Purdue Basketball Poised to Reclaim No. 1 Ranking After Houston's Loss on Sunday
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WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — After two straight weeks ranked as the No. 3 team in the country, Purdue basketball is in position to reclaim the top spot in the national rankings with a 19-1 overall record, including an 8-1 mark in Big Ten play.
The Boilermakers won their first 13 games of the 2022-23 season and spent four weeks at No. 1 prior to losing against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights in a one-point decision at Mackey Arena on Jan. 2. Since then, the team has won six straight, including four on the road, to claim the best start in program history.
Purdue defeated Maryland 58-55 at home on Sunday in its third game of the week. The contest came after a narrow victory over Michigan State and a dominant win against Minnesota, a pair of matchups that rounded out a stretch where the team was on the road in four out of five games.
No. 2 Kansas suffered back-to-back losses in matchups against Kansas State and TCU. The Jayhawks fell to the Horned Frogs in their first loss at Allen Fieldhouse since dropping a game against Kentucky in last year's Big 12/SEC Challenge.
As Purdue eked out a win, No. 1 Houston was stunned by Temple in a 56-55 loss on Sunday, which marked the second loss of the season for the Cougars.
With the two top teams in the nation falling in the same week, the Boilermakers appear to have cemented their place atop the upcoming Associated Press Top 25 poll as the team continues to navigate the challenges of the Big Ten Conference.
Purdue became just the fifth Big Ten team since 2000 to start a season 19-1, joining Illinois (2005), Ohio State (2011) and a pair of Michigan squads (2013, 2019).
The Boilermakers are scheduled to go on the road Thursday to tip off against the Wolverines at 9 p.m. ET inside the Crisler Center in Ann Arbor, Mich.
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D.J. Fezler is a staff writer for BoilermakersCountry.com. Hailing from The Region, he is from Cedar Lake in Northwest Indiana and has spent the last two years covering Purdue football and basketball.
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