How much did Penn State men’s basketball move up in the AP poll after another undefeated week?
Penn State men’s basketball is climbing higher in the The Associated Press Top 25 poll after another two wins in the past week.
The Nittany Lions are No. 13 in the most recent poll, released Monday, with 787 voting points, the highest they’ve been ranked this season. They were No. 22 in the last poll and have now moved up three weeks in a row. They received 356 voting points in last week’s poll.
Head coach Pat Chambers has led Penn State to an 18-5 record on the season and an 8-4 record in the Big Ten. The Nittany Lions won both games they played in the last week. They defeated Michigan State Tuesday night on the road, 75-70, then beat Minnesota at home on Saturday, 83-77.
Both opponents are currently ranked in the top 35 of Ken Pomeroy’s KenPom rankings. The Nittany Lions went into the Breslin Center Tuesday night to earn the victory over the Spartans, the No. 10 team in the rankings. Then they took down the Golden Gophers at home in a game that they never trailed in against the No. 31 team in KenPom’s rankings. The two wins pushed Penn State into second place in the Big Ten standings.
The Nittany Lions are among four Big Ten teams that are ranked in Monday’s poll, alongside Maryland (No. 9), Iowa (No. 21), and Illinois (No. 22). The conference also has five teams receiving voting points outside the top 25. Michigan State has the most points among the group with 124 while While Purdue has the sixth-most points with 27 and Ohio State has the seventh-most with 14. Michigan and Rutgers each received fewer than 10 voting points.
The Nittany Lions will be back in action Tuesday in an important road matchup. They’ll take on the Purdue Boilermakers in the first of two games this week. The Boilermakers are the No. 13 team in the country, according to Ken Pomeroy’s KenPom rankings.
They’ll head back home after the game with the Boilermakers to take on the Northwestern Wildcats Saturday afternoon. The Wildcats are the No. 117 team in the country in the KenPom rankings, the second-lowest ranked team in the Big Ten..
The next AP Poll will be released at noon Feb. 17.
AP Top 25 men’s basketball poll
(Monday, Feb. 10, 2020)
1. Baylor 1,583
2. Gonzaga 1,546
3. Kansas 1,450
4. San Diego State 1,422
5. Louisville 1,331
6. Dayton 1,255
7. Duke 1,211
8. Florida State 1,170
9. Maryland 1,057
10. Seton Hall 1,013
11. Auburn 998
12. Kentucky 853
13. Penn State 787
14. West Virginia 721
15. Villanova 581
16. Colorado 567
17. Oregon 497
18. Marquette 425
19. Butler 414
20. Houston 402
21. Iowa 374
22. Illinois 235
23. Creighton 213
24. Texas Tech 169
25. LSU 160
Others receiving votes: Michigan State 124, Rhode Island 57, Northern Iowa 44, BYU 43, Arizona 34, Purdue 27, Ohio State 14, Cincinnati 6, Stephen F. Austin 6, Michigan 3, Rutgers 2, Virginia 2, East Tennessee State 2, Wright State 1, Winthrop 1
