the scoring crown for two consecutive seasons (1993-94). Indiana's Bracey Wright, who has not played since Feb. 2 due to a sprained ankle, ranks second behind Landry with 18.1 points per game.