Indiana and Michigan State Split Week Nine Big Ten Honors

The Big Ten released its weekly award winners for week nine of the regular season on Monday and two teams ended up splitting the awards. Michigan State’s Nick Ward was named Big Ten Player of the Week and Indiana’s Romeo Langford was named Big Ten Freshman of the Week. In a big week for the league, these two stood out.

Entering this season, Ward was viewed as one of the biggest question marks for Michigan State and the Big Ten at large. Not because Ward was unproven as a player, but because few had any idea about how much he could grow in the offseason. During last season, he averaged 12.4 points and 7.1 rebounds per game.

This week, Ward came up in a major way for the Spartans. He averaged 21.0 points, 7.5 rebounds and 2.5 blocks in the team’s wins over Northwestern and Ohio State. And Ward was particularly impressive against the Buckeyes, going toe-to-toe with Kaleb Wesson on the road and coming out on top. This is the third time that Ward has been named Big Ten Player of the Week during his career.

Langford also had an impressive performance this week. He averaged 22.5 points, six rebounds and 2.5 assists in the team’s win over Illinois and loss to Michigan. Throughout this season, Langford has put up massive numbers and he’s certainly going to be in the picture for Big Ten Freshman of the Year at season’s end. This is already the third time he has been named Big Ten Freshman of the Week this season.

All told, it was a big week for the Big Ten and these two teams. It will be exciting to watch Ward and Langford as the season continues to unfold.