Busting Brackets
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Big Ten Basketball Power Rankings: Iowa, Wisconsin joining top-tier

By Austin Walther

ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN - FEBRUARY 09: Head coach John Beilein of the Michigan Wolverines celebrates with Charles Matthews as he leaves the game while playing the Wisconsin Badgers at Crisler Arena on February 09, 2019 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Michigan won the game 61-52. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)
ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN - FEBRUARY 09: Head coach John Beilein of the Michigan Wolverines celebrates with Charles Matthews as he leaves the game while playing the Wisconsin Badgers at Crisler Arena on February 09, 2019 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Michigan won the game 61-52. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images) /
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ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN – JANUARY 03: Head coach Pat Chambers of the Penn State Nittany Lions reacts during the second half while playing the Michigan Wolverines at Crisler Arena on January 03, 2019 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Michigan won the game 68-55. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)
ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN – JANUARY 03: Head coach Pat Chambers of the Penn State Nittany Lions reacts during the second half while playing the Michigan Wolverines at Crisler Arena on January 03, 2019 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Michigan won the game 68-55. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images) /

14. Penn State Nittany Lions (8-15)

Previous rank: 14

I know Northwestern is on a bad losing streak and it’s even worse for Nebraska, but it’s hard to not rank a team with only one Big Ten win last. Penn State began conference play 0-10. That was the worst of the worst. They couldn’t buy a win anywhere. The Nittany Lions has one of the best players in the Big Ten in Lamar Stevens, but won’t get much award recognition because he’s playing on a struggling team.

Penn State hosted Purdue and made them fight for the Boilermakers fight for the win. You know if Purdue is scoring 99 points that Carsen Edwards and Ryan Cline were going to be the main reasons for it. And they were. Both big time scorers combined for 58 points and 14 three-pointers. The Nittany Lions tried to match that. Stevens dropped 24. Freshmen Myles Dread and Rasir Bolton knocked down four three-pointers apiece. Only two other Nittany Lions were in double-figures and that wasn’t enough.

They went back on the road, played Northwestern and it wasn’t as much of a shootout. The Wildcats struggled to score from the field and all Penn State needed was Stevens, Bolton and a couple bench players to contribute which led to their first Big Ten win.

The Nittany Lions have only been getting consistent scoring from four guys this season. After those main four, no one else is averaging more than 3.2 points per game. Against Northwestern, it didn’t matter. Only three three-pointers was enough to win because their defense played great. The only thing looking nice right now for Penn State is that Josh Reaves is averaging 2.7 steals per game and the shot-blocking machine in Mike Watkins.

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