How much did Penn State men’s basketball move up in the AP poll after 2 wins last week?
Penn State men’s basketball is moving up in the The Associated Press Top 25 poll after re-entering the poll last week.
The Nittany Lions are No. 22 in the most recent poll, released Monday, with 356 voting points. They were No. 24 in the last poll after going unranked for two weeks in a row. They received 114 voting points in last week’s poll.
Head coach Pat Chambers has led Penn State to a 16-5 record on the season and a 6-4 record in the Big Ten. The Nittany Lions won both games they played in the last week. They defeated Indiana Wednesday night at home, 64-49, then beat Nebraska on the road Saturday night, 76-64.
Both wins came thanks to big second-half performances by the Nittany Lions. They went into the half against the Hoosiers knotted up at 28 before exploding in the second half. Penn State outscored Indiana 36-21 in the game’s final 20 minutes to earn the victory. Senior forward Lamar Stevens scored 17 points in the game to move into third on the program’s all-time scoring list.
The win against Nebraska came thanks to a 20-6 run in the first 7:12 of the second half after the Nittany Lions led 38-33 at the half. Stevens scored 13 points against the Cornhuskers to surpass the 2,000 point mark, giving him 2,007 total points in his three-plus seasons as a Nittany Lion.
The Nittany Lions are among five Big Ten teams that are ranked in Monday’s poll, alongside Maryland (No. 9), Michigan State (No. 16), Iowa (No. 17), and Illinois (No. 20). The Big Ten has the most ranked teams in the country of any conference. The conference also has three teams receiving voting points outside the top 25. Ohio State has the third-most points among the group with 19 while Rutgers has the ninth-most points with 12. Michigan received one voting point.
The Nittany Lions will be back in action Tuesday in a big road matchup. They’ll take on the Michigan State Spartans in the first of two games this week. The Spartans are the No. 9 team in the country, according to Ken Pomeroy’s KenPom rankings.
They’ll head back home after the game with the Spartans to take on the Minnesota Golden Gophers Saturday afternoon. The Golden Gophers are the No. 38 team in the country in the KenPom rankings.
The next AP Poll will be released at noon Feb. 10.
AP Top 25 men’s basketball poll
(Monday, Feb. 3, 2020)
1. Baylor 1,608
2. Gonzaga 1,567
3. Kansas 1,472
4. San Diego State 1,447
5. Louisville 1,352
6. Dayton 1,271
7. Duke 1,241
8. Florida State 1,188
9. Maryland 999
10. Villanova 959
11. Auburn 926
12. Seton Hall 900
13. West Virginia 827
14. Oregon 758
15. Kentucky 660
16. Michigan State 624
17. Iowa 604
18. LSU 572
19. Butler 437
20. Illinois 373
21. Creighton 372
22. Penn State 356
23. Arizona 164
24. Colorado 134
25. Houston 85
Others receiving votes: Texas Tech 66, Marquette 31, Ohio State 19, Tulsa 19, Rhode Island 18, Northern Iowa 17, Wichita State 17, BYU 14, Rutgers 12, Stanford 7, Stephen F. Austin 3, Yale 1, Winthrop 1, Michigan 1, Virginia 1, Bowling Green 1
This story was originally published February 3, 2020 at 12:47 PM.
