How far did Penn State men’s basketball drop in the AP Top 25 after its loss to Iowa?
Penn State men’s basketball dropped in The Associated Press Top 25 poll after splitting its two games this past week.
The Nittany Lions are No. 20 in the most recent poll, released Monday, with 367 voting points. They were No. 16 in the last poll and have now moved down for the second week in a row. They received 618 voting points last week.
Head coach Pat Chambers has led Penn State to an 21-8 record on the season and a 11-7 record in the Big Ten. The Nittany Lions have lost three of their past four games. They won their lone home game of the week and lost their only road game. They defeated Rutgers Wednesday night at the Bryce Jordan Center, 65-64, and lost to Iowa Saturday afternoon in Carver Hawkeye Arena, 77-68.
The Nittany Lions are tied for fifth place in the Big Ten after being alone in second place two weeks ago. They’re two games back from first place in the conference. However, they must leap four teams in order to claim the regular season conference title and don’t hold the tiebreaker over all of the teams ahead of them.
The Nittany Lions are among eight Big Ten teams that are ranked in Monday’s poll, the most in the country among conferences. They’re alongside Maryland (No. 9), Michigan State (No. 16), Iowa (No. 18), Ohio State (No. 19), Illinois (No. 23), Wisconsin (No. 24), and Michigan (No. 25).
The Nittany Lions will be back in action Tuesday for their final game at the Bryce Jordan Center this season. They’ll take on the Michigan State Spartans in the first of two games this week. The Spartans are the No. 7 team in the country, according to Ken Pomeroy’s KenPom rankings. The Nittany Lions defeated Michigan State Feb. 4 on the road, 75-70.
They’ll head back on the road after the game with the Spartans to take on the Northwestern Wildcats Saturday afternoon in their regular season finale. The Wildcats are the No. 134 team in the country in the KenPom ranking.
The next AP Poll will be released at noon March 9.
AP Top 25 men’s basketball poll
(Monday, March 2, 2020)
1. Kansas 1,600
2. Gonzaga 1,514
3. Dayton 1,453
4. Baylor 1,395
5. San Diego State 1,375
6. Kentucky 1,253
7. Florida State 1,164
8. Seton Hall 1,145
9. Maryland 1,041
10. Louisville 948
11. Creighton 843
12. Duke 809
13. Oregon 802
14. Villanova 779
15. BYU 756
16. Michigan State 726
17. Auburn 575
18. Iowa 492
19. Ohio State 489
20. Penn State 367
21. Houston 265
22. Virginia 219
23. Illinois 208
24. Wisconsin 179
25. Michigan 94
Others receiving votes: Butler 68, UCLA 54, Stephen F. Austin 47, East Tennessee State 31, West Virginia 22, Providence 17, Colorado 13, Marquette 12, Arizona 9, Texas Tech 9, Northern Iowa 4, Oklahoma 4, Stanford 4, Arizona State 4, Wichita State 2, Saint Mary’s 2, LSU 2, New Mexico State 2, USC 1, Belmont 1, Vermont 1
