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Power Rankings: Wisconsin Badgers making a push toward a Big Ten Tournament double bye

Two top-10 road wins have the Wisconsin Badgers close to lock status for the 2026 NCAA Tournament
Benjamin Worgull|
Feb 10, 2026; Champaign, Illinois, USA; Wisconsin Badgers players celebrated a win over the Illinois Fighting Illini at State Farm Center.
Feb 10, 2026; Champaign, Illinois, USA; Wisconsin Badgers players celebrated a win over the Illinois Fighting Illini at State Farm Center. | Ron Johnson-Imagn Images

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Wisconsin Badgers

To this point in the 2025-26 college basketball season, there have been 12 games a team has beaten an AP Top 10 team on the road. The road team has been unranked in only two of them. Both belong to the Wisconsin Badgers.

The stat from Ben Stevens demonstrates the curious case of the Badgers, a team that has no quality nonconference win, looked awful in a December road loss at Nebraska, and uninspired in the second half against Purdue in early January.

Since then, UW has won eight of 10 and has two of the most impressive wins in the country. Lots more Quad-1 games remain for the Badgers, at least five of them in the regular season, and a top four finish in the conference is not out of the question.

Here is week 14 of the Big Ten Power Rankings.

1, Michigan Wolverines (23-1, 13-1) Previous: 1

With all the carnage happening around them, the Wolverines keep stacking wins. Trailing to Northwestern by nine at halftime, 16 with 14:22 remaining and seven with 8:42 remaining, Michigan closed the game on a 27-8 run to push its winning streak to nine.

The Wolverines are building momentum at the right time, as four of their final seven games of the season are against top-15 teams

Up Next: Saturday vs. UCLA

2, Purdue Boilermakers (20-4, 10-3) Previous: 4

The Boilermakers didn't get any style points last week but found a way to erase a three-point deficit to Oregon with 5:15 remaining, winning by three, and rebounded from blowing a 22-point lead to knock off Nebraska in overtime.

Fletcher Loyer scored 18 points in both games to lead Purdue, including the go-ahead three-pointer with 51 seconds to knock off the Ducks.

Purdue continues to grind through a road heavy schedule, having played only two home games since Jan.14.

Up Next: Saturday at Iowa

3, Illinois Fighting Illini (20-5, 11-3) Previous: 2

Losing back-to-back games in overtime by one possession is a huge gut punch to the Illini's Big Ten title chances, but head coach Brad Underwood downplayed any overreaching concerns, especially since the Illini were down two starters against the Badgers in what turned out to be their first loss outside Quad-1 this season.

Getting back Kylan Boswell and Andrej Stojakovic will help correct some of the problems that appeared Tuesday, where Illinois missed many critical free throws, were outrebounded on the offensive glass, and were sloppy with 13 turnovers. That last number led to 23 points for UW.

After playing 11 games in 34 days, Illinois get a little bit of break before three games next week.

Up Next: Sunday vs. Indiana

4, Nebraska Cornhuskers (21-3, 10-3) Previous: 2

The Huskers have lost for the third time in four games following a 20-0 start, but all three defeats have been to ranked opponents. Simple chinks in the armor or are the Huskers starting to be exposed after racking up wins against a nonconference strength of schedule ranked 311th and avoiding?

Purdue pounced on Nebraska early with a 14-1 run, forced 14 turnovers, and had 21 offensive rebounds, the most the Huskers have allowed all season. The latter number is a growing trend against bigger, physical teams. Michigan grabbed nine offensive rebounds against Nebraska on Jan.27, while Illinois had 13 and 11 in its two meetings against the Huskers.

Up Next: Saturday vs. UCLA

5, Michigan State Spartans (20-4, 10-3) Previous: 5

Michigan State rebounded from a two-game losing streak to knock off the Illini in overtime, erasing an early nine-point deficit in the second half to do it.

Jeremy Fears has a spotlight on him as his antics have started to blur the line between hard play and cheap shots. The chatter didn't bother him on the court Saturday, scoring 26 points and 15 assists.

Up Next: Friday at Wisconsin

6, Wisconsin Badgers (17-7, 9-4) Previous: 6

The Badgers are getting dangerous close to being a tournament lock after knocking off Illinois Tuesday, getting stellar again from point guard Nick Boyd. After averaging 13.4 points per game at San Diego State, Boyd is now averaging 20.2 per game, including a team-high 25 against the Illini.

UW was able to outmuscle Illinois on Tuesday, but being able to bring that physicality and win against one of the more imposing teams in the league should sew up UW's bid (and give them an outside chance at a Big Ten Tournament double bye).

Up Next: Friday vs. No.10 Michigan State

7, Indiana Hoosiers (17-8, 8-6) Previous 9

Favorable call or not, Indiana added another important quality win to its thin resume with its overtime victory over Wisconsin and then pummeled Oregon on Monday. Suddenly, the Hoosiers have won five of six going into their consecutive road games against top-10 opponents.

After 25 points in 41 minutes against the Badgers, Lamar Wilkerson had 41 points against the Ducks, missing his first five shots and then making 13 of his last 15.

Up Next: Saturday at No.8 Illinois

8, UCLA Bruins (17-7, 9-4) Previous: 10

The Bruins took advantage of a favorable six-game stretch that included five home games and no trips outside the West Coast. Now, the Bruins will head to Michigan for two top-10 road games in search of their first victory outside the Pacific time zone against an above .500 team.

Up Next: Saturday at No.2 Michigan

9, Iowa Hawkeyes (18-6, 8-5) Previous: 7

The Hawkeyes had ripped off six consecutive wins but none against a ranked opponent and none in the Quad 1A of the net. Those chances comes this weekend against Purdue, which could explain why the Hawkeyes didn't play well in a Quad-3 road loss at Maryland Wednesday.

Bennett Stirtz came to play with 32 points (his third 30-plus point game in the last four), six assists and no turnovers. He didn't have much help, however, with only one other player in double figures and two players scoring more than six on the night.

Hawkeyes have a flimsy resume outside of the metrics, so they need to avoid any kind of slide down with a closing stretch that had five Quad-1 and two Quad-2 games to pull them

Up Next: Saturday vs. No.12 Purdue

10, Ohio State Buckeyes (16-8, 8-6), Previous: 10

After getting pummeled at Michigan, Ohio State won a critical bubble matchup with USC with Bruce Thornton finishing with 21 points on 11-of-11 free-throw shooting and adding eight assists. Devin Royal added 19 points and seven rebounds.

Ohio State has not lost consecutive games all seasons but it hasn't won more than two straight since starting the season 6-0. The Buckeyes don't have a Quad-1 win either, going 0-7 in those games after its Quad-1 loss (at Northwestern) has dropped into the Quad-2 category.

That makes Saturday's rare nonconference matchup huge for them.

Up Next: Saturday vs. No.15 Virginia in Nashville

11, USC Trojans (18-7, 7-7) Previous: 8

A two-point win at Penn State and a seven-point loss at Ohio State is an OK road trip, but the Trojans needed a great road trip and add a Quad-1 win to their ledger. The Trojans didn't have leading scorer Chad Baker-Mazara for either game of the trip, as he deals with a Grade-1 knee sprain.

With four Quad-1 games left, USC needs him to have any shot at making the field.

Up Next: Wednesday vs. No.8 Illinois

12, Minnesota Gophers (11-13, 4-9): Previous: 12

Minnesota followed up its upset over Michigan State by delivering a home clunker against Maryland, as David Coit scored 20 of his 28 points in the final 13-plus minutes. He scored the game's final seven points in a five-point win. The Gophers have lost seven of eight and six have been by 10 points or less.

Up Next: Saturday at Washington

13, Washington Huskies (12-13, 4-10) Previous: 13

Hannes Steinbach has become the lone bright spot for the Huskies. The freshman had 19 points and 14 rebounds and extended his program record for double-doubles by a freshman to 16, the second most in the Big Ten since the 1996-97 season.

The Huskies are 3-9 over their last 12 games.

Up Next: Saturday vs. Minnesota

14, Penn State Nittany Lions (11-14, 2-12) Previous: 15

Freddie Dilione V scored 16 points, Josh Reed added 14, Kayden Mingo had 13 points and Eli Rice scored 13 for Penn State in a 63-60 win at Washington on Wednesday. It's Penn State's first road victory since winning at New Haven in the second game of the season.

Up Next: Saturday at Oregon

15, Maryland Terrapins (10-14, 3-10) Previous: 18

First-year head coach Buzz Williams has come under heat for taking over a Sweet 16 program and failing to develop players and connect with boosters. He responds with consecutive wins for the first time in November and the school's first Quad-1 win in 11 chances when it knocked off Iowa Wednesday.

Andre Mills scored a team-high 24 points and was one of five Terps in double figures against the Hawkeyes.

Up next: Sunday at Rutgers

16, Rutgers Scarlet Knights (9-15, 2-11): Previous: 16


Rutgers has lost seven straight games but only had one more game against a team with a winning conference record.

Up Next: Sunday vs. Maryland

17, Northwestern Wildcats (10-15, 2-12) Previous: 15

Nick Martinelli is having an all-conference season scoring the ball, but he's stuck on a team that went from losing close games to just getting overwhelmed against most opponents. Martinelli finished with 18 on 5-for-22 shooting and grabbed eight rebounds against Michigan on Wednesday, dropping his scoring average to 22.4 points in conference games.

Up Next: Saturday at No.7 Nebraska

18, Oregon Ducks (8-16, 1-12) Previous: 18

Nate Bittle's return to the lineup (and 23 points) nearly led the Ducks to a shocking upset at Purdue. He wasn't nearly as effective in the second game of the Indiana road swing, going just 3-for-15 in an 18-point loss at Indiana.

Up Next: Saturday vs. Minnesota

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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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