Indiana basketball rises to No. 18 in the AP Top 25 after beating No. 1 Purdue

Despite losing against Maryland last week, Indiana basketball rises up to No. 18 in the Week 14 AP Top 25 after beating still No. 1 Purdue on Saturday.

Winners of six of their last seven games and taking down the No. 1 team in the nation earns the Hoosiers even more respect, despite falling in College Park to Maryland earlier in the week. The No. 18 ranking for the Hoosiers sounds about right in my books, especially taking into consideration who was falling and rising around Indiana this past week.

Indiana basketball notched 431 votes to be in the AP Top 25 this week after holding just 250 total votes a week ago. The Hoosiers overtook No. 20 Providence, Florida Atlantic, and Clemson, two of which completely fell out of the rankings this week (Florida Atlantic and Clemson).

Despite the road loss in Bloomington for Purdue, they hold steady at the No. 1 spot, outgaining No. 2 Houston with 16 more first-place votes and 25 more overall votes. Joining the Hoosiers and Boilermakers in the Top 25 from the Big Ten is No. 24 Rutgers, who is coming off of an undefeated week beating Minnesota at home and Michigan State in Madison Square Garden.

As of this Week 14 poll, Indiana basketball holds a record of 2-3 (.400) overall against top 25 opponents, with their three losses coming to No. 4 Arizona in Las Vegas, No. 9 Kansas on the road, and No. 24 Rutgers in Piscataway, and their two wins coming at home against No. 1 Purdue and at No. 13 Xavier back on November 18.

The Hoosiers are 16-7 overall and 7-5 in the Big Ten, which puts them in a six-way tie for third place, behind Rutgers (8-4) and Purdue (11-2).

Indiana basketball now hosts another Top-25 team in Rutgers on Tuesday night then travel to Ann Arbor, Michigan, to take on a struggling but hungry Wolverines team. Could we see the Hoosiers jump to 18-7 overall and 9-5 in the Big Ten to likely hold the second place spot in the Big Ten or will the happy times falter this week?