Non-conference record: 124-43
RPI rank: 5th
Last week’s action was not kind to the top-heavy Big Ten. Michigan and Michigan State provided some more embarrassing losses, Ohio State fell to another ranked foe, Purdue was blown out, and Iowa lost to a mid major. At least the conference has Maryland and Wisconsin, right?
In the Associated Press Top 25 weekly poll, Wisconsin dropped one spot to No. 6, Maryland moved up two for the No. 15 spot, and Ohio State dropped nine spots to No.21. Michigan State started last week at No.25, but obviously fell out after losing to a 2-8 team.
Big Ten Men’s Basketball Week 7 Power Rankings
- Wisconsin Badgers (11-1) – The Badgers have continued their strong play they’ve displayed since rebounding from the loss to Duke on Dec. 3rd. Milwaukee and Nicholls were the latest blowout victims this past week. Junior forward Sam Dekker’s recovering ankle that has slowed him all season appreciated the nine-day break the Badgers had before heading down to Berkeley to take on the California Bears on Monday night, and he responded with 14 points and 6 rebounds in a 68-56 victory that was only the Bear’s 2nd loss of the season.
- Maryland Terrapins (11-1) – The Terrapins followed a win over the mighty South Carolina Upstate Spartans by beating a tough Big 12 opponent in Oklahoma State on the road. Wins are hard to come by in Gallagher-Iba arena, and Maryland now has another quality win over a team in the nation’s toughest conference to go with thier victory against No.12 Iowa State back on Nov. 25th. This team is for real, and what they’ve done is even more impressive when considering the fact that they have been without leading scorer Dez Wells since the Iowa State game. Wells has missed the past seven games as he recovers from wrist surgery, and hopes to rejoin the team in January.
- Ohio State Buckeyes (10-2) – Last week the Buckeyes lost yet again to a ranked opponent, falling 82-74 to No. 20 North Carolina in Chicago. Ohio State’s fall to No.21 is probably not far enough, as they have proven unworthy to play with ranked foes and own only one quality win on the year back in the 2nd week of the season when they beat Marquette. Freshman guard phenom D’Angelo Russell has continued to be the best player on the team, but he’s going to need some more help if the Buckeyes want to challenge in an already weak conference. OSU easily defeated Miami (OH) Monday night and have Wright State later this week before beginning conference play on Dec. 30th against Iowa.
- Penn State Nittany Lions (10-1) – Well look at that, the Nittany Lions have won 10 in a row and are off to their best start since 1995-96. Penn State knocked off both Drexel and Dartmouth in the last seven days, and travel to Wisconsin on New Year’s Eve for their biggest test of the season so far. Senior guard D.J. Newbill has been Penn State’s go-to player all season, creating most of his own shots while averaging 21.4 points on an efficient 47 percent field goal shooting.
- Indiana Hoosiers (10-2) – The Hoosiers picked up a huge win last Saturday when they topped No.23 Butler 82-73 in Indianapolis. Indiana forward Troy Williams led the way with 21 points and 11 rebounds as the Hoosiers pulled away in the 2nd half. Indiana followed that win with a dominating 79-59 victory over New Orleans on Monday night. Tom Crean’s team has a tough matchup in store against Georgetown on Saturday in their non-conference finale. The Hoosiers have definitely an exciting team to watch offensively. Their 86.3 points per game ranks 4th in the country, but if they truly desire to challenge for the Big Ten Title, they’ll need to work on giving up less than the 70.5 points a game they allow currently.
- Minnesota Golden Gophers (10-2) – The Golden Gophers blew out Seattle last week, and are starting to get some votes in the polls. They currently have five players averaging at least 9.0 points per game, and have been effective in forcing steals to the tune of 12.2 per game, good for 2nd nationally. Minnesota snuck by a bad Furman team 86-76 on Monday night, and close out their non-conference schedule later this weekend against UNC Wilmington.
- Illinois Fighting Illini (9-3) – The Illini began last week by taking out Hampton, but needed a buzzer-beating three-pointer from Rayvonte Rice to beat a mediocre Missouri team in St. Louis the following game. That’s all well and good, but they still only have one quality win over a now-No.22 Baylor Bears team. Illinois takes on Kennesaw State this Saturday to close out their non-conference slate.
- Michigan State Spartans (9-4) – Not wanting to be outdone, the Spartans attempted to one-up their in-state brethren Michigan by losing to an even more ridiculously inferior team than the NJIT team that beat the Wolverines earlier in the season. They succeeded, and fell to the 2-8 Texas Southern Tigers in overtime, at home, 71-64…the loss did provide the internet world with one of the greatest images of the season however:
When yo boss promises you a christmas bonus and sends you a membership to the jelly-of-the-month club instead http://t.co/HVKOXFayxL
— 'cers quarry (@crimsonquarry) December 21, 2014
An 82-56 win over Citadel probably did little to ease Spartans coach Tom Izzo’s frustration, but hey, it’s a start. The Spartans are off this week as they prepare to open conference play against Maryland on Dec. 30th.
- Iowa Hawkeyes (9-4) – The Hawkeyes deemed it appropriate to celebrate their Dec. 12th loss to No.12 Iowa State by losing 56-44 the following game last week to the Northern Iowa Panthers. Now it is fair to say that the Panthers are actually really good, and now sit at No.23 in the AP poll, but still, it’s never good to get swept by the other schools in your state. The Hawkeyes have struggled to score in losses, and have been kept under 57 points in three of them. Iowa took down the Northern Florida Ospreys 80-70 on Monday night in their last non-conference matchup of the season.
- Michigan Wolverines (7-5) – Ok, so last week’s loss to SMU might look bad on the surface, but the Mustangs are actually quite good. The Wolverines are still in free-fall mode however, and had lost four straight heading into Monday night’s 72-56 win against 1-10 Coppin State. They are simply struggling on each end of the floor, and no one solution appears to be helpful. Brace yourselves Michigan fans, it’s going to be a long year.
- Nebraska Cornhuskers (6-4) – The Cornhuskers looked pretty good in their narrow overtime victory against Cincinnati on Dec. 13th. Maybe it was all the time in between, but Nebraska looked a little flat in their first game since then during Monday night’s 66-58 loss to Hawaii that featured quite a few bizarre moments. The Cornhuskers have a stagnant offense with little passing, as evidenced by their 10.8 assists per game, and it hurt them again against Hawaii. Increased ball movement would be very beneficial to this team going forward, allowing them to create more space for players like Terran Petteway (19.2 points per game) to operate.
- Purdue Boilermakers (8-5) – The Boilermakers followed up their awful 31-point loss to Notre Dame last Saturday by losing at home on Monday night to Gardener-Webb by a score of 89-84 in their final non-conference game. The loss was their third straight, and Purdue’s schedule will only get tougher, beginning on New Year’s Eve when they open Big Ten play at home against Minnesota. Consistency has been hard to come by for Matt Painter’s team this season.
- Northwestern Wildcats (8-4) – The Wildcats began their week with a 13-point loss to Central Michigan, but recovered well enough to both Western Michigan and UIC in a span of three days. Northwestern has struggled to put points on the board, and it’s only going to get more difficult when conference play begins. The Wildcats have one last chance to work on things when they play Northern Kentucky on Saturday.
- Rutgers Scarlet Knights (6-5) – Rutgers’ offensive ineptitude wasn’t as much of a factor in their only game last week against St. Francis, but they still lost 73-68. The duo of Kadeem Jack and Miles Mack are carrying the load for Rutgers this year, and if they don’t get some help fast, the Scarlet Knights will spend the rest of the season in this very spot. Rutgers winds down their easiest portion of the schedule with games against Sacred Heart and Monmouth this week before beginning Big Ten play against a very beatable Northwestern team.
