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Big Ten Power Rankings: How far did the Wisconsin Badgers fall after BYU blowout?

Eight Big Ten teams remain undefeated heading into the final days of November
Benjamin Worgull|
Nov 21, 2025; Salt Lake City, Utah, USA; Wisconsin Badgers head coach Greg Gard speaks with guard Jack Janicki (5) while the against the BYU Cougars shoot free throws during the second half at Delta Center.
Nov 21, 2025; Salt Lake City, Utah, USA; Wisconsin Badgers head coach Greg Gard speaks with guard Jack Janicki (5) while the against the BYU Cougars shoot free throws during the second half at Delta Center. | Rob Gray-Imagn Images

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Wisconsin Badgers

Feast week is living up to its billing for some Big Ten teams, while others are going hungry.

The top tier of the Big Ten has looked dominant as November comes to a close, while the second tier of the league is becoming jumbled. Wisconsin looked flatfooted in its first power-conference test while Iowa went 1-0 against its first top-50 ranked team.

The Huskers keep winning and have some meat behind their undefeated start, Ohio State's best start in six years has been mostly cupcakes, and USC plays for the prestigious Maui Invitational title in games that go down to the buzzer.

We celebrate Thanksgiving with week four of the Big Ten Power Rankings a day early.

1, Purdue Boilermakers (6-0) Previous: 1

If Purdue's road win was impressive, the Boilermakers' title at the Baha Mar Championship in The Bahamas was spectacular.

In the title game against No.15 Texas Tech, Purdue led by 23 points at the half, by as many as 33 points in the second half and won by 30. Purdue shot 59 percent from the field and 57 percent from 3-point range. At one point, the Boilermakers went on a 20-0 run. With a little more than 11 minutes remaining, all five starters had 10 points.

Purdue's nine-point win the day before against a struggling Memphis team was just as impressive because Kaufmann-Renn played just 27 minutes due to foul trouble and Smith went 2-for-14. Fletcher Loyer scored 20 points and CJ Cox added 18.

There might not be another team in the country that has more depth than Purdue.

Up next: Friday vs. Eastern Illinois

2, Michigan State Spartans (6-0) Previous: 2

Since knocking off No.12 Kentucky, the Spartans cruised to easy wins over Detroit Mercy by 28 and East Carolina by 41, the latter coming in the semifinals of the Fort Myers Tip Off. Against the Pirates, the Spartans had 36 points in the paint, 35 points from its reserves and 31 points off 24 East Carolina turnovers.

Up Next: Thursday vs. No.18 North Carolina in Ft. Myers, Fla.

3, Michigan Wolverines (6-0) Previous: 5

Looking uneasy through the first four games of the season, Michigan has played like one of the nation's top teams at the Players Era Festival. The Wolverines beat San Diego State by 40 on Tuesday, shooting 50 percent from the floor and holding the Aztecs to 27 percent, and then walloped No.21 Auburn by 30, holding the Tigers to 36 percent shooting and just three assists on 22 baskets.

The Wolverines shot 51 percent, went 14-for-35 on threes, and put six players in double figures against an Auburn team whose only previous loss was by one to No.1 Houston.

Up Next: Wednesday vs. No.12 Gonzaga in Las Vegas

4, Illinois Fighting Illini (6-1) Previous: 3

The Illini bounced back with a vengeance with a 40-point win over Long Island, shooting 63 percent from the field, outrebounding the Sharks by 18, turned 11 offensive rebounds into 17 second-chance points, and outscoring them 68-24 in the paint.

Illinois struggled with UTRGV on Tuesday, but the Vaqueros' style of play has given power-conference teams trouble over the years, including the Badgers last November. Head coach Brad Underwood didn't like how the Illini played, but Illinois still put five players in double figures.

After squandering a win over No.8 Alabama in Chicago, the Illini have back-to-back neutral-site games against ranked opponents in likely hostile environments.

Up Next: Friday vs No.3 UConn in New York

5, Nebraska Cornhuskers (7-0) Previous: 7

Rienk Mast hit seven 3-pointers and finished with 31 points on 11-of-18 shooting Tuesday night to help Nebraska beat Winthrop. Having earned recent victories over Kansas State and Oklahoma to boot, Nebraska has won 11 games in a row, dating to last season. It's the longest active streak in Division I and just the fourth time in program history that the Cornhuskers have accomplished the feat (1993-94, 1990-01 and 2010-11).

Up Next: Saturday vs South Carolina Upstate

6, Indiana Hoosiers (6-0) Previous 6

Reed Bailey scored 21 points (13-for-15 FTs) and No. 25 Indiana limited the nation's leading scorer, P.J. Haggerty, to 12 below his average in an 86-69 home win over Kansas State on Tuesday. Haggerty, who averaged 28 per game, finished 7 of 17 from the field for 16 points and had six turnovers.

Tayton Conerway added 19, Lamar Wilkerson scored 14 and Trent Sisley had 12 points, as the Hoosiers are up to No.20 in the KenPom rankings.

Up Next: Saturday vs Bethune-Cookman

7, Wisconsin Badgers (4-1) Previous: 4

Losing a defacto road game to a top-10 team isn't the worst thing in the world, but how the Badgers lost was ugly, giving up 98 points and averaging less than a point per possession on offense. UW coach Greg Gard questioned the team's toughness and ability to fight through adversity, so how they rebound against two power-conference teams in the Rady Children's Invitational will be interesting to watch.

Up Next: Thursday vs. Providence in San Diego

8, USC Trojans (6-0) Previous: 10

Close wins might be USC's thing. After the Trojans' miracle triple overtime win over Troy, USC scraped by Boise State behind Rodney Rice's season-high 27 points. When Rice got hurt in the semifinals of the Maui Invitational, Ezra Ausar and Chad Baker-Mazara combined for 31 of USC's second-half points to erase a 13-point deficit and get the Trojans an 83-81 victory over Seton Hall.

Up Next: Today vs. Arizona State in Lahaina, Hawaii

9, Ohio State Buckeyes (6-0), Previous: 8

John Mobley Jr. scored a season-high 26 points, Devin Royal added 17 and Ohio State put five players in double figures for the second straight game, blowing out Mount St. Mary's, 113-60.

Going 41-for64 from the field (64 percent), including 15 of 31 from 3-point range, the Buckeyes swept its six-game homestand and is off to their best start in six years.

Up Next: Friday at Pittsburgh

10, Iowa Hawkeyes (6-0) Previous: 12

The Hawkeyes past their first test of the season, once again leaning on their leading scorer, who took his game up a notch to match the competition. Bennett Stirtz scored a season-high 29 points and while Cooper Koch had his first double-double of the season (14 points, 10 rebounds) to knock off Ole Miss. Stirtz broke a tie game at halftime with 18 points and four 3-pointers in the second half, putting himself on the short list for best scorer in the conference.

Ben McCollum is the first Iowa head coach to start his tenure 6-0 since Tom Davis in 1986-87.

Up Next: Today vs. Grand Canyon in Palm Springs, CA

11, UCLA Bruins (5-2) Previous: 9

A banged-up Bruins team got worse when Donovan Dent battled through a calf injury and then went down in the closing minutes. Cal took advantage by outscoring UCLA by 13 in the second half of the Empire Classic Championship, including a 13-2 run early in the second half that allowed the Bears to take control.

The Bruins are 5-0 against mid-major teams and 0-2 against power-conference opponents.

Up Next: Dec.3 at Washington

12, Northwestern Wildcats (5-1) Previous: 11

The Greenbrier Tip-Off was decent for the Wildcats. Northwestern held Virginia to 24 of 64 from the field and 5 of 24 from three-point range, but the Cavaliers outscored Northwestern from the free throw line, 30-17, to pull away late.

Arringten Page had his potential tying 3-pointer blocked by a 7-foot freshman in the final minute, but he delivered the following night with the game-winning layup in the closing seconds to knock off South Carolina in the third-place game.

Page averaged 15 points over the two games and Nick Martinelli bounced back from a 3-for-12 night to score a game-high 25 points against the Gamecocks.

Up Next: Today vs. Oklahoma State in Chicago

13, Oregon Ducks (4-2) Previous: 13

Self-inflicted wounds continue to plague Oregon. The Ducks committed 18 turnovers and shot just 37.7 percent from the field in an 11-point loss to Auburn. The Ducks let the Tigers shoot 57.1 percent in the second half, but it was worse on Wednesday against San Diego State. The Aztecs shot 67.2 percent from the field, the highest by an opponent in the Dana Altman era and the highest allowed by a Power Five conference team this season.

Up Next: Today vs. Creighton in Las Vegas

14, Maryland Terrapins (5-2) Previous: 14


The good news for the Terrapins is Pharrell Payne returned from a scary-looking injury to scored 16 of his 20 points in the second half to lead Maryland to a 74-67 victory over UNLV. The bad news is the Terps were crushed by 39 against Gonzaga, shooting 36 percent, going 5-for-21 from three, committing 18 turnovers, getting outrebounded by 10, getting outscored 51-9 from reserves, and allowing 14-for-33 from three.

Up Next: Tonight vs. No.8 Alabama in Las Vegas

15, Penn State Nittany Lions (6-1) Previous: 16


Josh Reed scored, a season-high 17 points in Penn State's 96-87 win over Boston University, a game where all scored in double figures. The Nittany Lions only loss is a neutral-site game to Providence but that has been the only power-conference opponent they have played.

Up Next: Sunday vs. Sacred Heart

16, Washington Huskies (4-1) Previous: 17

Washington hasn't played since knocking off Southern at home in double overtime last week, a victory that the Huskies earned with only nine healthy players. The Huskies should be healthier when they play Nevada and either Colorado or San Francisco.

Up Next: Thursday vs. Nevada in Palm Spring, CA

17, Minnesota Gophers (4-2): Previous: 18

Gophers center Robert Vaihola, who had started each of Minnesota’s first five games, was out with a knee injury. That and the combination of frontcourt foul troubles and 15 missed free throws led to the Gophers playing uphill the entire night. Cade Tyson entered Saturday as the Big Ten’s leading scorer, averaging 23.4 points, but only registered two field-goal attempts in the first half and finished with 14 points.

Up Next: Thursday vs. Stanford in Palm Springs, Ca.

18, Rutgers Scarlet Knights (4-3): Previous: 16

After four mid-major victories for their best start in five years, the Scarlet Knights lost by 13 at home to a Central Connecticut team ranked 244th in Kenpom. That was a bad omen for the Players Era Festival with Rutgers facing its first power-conference opponents and the results have been predictable: a 25-point loss to No.17 Tennessee and a five-point loss to Notre Dame where the Scarlet Knights went 9-for-24 on twos.

Up Next: Thursday vs. UNLV in Las Vegas

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Benjamin Worgull
BENJAMIN WORGULL

Benjamin Worgull has covered Wisconsin men's basketball since 2004, having previously written for Rivals, USA Today, 247sports, Fox Sports, the Associated Press, the Janesville Gazette, and the Wisconsin State Journal.

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