Teams in the Big Ten are finally starting to shake off the rust that they may have picked up in the offseason. At this point in the season, ball clubs are starting to get a feel for lineups and can begin building new concepts week over week. They will all have the rest of the month for their tuneups before their respective Big Ten-ACC matchups and early conference games.Two teams are worth mentioning due to their wins looking better or their losses looking worse. On the positive, Penn State’s win over Georgetown is starting to look really good with Georgetown’s thumping of Texas. Speaking of Texas, Purdue’s losses to the Longhorns, as well as Marquette, look worse.

November 22, 2019 Big Ten Basketball Power Rankings

No. 14 Northwestern (1-2, 0-0 B1G)

Previous: No. 13; Last Week: Loss vs. Radford 56-67

Northwestern entered the week with both one win and one loss on the season and faced the Radford Highlanders Tuesday night. The Wildcats came out on the wrong end for the second time this season, losing to the Highlanders by 11 points. Radford went on a 17-0 run during the first half and Northwestern never recovered as their cold shooting night from the field played a key role in their defeat.

No. 13 Nebraska (1-2, 0-0 B1G)

Previous: No. 14; Last Week: Win vs. South Dakota St. 90-73

After starting the season with back-to-back losses, Nebraska picked up their first win of the season against South Dakota State. The Cornhuskers held the Jackrabbits to 14% shooting from the three-point line and used their scoring on the inside to put South Dakota State away for good. Nebraska is back in action Friday night with a home contest against the Southern Jaguars and then host the Washington State Cougars on Monday.

No. 12 Minnesota (2-3, 0-0 B1G)

Previous: No. 10; Last Week: Loss at Utah 69-73, Win vs. Central Michigan 82-57

Minnesota ended a three-game losing skid after defeating Central Michigan Thursday night for their second win of the season. Over the next week, the Golden Gophers have match ups against North Dakota and DePaul respectively. North Dakota has just one win on the season while DePaul is currently 5-0 with a victory over the Iowa Hawkeyes on the road.

No. 11 Rutgers (4-1, 0-0 B1G)

Previous: No. 11; Last Week: Loss vs. St. Bonaventure (Neut.) 74-80, Win vs. Stephen F. Austin 69-57

Rutgers gets their first loss of the season against a winless St. Bonaventure team on a neutral court. Expectations for this Scarlet Knights team need to be tempered once again; however, they do have an opportunity to earn wins against the middle to low tier of the Big Ten. Rutgers is getting good utilization from Stony Brook transfer Akwasi Yeboah.

No. 10 Iowa (3-1, 0-0 B1G)

Previous: No. 12; Last Week: Win vs. Oral Roberts 87-74, Win vs. North Florida 83-68

Iowa has not been able to stop softer teams defensively, but Luka Garza is the centerpiece of this team. He has had 59 points in the last week over the two games and continues to lead the Big Ten in productivity. If they can fix up their defense, they should have a decent season as well.

No. 9 Purdue (2-2, 0-0 B1G)

Previous: No. 5; Last Week: Win vs. Chicago St. 93-49

The Boilermakers stopped the bleeding with a blowout win over Chicago State, in which the bench scored 52 of the team’s 93 points. Unfortunately, for the Boilermakers, other teams have passed them up due to accumulating wins and because Purdue’s losses to Marquette and Texas look worse today than last week. Purdue has one more tune-up game on Saturday night before brutal back-to-back-to-back contests against VCU, FSU/Tennessee, then Virginia.

No. 8 Illinois (4-1, 0-0 B1G)

Previous: No. 8; Last Week: Win vs. Hawaii 66-53, Win vs. Citadel 85-57

Illinois will continue to have to wait before they can prove they live up to the hype. They are taking care of business against lesser schools and will play Miami, Maryland, and Michigan in early December.

No. 7 Indiana (5-0, 0-0 B1G)

Previous: No. 6; Last Week: Win vs. Troy 100-62, Win vs. Princeton 79-54

Indiana continues to rack up wins against one of the easiest non-conference schedules in the country. They will continue to play lower teams for another week before the Big Ten/ACC matchup against Florida State. IU appears to have a lot more depth than last year and can be a consistently difficult team to play, even with injuries.

No. 6 Penn State (4-0, 0-0 B1G)

Previous: No. 9; Last Week: Win vs. Bucknell 98-70