COLUMBUS, Ohio - Basketball is now into February and with the Big Ten Tournament and March Madness quickly approaching, every game matters for these Big Ten teams as the season comes down to the wire.

This past week in the conference didn't see many close games, but there were some good ranked matchups and some upsets of ranked teams. Find out what happened in Around the B1G.

Despite Cassius Winston's 23 points for the Spartans, Michigan State couldn't overcome an early deficit to the Badgers and dropped just their third conference game of the season 64-63.

Michigan State scored the first basket of the game, but it was the last lead they would hold on Saturday at the Kohl Center in Madison.

Wisconsin jumped out to a 18-6 lead by making seven of their first 10 shots and continued to pile on, eventually making the score 43-27 at the half.

In the second half, the Spartans attempted a comeback by holding Wisconsin to just seven points in the first 10 minutes and cutting the deficit to three points with 9:59 remaining.

Later in the second half, Michigan State got it back to a four-point game, 61-57, but the teams would go on a nearly four minute long scoring drought until the Spartans were forced to foul the Badgers. Wisconsin would close things out at the free throw line, eventually making the final 64-63.

Nate Reuvers led Wisconsin with 15 points although four Badgers finished in double digits. All three of Michigan State's conference losses have now come on the road.

Iowa center Luka Garza continued his domination of the Big Ten as he led the Hawkeyes to a win at home against Illinois, 72-65.

The Fighting Illini were riding a seven-game win streak, but they were no match for Garza who had 25 points on 9-of-16 shooting. It was his 10th game this season with at least 20 points against a Big Ten opponent.

The teams remaining close during the duration of the game, eventually tied up at 59 with 5:09 to go in the second half. From that point forward, it was all Iowa as they finished the game on a 13-6 run while limiting Illinois to just 2-of-7 shooting over the last five minutes.

Just one game behind Michigan State and Illinois in conference play with identical overall records, Iowa will look to make a run in the Big Ten the rest of the season as they played just three currently ranked teams in their final nine games.

There's still a lot of season left to play, but it's never too early to look at who might take some hardware home once the regular season is over.

Michigan State's Cassius Winston, unanimous Preseason Big Ten Player of the Year, has performed as expected in his senior year. The guard is averaging over 18 points and five assists 43.4 percent shooting from the field. With the Spartans currently leading in the conference, he seems to remain the favorite barring a collapse from either himself or Michigan State.

Kaleb Wesson will always be an obvious candidate for the award, evidenced by his status as a unanimous member of the Preseason All-Big Ten team, but Ohio State's struggles in conference play haven't helped his chances. To his credit, he's still averaging a near double-double with 13.9 points and 9.7 rebounds per game, but the Buckeyes are going to need to improve down the stretch if Wesson wants to become Ohio State's second Big Ten Player of the Year in the last three seasons.

Maryland's Anthony Cowan Jr., the other unanimous Preseason All-Big Ten selection, is averaging 16.2 points and 4.3 assists per game for the Terrapins. Maryland has been one of the few consistent teams in Big Ten play, dropping just three games, all on the road, against Wisconsin and then-unranked Iowa and Penn State, and Cowan has been a huge part of their success.

While it feels that the award often goes to the best player on the best team, it's been difficult to determine who the best team in the conference is this year, so Big Ten Player of the Year still seems up for grabs at this point in the season.

Maryland will head on the road to take on Illinois this week while Penn State will be looking to knock off Michigan State at home in conference play for the first time this season.