Around The Big Ten Basketball: Feb. 17
College Basketball has completed another week of games and the results have shifted the Top 25 rankings.
The Big Ten was able to retain all five teams inside the Top 25 but the theme was a drop in the rankings for each team.
Purdue fell two spots to No. 5, Wisconsin dropped one spot to No. 15, Ohio State slipped to No. 18 and Michigan State moved to No. 19.
Illinois was the only Big Ten team to climb in the rankings as they improved to No. 12 in the country.
Illinois now sits alone at the top of the conference with a record of 11-3 in Big Ten play. The Fighting Illini beat Northwestern in their last game and look ahead to a matchup against a hot Rutgers team.
Tied for second place in the conference standings are Wisconsin and Purdue.
The Badgers suffered a tough loss against Rutgers but were able to bounce back against Indiana and get a win behind 30 points from senior guard Johnny Davis.
Purdue was able to move into the tie for second place after a narrow win against Maryland. The Boilermakers look to move into sole possession of second place when they take on Northwestern.
Moving to Ohio State, they were able to fend off the red-hot Michigan Wolverines by a score of 68-57. Buckeyes’ forward E.J. Liddell led the team with 28 points. They would then dominate Minnesota to capture another Big Ten victory and move them into fourth place.
Rutgers has ridden their way to a three-game win streak and into a tie for fifth place in the conference standings. The Scarlet Knights have upset three ranked teams during their streak with the most recent being Wisconsin.
Rutgers will look to get their fourth straight upset win against a ranked opponent when they face off against Illinois.
After beating Indiana easily, the Michigan State Spartans suffered a loss to Penn State and entered into a tie with Rutgers for fifth place in the conference. The Spartans look to rebound in their next matchup against Illinois.
Rounding out the top half of the conference is Iowa and Michigan who remain tied for sixth place with identical conference records of 7-6.
The Hawkeyes were able to get another conference win against a struggling Nebraska team while Michigan was unable to pull off the upset against Ohio State. These two teams will square off in a matchup on Thursday.
Leading off the bottom half of the Big Ten standings is Indiana which suffered two losses to Michigan State and Wisconsin. These losses now bring their losing streak to four.
Penn State lost a close game against Minnesota before upsetting the Spartans of Michigan State at home inside the Bryce Jordan Center.
The Nittany Lions will host Minnesota on Thursday in a makeup game from a postponement earlier in the season.
Northwestern lost to their in-state rivals, Illinois, while Minnesota was able to capture a victory before they eventually lost big to a talented Ohio State team.
Maryland and Nebraska both took losses in their last contests as they round out the Big Ten conference standings.
The top six teams in the conference are separated by just two games, so the upcoming slate of Big Ten contests will be important for the conference standings.
Each team will continue to fight for seeding and momentum heading into the Big Ten Tournament.
Thomas English is a first-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email tfe5082@psu.edu.
