March 7, 2025
Big Ten Tournament Day 2 notebook: Upsets all around
'The competitiveness is unreal'
INDIANAPOLIS — With Iowa legend Caitlin Clark in the building, the biggest upset of Day 2 of the Big Ten Tournament came in the final game of the night. The No. 11 Iowa Hawkeyes knocked off No. 6 Michigan State to advance to Friday’s quarterfinal games.
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Including Iowa, three of the four lower seeds advanced — with No. 10 Nebraska holding off No. 7 Illinois, and No. 9 Indiana turning things around from the regular season in its rematch against No. 8 Oregon.
Here’s a complete look at how Day 2 of the Big Ten Tournament fared.
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Sydney Parrish helps lead Indiana past her former team
Following last season’s Sweet 16 elimination by South Carolina, Indiana guard Sydney Parrish made the decision to return to the Hoosiers for her final year of college eligibility. Parrish is in her third season at Indiana after transferring from Oregon.
And on Day 2 of the Big Ten Tournament, she got the opportunity to eliminate her former team. The Hoosiers cruised past the Ducks, 78-62, with Parrish putting up a well-rounded stat-line of 10 points, six rebounds, four assists, one steal and one block in 34 minutes.
Following the game, Parrish spoke about facing her old team, especially after Oregon beat Indiana during regular season play.
”It’s always fun getting to compete against your old team. I think a lot of transfers feel that sometimes,” Parrish said during her postgame press conference. “It was just a good feeling to get another crack at them. … Just watching back this week, the film when we played at Oregon, it was just so sad seeing how bad we played. We knew that we were going to come out and play much better. I knew we would get them the second time.”
Junior guard Yarden Garzon echoed Parrish’s sentiments of wanting another shot at the Ducks. Garzon led the Hoosiers with a game-high 18 points.
”I feel like we all remembered what happened last game. In the last quarter, we didn’t do our job, and we kind of lost our head, and we wanted to fix that today and come out different,” Garzon said and the postgame press conference. “I feel like we all felt the urge to win this game … I feel like it was a good do-over for us from last game.”
The Ducks now await their NCAA Tournament fate. The Big Ten could potentially have anywhere from 12-13 teams seeded by the selection committee.
Ducks head coach Kelly Graves is no stranger to awaiting Selection Sunday, and following the game he spoke about the team’s mindset heading into the next week.
”I’m not going to fret over Selection Sunday. We’ve had a nice year. We’ve had some really quality wins. We play in a great conference, we were the eighth seed in that conference tournament,” Graves said. “I would like to think our resume can stand up. But there’s not a whole lot I can do about it now. I’m not going to go politic for it. Hopefully our conference will be doing that.”
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Michigan’s youthful roster clicks at the right time
Earlier this season, the Michigan Wolverines understood that if they wanted to have success later in the year, they were going to need their freshmen to essentially grow up rather quickly. It appears as if that happened as the Wolverines held off Washington, 66-58.
While the Huskies gave Michigan a tough battle, the Wolverines were able to hold on to advance to the second round of the Big Ten Tournament behind strong performances from freshmen guards Syla Swords and Olivia Olson.
Olson led Michigan with a team-high 21 points, and 15 of those points coming in the second half. Swords added 15 points as the team’s second-leading scorer. Following the game, Olson spoke about what allowed her to catch fire in the second half.
”I think just seeing a couple go in helped, but it’s a credit to my teammates, and playing with Syla,” Olson said. “It’s easy to be able to get people open, get shots. Anyone can go off on any given night. Yeah it was just a whole team effort.”
Swords noted that the team has developed a mindset that even if things aren’t going exactly as they would like on the court, they don’t get discouraged. For a young group, they’ve shown a tremendous amount of composure during rocky moments.
”If we’re having a tough shooting night, instilling confidence in each other,” Swords said during the pregame press conference. “That’s something we’ve grown with a lot, even with having a young group, is having confidence even though we’re not hitting great shots right off the bat and staying true for a 40-minute game.”
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With the loss, Washington would appear to be another team that will have to wait until Selection Sunday to learn their NCAA Tournament fate. The Huskies are one of a few Big Ten teams that are on the bubble.
Washington head coach Tina Langley expressed gratitude to be in such a tough conference, and proud of the way her team competed.
”The competitiveness is unreal, and it’s fun. If you love to play at the highest level basketball-wise, you want to be in the Big Ten, and every night is a battle,” Langley said during her postgame press conference. “Our young women are special. I’m so proud of the culture of their locker room. They’re so accountable and thoughtful. … That’s where we were really able to take a rise this year, accountability in the locker room and the work ethic — really proud of them.”
Freshman Britt Prince shines as Nebraska advances to quarterfinals
After last season’s heartbreaking loss in the Big Ten Tournament championship to Iowa, Nebraska came into this season’s tournament with something to prove. The Cornhuskers kept on rolling, advancing to the quarterfinals after upsetting Illinois, 74-70.
While senior Alexis Markowski led the Cornhuskers past Rutgers in the opening round, it was freshman point guard Britt Prince who took center stage against the Fighting Illini.
Prince has been a standout all season, earning a spot on the Big Ten All-Freshman Team. She finished with a team-high 17 points while dishing out five assists. Following the game, Prince, who is a local Nebraska player, spoke about being able to shine on the national stage.
“It’s super cool … I just love playing with this team. They’re all so great. Great humans, great people, great basketball players,” Prince said during her postgame press conference. “Just them trusting me with the ball in my hands late, especially as a freshman, is something that’s really special to me. Yeah I just love playing with this team.”
Even with Illinois’ loss, they should be a lock for the NCAA Tournament. All that remains for them is where they will be seeded. Illini head coach Shauna Green spoke about what the upcoming week will look like as they prepare for the main event.
”Rest, we need rest. I’ll give them a few days off,” Green said during her postgame press conference. “I told them, I want to enjoy this week … it didn’t end the way we wanted it to end. … But this group is special, and I want to enjoy the rest of this journey with them. We’re going to go, and we’re going to fight like hell in the NCAA Tournament.”
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Lucy Olsen continues her hot streak to lead Iowa
Filling the shoes of the NCAA’s all-time leading scorer is certainly no easy task. But that’s essentially the role Lucy Olsen has played in her first season with Iowa after Caitlin Clark’s departure to the WNBA.
Through the first two rounds of the Big Ten Tournament, Olsen has averaged 20 points per game and has shot 58.3% from the field. She dropped 21 points to lead the Hawkeyes past Michigan State, 74-61.
She’s been Iowa’s leading scorer in 16 of the team’s 31 games this season including both Big Ten Tournament games. Following the game, Olsen spoke about being able to fit in with her new team.
”Five new freshmen, I’m new, a lot of people starting have new roles as well,” Olsen said during her postgame press conference. “At the beginning of the season we were trying to figure out our identity, and had a lot of moving pieces. But now we found it. It just took some time.”
Michigan State is another team that, despite the loss, will almost assuredly claim an NCAA Tournament berth. For them, all that remains is where they will be seeded.
Spartans head coach Robyn Fralick addressed the depth of the conference, especially with the new additions of UCLA, USC, Oregon and Washington.
”We added four NCAA Tournament teams, which is a pretty big addition, two top-five teams. Obviously really upped the level of our league,” Fralick said during her postgame press conference. “We went from a really good league to an absolutely unbelievable league.”
The Big Ten Tournament continues with four quarterfinal matchups with USC, UCLA, Maryland and Ohio State all making their first appearance after receiving double-byes.
Written by David Mendez-Yapkowitz
David has been with The Next team since the High Post Hoops days when he joined the staff in 2018. He is based in Los Angeles and covers the LA Sparks, Pac-12 Conference, Big West Conference and some high school as well.
