Big Ten Basketball power rankings: Michigan, Ohio State climb to the top

By Adam Childs | Dec 10, 2019

CHAPEL HILL, NORTH CAROLINA - DECEMBER 04: Kaleb Wesson #34 of the Ohio State Buckeyes celebrates with fans after their win against the North Carolina Tar Heels at the Dean Smith Center on December 04, 2019 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Ohio State won 74-49. (Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images) /

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PISCATAWAY, NJ – JANUARY 09: Geo Baker #0 of the Rutgers Scarlet Knights reacts after scoring the game winning three-point basket defeating the Ohio State Buckeyes 64-61 in a game at Rutgers Athletic Center on January 9, 2019 in Piscataway, New Jersey. (Photo by Rich Schultz/Getty Images) /

Rutgers almost took a big leap in these rankings, as they about pulled off a huge upset of Michigan State in East Lansing. They ended up losing the game by 12, but they were within five with just 4:52 left in the game. While they couldn’t quite pull off the upset they were able to give the Spartans everything they wanted and more.

Rutgers will get their chance to get a big win as they play Wisconsin and Seton Hall their next two games. They need a big win as all of their six wins have come against bad competition.

The problem for Rutgers right now is they just don’t score a lot of points and in turn, they don’t shoot the ball well. They are averaging just 72 points per game and shooting right around 27% from deep.

The Scarlet Knights have just two guys, Ron Harper Jr and Geo Baker, averaging double figures this year. If one or both of them get hot they can give some teams trouble but if they aren’t they are really going to struggle to score points this year.

They need to grind out games, kind of like Northwestern, but if a team can score a lot of points on them they are in trouble.

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