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Purdue enters this one in a pretty weird state.

The Boilermakers are riding a 3-game losing streak, something that’s been pretty foreign to the program for a few seasons now. They’ve lost to good teams, but the recent stretch has all but kicked them out of Big Ten title contention.

It’s overall an interesting situation. Purdue is definitely still very good and has two of the best players in the conference in Braden Smith and Trey Kaufman-Renn. The problem is, outside of Fletcher Loyer, the rest of the roster hasn’t provided much.

This group very nearly lost to Indiana at home just a few weeks ago. Which, speaking of.

The Hoosiers have won a single game since the disappointment at Mackey, on the road against Michigan State. The other contests have either gone down to the wire or have been all but over in the opening minutes.

Indiana just isn’t good. There’s absolutely nothing for the Hoosiers to lean on in crunch time and when the going gets tough, they fold.

This should be one of the weaker Indiana-Purdue crowds in years at Assembly. A weird atmosphere overall, especially on a Sunday afternoon.

Both of these teams are having disappointing seasons.

Ohio State is coming off of a blowout loss to a Northwestern team missing its best player and, despite favorable metrics overall, is firmly on track to once again miss the NCAA Tournament with a lackluster record in conference play.

UCLA is sitting at 10-6 in Big Ten play after a surprise home loss to Minnesota. The Bruins are far from bad but this isn’t the team some saw as Big Ten contenders in the preseason.

Look for UCLA to bounce back and lean on defense, which frustrated the Buckeyes against Northwestern.

This is a conference game. Get used to it.

On a serious note, what an interesting season for USC. The Trojans started off pretty poorly in the nonconference and have clawed their way into being a pretty standard high-major team all things considered.

They’re not good! They’re also not bad. Which is more than fine for year zero for Eric Musselman. This group plays mostly good ball and Desmond Claude is a compelling watch.

Then there’s Rutgers.

It’s hard to call it anything but disappointing. The most talented group in school history and that the program will probably ever have is going to miss the tournament barring some sort of miracle.

Dylan Harper and Ace Bailey have lived up to expectations, the rest of the roster just leaves something to be desired. USC is in a better spot right now despite the aforementioned year zero circumstances.