Ohio State basketball sophomore guard Jaloni Cambridge became a 2026 Dawn Staley Award finalist this week. One of five finalists for the prestigious award, Cambridge is the only player representing the Big Ten.
The Dawn Staley Award recognizes women's college basketball's top guard each season.
Cambridge appeared on multiple preseason watch lists, including the Naismith Trophy and Wooden Award. She earned spots on the Wooden Award Midseason Top 25 and Late Midseason Top 20 lists. Cambridge also made the Naismith Trophy Late Season Team and landed on the national ballot for the Wooden Award.
The Athletic and ESPN both named Cambridge to this year's All-American Second Team, while USA Today gave her an honorable mention. Both Big Ten head coaches and media selected her unanimously for All-Big Ten First Team.
Cambridge scored in the double-digits in all 33 games for Ohio State basketball this year, becoming the 40th player in program history to reach 1,000 career points in February. She joined elite company as the fifth Buckeye in program history to score 700 points in a single season.
She finished the regular season with 751 points, ranking sixth in single-season program records while also ranking seventh in made field goals with 283.
Cambridge won the Big Ten scoring title in both overall play (23.4 points per game) and conference play (26.4 points per game).
In January, the sophomore standout also picked up AP Player of the Week and Big Ten Player of the Week honors.
Big Ten women's basketball steps into the spotlight on Wednesday, as No. 10 Ohio State travels to face No. 23 Minnesota while conference tournament seeding hangs in the balance.
The Buckeyes will look to bounce back from Sunday's 76-75 upset loss to No. 14 Maryland. Ohio State surrendered a 19-point lead to the Terrapins in the second half, falling behind despite guard Jaloni Cambridge scoring 29 points while Chance Gray added a season-high 25.
"That's sort of the story of being in the Big Ten," Buckeyes head coach Kevin McGuff said postgame. "You play so many great teams, and how you handle adversity goes a long way."
Ohio State currently sits fourth in the Big Ten women's basketball standings. However, the Gophers trail OSU by just one game, as Minnesota enters Wednesday's contest riding an eight-game winning streak. The hot streak earned them their first AP Top 25 ranking of the season this week.
Minnesota excels at protecting the basketball in Big Ten play, averaging 10.4 turnovers per game — the fewest in the conference. During their winning streak, that number dropped to 9.8 per game.
"We've built a lot of chemistry over the last couple years," Gophers center Sophie Hart told reporters. "I think that's showing up right now. We're just playing together as a team and having a lot of fun doing it."
The Big Ten tournament tips off March 4th, with the top four finishers receiving first-round byes and advancing directly to the quarterfinals. Just five games remaining in the regular season.
How to watch Ohio State vs Minnesota in Big Ten women's basketball
OSU takes on Minnesota on Wednesday at 8 PM ET, live on Big Ten Network.
The 2025/26 Big Ten basketball regular-season title could boil down to Sunday, when the No. 2 UCLA Bruins visit No. 8 Michigan with just a one-game conference advantage over the Wolverines.
UCLA has only dropped one game this season — November's nonconference loss to No. 4 Texas — while Michigan's lone Big Ten loss came via a New Year's Day upset at the hands of No. 24 Washington.
"We know we're at the point where we want better and we want more," said sophomore guard Syla Swords after leading the Wolverines to a program-best 11-1 Big Ten start. "We want to improve and there's multiple areas which we need to be better if we want to reach the heights that we plan to."
Coming off a 2025 Final Four run, the Bruins land in Ann Arbor with big-game pedigree, while scrappy Michigan pushes for a first-ever Big Ten title.
"They're different than everyone else because of their size," Michigan head coach Kim Barnes Arico said of UCLA. "Then the other thing about them is their experience. Their guard play is so experienced."
"This is why I came here," Barnes Arico continued. "I said, 'I'm going to leave everything I know on the East Coast to come to the University of Michigan because I believe that's a place where we can win a championship.'"
How to watch UCLA vs. Michigan basketball this weekend
No. 8 Michigan will host No. 2 UCLA at 3 PM ET on Sunday, with live coverage airing on FOX.
Thursday's Iowa vs USC matchup produced a major upset, as Iowa women's basketball suffered its first Big Ten loss of the season, falling 81-69 at Galen Center in Los Angeles.
The No. 8 Hawkeyes entered the highly anticipated NCAA showdown as the Big Ten's only undefeated team. The Hawkeyes have dominated conference opponents all season, making unranked USC's comprehensive victory even more shocking.
Iowa women's basketball ran the 2025/26 Big Ten table until Thursday's setback against the struggling Trojans. USC lost six of their last seven games prior to the Iowa vs USC clash — and making them an unlikely candidates to hand Iowa women's basketball its first Big Ten loss.
The game represented a signature opportunity for USC head coach Lindsay Gottlieb's squad. The Trojans delivered their most complete performance this year, controlling the contest from start to finish while never allowing foul-afflicted Iowa to establish a rhythm.
Gottlieb praised her team's efforts afterwards, noting that USC has improved considerably and needs to continue demonstrating that consistent growth.
"Obviously a big win for us on so many levels. Iowa was undefeated in conference so far," she said postgame. "I'm so proud of our team. Great performances across the board."
For Iowa women's basketball, the defeat served as a setback to an otherwise dominant campaign. The Hawkeyes will need to regroup quickly, as Big Ten play continues to ramp up ahead of March's conference championship.
While Iowa remains a Top 10 program, the Iowa vs USC outcome will force the Hawkeyes to reassess their approach as they look to pursue a deep postseason run.
Sunday's Iowa vs Ohio State showdown ended in a blowout, as the No. 10 Hawkeyes defeated the No. 12 Buckeyes 91-70 at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
The victory moved surging Iowa to 18-2 overall and 9-0 in Big Ten play, marking the program's best start to the conference season since 1995-96. It also comes on the heels of Iowa claiming its first Top 10 AP Poll ranking since the Caitlin Clark era in 2024.
The matchup began with a setback for the Hawkeyes when starting guard Taylor McCabe suffered a non-contact knee injury just 23 seconds into the game. Despite losing their leading three-point shooter, Iowa responded with a 12-0 run late in the first quarter to overcome an early deficit.
Freshman Addie Deal led the Hawkeyes with a career-high 20 points and five assists. Senior forward Hannah Stuelke recorded her sixth double-double of the season, finishing with 18 points and 15 rebounds. Center Ava Heiden contributed 18 points on 9-of-11 shooting, while rising star Chit-Chat Wright added 14 points of her own.
Iowa's interior presence was the deciding factor in the contest. The Hawkeyes out-rebounded the Buckeyes 48-30 and held a 42-14 advantage in points in the paint. Iowa’s bench also impacted the game, outscoring Ohio State's reserves 33-3.
Star guard Jaloni Cambridge led Ohio State in scoring, finishing with 26 points and 10 rebounds. But despite Chance Gray's 16 points, the Buckeyes were unable to overcome Iowa's 57.8% shooting from the field.
The Iowa vs Ohio State win marks the Hawkeye's third consecutive victory over a Top 15 opponent.
How to watch Iowa and Ohio State in Big Ten matchups this week
Ohio State will have a few days to reflect, as the Buckeyes host unranked Wisconsin on Thursday at 8 PM ET, live on Big Ten Network.
The Hawkeyes now prepare for a West Coast road trip, as Iowa tips off against unranked USC on Thursday at 9 PM ET, live on Peacock.
The Big Ten showed off its depth in women's basketball this week, as a record-tying nine teams from the conference made Monday's AP Top 25 poll.
With three teams — No. 4 UCLA, No. 6 Michigan, and No. 7 Maryland — still in the Top 10, the Big Ten has tied its own record for ranked squads set in December 2024, as No. 24 Nebraska joined this week's list following a 9-0 start to the 2025/26 NCAA basketball season.
"I've been honored to be a part of this league for the last 13 seasons, working on year 14, where I've watched the [Big Ten] just get better and better," said Michigan head coach Kim Barnes Arico after Monday's poll drop.
No Big Ten team had a more dramatic weekend than Maryland, who kept their season's unbeaten streak alive with a furious comeback to defeat unranked Minnesota 100-99 in double overtime on Sunday.
Despite falling behind by nine points in the second overtime period, the Terrapins executed an 8-0 run in just nine seconds to put the game within reach, before guard Saylor Poffenbarger hit the game-winner with just 11 seconds remaining.
"Maryland has a standard," Poffenbarger said after her team-leading 30-point, 10-rebound double-double performance on Sunday. "When you come to Maryland, you know the things that come with it."
2025/26 AP Top 25 Women's College Basketball Poll: Week 6
1. UConn (9-0, Big East)
2. Texas (10-0, SEC)
3. South Carolina (9-1, SEC)
4. UCLA (9-1, Big Ten)
5. LSU (10-0, SEC)
6. Michigan (8-1, Big Ten)
7. Maryland (11-0, Big Ten)
8. TCU (10-0, Big 12)
9. Oklahoma (9-1, SEC)
10. Iowa State (10-0, Big 12)
11. Iowa (9-0, Big Ten)
12. UNC (9-2, ACC)
13. Baylor (9-1, Big 12)
14. Vanderbilt (9-0, SEC)
15. Kentucky (10-1, SEC)
16. USC (7-2, Big Ten)
17. Ole Miss (8-1, SEC)
18. Tennessee (6-2, SEC)
19. Notre Dame (6-2, ACC)
20. Washington (8-1, Big Ten)
21. Ohio State (7-1, Big Ten)
22. Louisville (8-3, ACC)
23. Oklahoma State (10-1, Big 12)
24. Nebraska (9-0, Big Ten)
25. Michigan State (8-1, Big Ten)
Michigan women's basketball is on the rise, as the then-No. 14 Wolverines avenged their early 2025 NCAA tournament exit with a stunning 93-54 blowout win over then-No. 18 Notre Dame on Saturday.
Michigan sophomore guard Olivia Olson led the game in scoring with 20 points as the Wolverines put together a true team effort, with six bench players combining for 38 points in the win.
The Big Ten team also dominated defensively, limiting the Fighting Irish bench to just two points while keeping Notre Dame star guard Hannah Hidalgo to a mere 12-point performance.
"We knew exactly what Michigan was going to do," said Notre Dame basketball head coach Niele Ivey afterwards. "We did not have any type of fight defensively, and that's where we have to start."
The Wolverines' victory was especially sweet after Notre Dame ousted Michigan from last season's national tournament with a 76-55 second-round Irish win.
Saturday's fallout also affected this week's AP Top 25 poll, with Notre Dame falling six ranks to No. 24 while Michigan earned an eight-spot bump to No. 6.
After quietly recruiting five-star talents like Olson and Syla Swords in 2024, Michigan — a program that has yet to earn a title at the NCAA or conference level — proved over the weekend that they are entering the 2025/26 season with added depth and experience.
"That's why I committed to Michigan," Swords told JWS at October's Big Ten Media Day. "That's why so many of us came there, because we wanted to be part of something new, part of something that's never been done."
The 2025/26 NCAA basketball season is just around the corner, and the Big Ten is celebrating by shouting out the conference's top predicted performers in both the coaches and media preseason polls on Thursday.
The UCLA Bruins — the Big Ten's singular 2025 Final Four participant — took the top team spot in both surveys, with the Maryland Terrapins trailing just behind as the conference's No. 2 ranked squad.
Rounding out the Top 5 in both polls were the USC Trojans, Michigan Wolverines, and Ohio State Buckeyes.
As for individual athletes, UCLA senior and the reigning Naismith Defensive Player of the Year Lauren Betts clocked in as the polls' unanimous favorite for Big Ten Player of the Year, with the standout center unsurprisingly capturing the top spot in the absence of injured USC star and 2025 Naismith Player of the Year JuJu Watkins.
Also picking up preseason All-Big Ten Team honors in both surveys were fellow UCLA standout Kiki Rice plus four other seniors: Iowa's Hannah Stuelke, Maryland's Yarden Garzon and Kaylene Smikle, and Michigan State's Grace VanSlooten.
A trio of underclassmen also made the cut in both 2025/26 preseason polls, with Ohio State's Jaloni Cambridge — last year's Big Ten Freshman of the Year — joined by a pair of fellow sophomores from archrival Michigan, Olivia Olson and Syla Swords.
The final spot on the All-Big Ten Team lists went to one of the Washington Huskies, with the 18 conference head coaches tapping junior Sayvia Sellers while the media honored senior Elle Ladine.
The 2025/26 NCAA basketball season tips off on November 3rd.
Reigning NCAA basketball champions UConn powered up this week, signing former Wisconsin standout Serah Williams out of the transfer portal — and beating both LSU and North Carolina to the punch.
After several top programs — including the Tigers and the Tar Heels — tried to court the All-Big Ten first team forward, the 6-foot-4 rising senior officially opted to play out her final year of eligibility with the Huskies on Wednesday.
Averaging 19.2 points and 9.8 rebounds per game last season, Williams joins a talented UConn frontcourt that includes starters Jana El Alfy and 2025 NCAA Freshman of the Year Sarah Strong.
The All-Big Ten first team forward joins the reigning champs after averaging 19.2 points and 9.8 rebounds for the Badgers last season.
— Just Women’s Sports (@justwsports) April 30, 2025
(via @TylerDeLuca) pic.twitter.com/ArgIsrUbHQ
2025/26 NCAA basketball rosters snap up top talent
With most big-name transfers now committed, next season's college basketball landscape is coming into view.
Despite missing out on Williams, LSU is likely this year's transfer portal winner, having signed Notre Dame freshman forward Kate Koval and highly touted South Carolina sophomore guard MiLaysia Fulwiley to the Tigers' 2025/26 roster.
Ohio State also made headlines on Wednesday, inking Florida forward Kylee Kitts — the younger sister of South Carolina standout junior Chloe Kitts — following the Buckeyes' loss of star junior Cotie McMahon to Ole Miss.
While the transfer portal window closed last week, there's no deadline for signing with a new school, leaving the athletes still in limbo time to find their ideal fit.
USC sophomore JuJu Watkins took home the 2025 Naismith Player of the Year award on Wednesday. The guard subsequently rose above a wealth of talent after a parity-heavy season that saw success spread across multiple conferences.
“We at Jersey Mike’s extend our congratulations to JuJu Watkins for her phenomenal accomplishment,” said Jeff Hemschoot, vice president of marketing at Naismith awards partner Jersey Mike’s. “Her extraordinary talent and significant influence on the court are unparalleled, and we are thrilled to honor her exceptional achievements with this prestigious recognition.”
Beating out NCAA superstars like Paige Bueckers and Hannah Hidalgo, Watkins averaged 23.9 points a game this season. She led the top-seeded Trojans through the NCAA tournament before tearing her ACL in the second round.
Watkins also won Big Ten Player of the Year, becoming USC's first conference POY since Cherie Nelson in 1988.
“This is just the beginning and I can’t wait for what’s ahead,” Watkins said after receiving the prestigious Naismith award. “Thank you so much again and fight on.”
Big Ten racks up 2025 Naismith awards
The Big Ten swept the annual end-of-year awards for the first time in history. In addition to USC, No. 1 overall seed UCLA's also saw their impact reflected beyond the scoreboard.
Bruins junior Lauren Betts won 2025 Defensive Player of the Year. The junior center also picked up Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year and first-team all-conference selection this season.
Cori Close earned Coach of the Year honors after guiding UCLA to a Big Ten tournament title and a top-seeded NCAA tournament berth.
“JuJu’s exceptional prowess, Cori’s unwavering guidance, and Lauren’s relentless defensive prowess mean each is worthy of this year’s Naismith awards,” said Eric Oberman, president of the Atlanta Tipoff Club. “Their outstanding achievements have rightfully earned them the most esteemed accolades in college basketball. We take great pride in acknowledging their unshakeable commitment and remarkable abilities.”
“May our work in the win and loss column always pale in comparison to the work we do to help teach, mentor and equip for life beyond the hardwood,” Close said in a statement.