How far did Penn State basketball drop in the AP Top 25 after back-to-back losses?
Penn State men’s basketball fell out of the The Associated Press Top 25 poll after it was ranked inside the top 20 last week.
The Nittany Lions are still receiving votes but are no longer ranked in the poll. They have 36 points, putting them as the sixth-highest team outside of the top 25. They were ranked No. 20 last week with 456 voting points.
Head coach Pat Chambers has led Penn State to a 12-4 record on the season and a 2-3 record in the early Big Ten slate. The Nittany Lions lost both of their games this week, one on the road against Rutgers and one at home against Wisconsin.
The battle with the Scarlet Knights in Piscataway ended with a 72-61 loss for Penn State. The Nittany Lions had only three players reach double figures in the game, and those three accounted for 50 of the team’s 61 points. Sophomore guard Myreon Jones led the team with 21 points while redshirt senior center Mike Watkins added 17 points and senior forward Lamar Stevens contributed 12. The team shot 23.1% from 3-point range in defeat.
Penn State followed that loss with another Saturday afternoon, falling to the Wisconsin Badgers, 58-49. The Nittany Lions struggled to score for the second game in a row in the defeat, with only four players tallying points for Penn State. Poor shooting contributed to the team’s scoring woes again in the game. The team shot 23.8% from beyond the arc in the loss. Stevens and redshirt sophomore guard Izaiah Brockington paced the team with 19 and 15 points, respectively.
The Nittany Lions are among six Big Ten teams receiving votes in Monday’s poll, alongside Iowa with 88 voting points, Indiana with 50 voting points, Wisconsin with 19 voting points, Purdue with 10 voting points and Rutgers with eight voting points. The Big Ten still leads the country in ranked teams with five in Michigan State (No. 15), Maryland (No. 17), Michigan (No. 19), Ohio State (No. 21) and Illinois (No. 24).
The Nittany Lions will be back in action Wednesday with their first of two matchups this week. They’ll travel to Minneapolis to take on the Minnesota Golden Gophers. The Gophers are the No. 38 team in the country according to Ken Pomeroy’s KenPom rankings and beat Michigan in their most recent game.
After their trip to Minnesota, the Nittany Lions will head home for a Saturday matchup with Ohio State. The Buckeyes are coming off a 66-54 loss to Indiana Saturday afternoon and will play Nebraska at home Wednesday before traveling to take on Penn State. Wisconsin is the No. 7 team in the KenPom rankings.
The next AP Poll will be released at noon Jan. 20.
AP Top 25 men’s basketball poll
(Monday, Jan. 13, 2020)
1. Gonzaga 1,574
2. Baylor 1,567
3. Duke 1,529
4. Auburn 1,359
5. Butler 1,299
6. Kansas 1,286
7. San Diego State 1,266
8. Oregon 1,163
9. Florida State 1,093
10. Kentucky 960
11. Louisville 943
12. West Virginia 911
13. Dayton 842
14. Villanova 822
15. Michigan State 735
16. Wichita State 629
17. Maryland 616
18. Seton Hall 496
19. Michigan 358
20. Colorado 345
21. Ohio State 270
22. Memphis 232
23. Texas Tech 111
24. Illinois 109
25. Creighton 97
Others receiving votes: Iowa 88, Stanford 77, Arkansas 65, Indiana 50, Virginia 41, Penn State 36, LSU 30, Arizona 20, Wisconsin 19, Liberty 11, Northern Iowa 10, Purdue 10, Duquesne 9, Washington 9, TCU 8, Rutgers 8, Virginia Tech 5, Oregon State 4, Houston 4, BYU 3, East Tennessee State 2, Saint Mary’s 1, Harvard 1, Akron 1, USC 1
This story was originally published January 13, 2020 at 12:32 PM.
