Big Ten Basketball: Week 5 conference power rankings

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EAST LANSING, MI – DECEMBER 3: Head coach Tim Miles of the Nebraska Cornhuskers during the game against the Michigan State Spartansat Breslin Center on December 3, 2017 in East Lansing, Michigan. (Photo by Rey Del Rio/Getty Images) /

The Cornhuskers rise in the power rankings after an impressive 78-68 victory over the Minnesota Golden Gophers last week. The Huskers got 29 points from junior guard Glynn Watson Jr. in the victory in Lincoln.

Outside of this win, the Huskers are 0-4 against the RPI top-50. Although the Cornhuskers seem to be a much-improved squad from a season ago, they still have much to prove in order to move them higher up in the rankings based on their reputation.

In Nebraska’s other game last week, they traveled to Omaha to take on a solid Creighton Bluejays squad, losing that game 75-65. Isaac Copeland had 20 points and 11 rebounds in this contest for Tim Miles and company. The Huskers have a big game against a struggling Kansas team coming up.

Watson (13.9 ppg) and Copeland (12.7 ppg, 6.6 rpg) remain two of the main players for the Huskers. It seems as though whenever Watson performs well, the Huskers tend to play well also. The leading scorer for Nebraska thus far is junior guard James Palmer, who currently averages 14.2 points per game on the season.

Schedule for this week:

Kansas (7-2) at Nebraska on Dec. 16

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