The Big Ten coaches had a teleconference on Monday to talk about tournament play.

Most of the coaches agreed with the sentiment that successful tournament teams have experienced quality play from their guards.

“You’ve got to have some good players across the board,” Purdue coach Matt Painter said. “But you’ve got to have some guards.”

In the Big Ten, all of the main contenders have good guards: Purdue (E’Twaun Moore), Ohio State (David Lighty, William Buford), Wisconsin (Jordan Taylor), Penn State (Talor Battle), Illinois (Demetri McCamey), Michigan State (Lucas) and Michigan (Darius Morris).

"When it’s one-and-done time, your margin for error is so small," Michigan State coach Tom Izzo said. "That’s why they always say good guards are key, because they can control the ball and make better decisions."

With UConn scratched from the list, only four major programs boast a clean NCAA rap sheet.

Boston College, Northwestern, Penn State, and Stanford are the only programs without a major case in their histories, and two of them carry asterisks. Boston College and Northwestern endured point-shaving scandals that weren't adjudicated by the NCAA.

Talor Battle scored 19 points to pass 2,000 for his career and Penn State overwhelmed Northwestern in a decisive second-half run for a 65-41 win Sunday.

Battle joined Wisconsin's Alando Tucker as the Big Ten's only 2,000-point scorers in the past decade. The Penn State guard shot 7 of 9 from the field, including 4 of 5 from 3-point range.

Jeff Brooks, Penn State's leading rebounder, is day-to-day with a dislocated right shoulder.

His status for Sunday's game against Michigan is unclear.

Brooks hurt the shoulder late in the first half of Tuesday's loss at Illinois. X-rays revealed no damage to the shoulder joint or bones.

In addition to leading the team in rebounding (7.2), he's second in scoring (13.2) behind Talor Battle.

No. 24 Illinois defeated Penn State 68-51 on Tuesday night to rebound from back-to-back losses.

Mike Davis scored seven straight points midway through the second half to give the Illini a 52-39 lead with 10 minutes left to play.

Penn State lost senior forward Jeff Brooks just before halftime to a dislocated right shoulder.