Before the season started, Purdue sophomore point guard Lewis Jackson had surgery after injuring his foot in practice and appeared he would miss the entire season.

Now Purdue coach Matt Painter said Jackson may return this year and could be cleared to play this week.

“He’s doing a lot of stuff in practice now that’s non-contact in terms of going live,” Painter said. “Anything in practice that really doesn’t have defense. He goes through warm-ups, goes through everything in the shootaround.”

Jackson, who started 30 games as a freshman last year, will meet with doctors later this week.

If he does return, Painter said he won’t automatically play starter’s minutes but will work his way back. He’ll also tell Jackson that if he returns and re-injures his foot, his year of eligibility is gone.

“You have to paint a couple pictures that he understands if something else happens again, that’ll cost you a season,” Painter said.

But ultimately, it will be Jackson’s decision whether or not he returns. If he does and is effective, he could end up shifting the Big Ten race back to Purdue as Painter said both Jackson’s “quickness” and being a “quintessential point guard” is a benefit to the Boilermakers.

Penn State struggling Penn State junior guard Talor Battle held the ball at the top of the key, tied with Wisconsin with a chance to win in the final possession. A year ago, when the Nittany Lions ended up as the NIT champions, Battle and the rest of his teammates hit those game-winners.

This year, well, Penn State is 0-7 in the league.

“He’s done it,” Penn State coach Ed DeChellis said. “He made all those shots last year, and it’s the same kind of pressure. It’s just flipped for us.”

Battle, though, has remained one of the top players in the Big Ten and one of the most consistent.

But Penn State, meanwhile, is at the bottom of the league by continuing coming close but not having enough.

“That’s kind of been our theme for most of the conference games,” DeChellis said.

Johnson named player of the week After scoring 21 points against Michigan on Saturday, Purdue junior forward JaJuan Johnson was named the Big Ten’s Player of the Week on Monday.

Johnson averaged 22.5 points and 9.5 rebounds in wins over Illinois and Michigan, helping the Boilermakers rebound from a three-game losing streak.

Despite being tabbed as one of the best teams in the Big Ten, Johnson’s honor is the first for a Purdue player this year and the first for Johnson.

The last Purdue Big Ten Player of the Week was Robbie Hummel on Dec. 22, 2008.

This and that Iowa coach Todd Lickliter said he felt the NCAA tournament is “the greatest sporting event in the whole world” and that he would want to look closely before making adjustments to it, including an expansion to 96 teams. … Painter said the playing of little-used John Hart for critical minutes in a win over Illinois. … Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan has now won more than 100 Big Ten games.

• Big Ten standings

• Big Ten statistics