Illinois Basketball: Illini continues ascent in the AP Top 25

Feb 13, 2022; Champaign, Illinois, USA; Illinois Fighting Illini guard Trent Frazier (1) and teammate RJ Melendez (15) walk off the court after Sunday’s 73-66 win over Northwestern at State Farm Center. Mandatory Credit: Ron Johnson-USA TODAY Sports
Feb 13, 2022; Champaign, Illinois, USA; Illinois Fighting Illini guard Trent Frazier (1) and teammate RJ Melendez (15) walk off the court after Sunday’s 73-66 win over Northwestern at State Farm Center. Mandatory Credit: Ron Johnson-USA TODAY Sports /
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Despite dropping a game last week, the Illinois basketball team moved up in the rankings.

Coming into the previous week, the Illini were ranked as the No. 13 team in the nation. This was a solid ranking as we took on No. 3 Purdue last Tuesday. The game didn’t go the way we had hoped, as the Boilermakers would trounce us by 16 points.

Illinois came back on Sunday and got back to their winning ways, though. The Illini took down the Northwestern Wildcats to move to 18-6 on the season and 11-3 in the Big Ten. The AP Top 25 took notice of the victory and then decided to move Illinois from No. 13 to No. 12 in the newest set of rankings released on Monday.


I am actually a little surprised by the move up for the Illini. Yes, the lone loss was to the No. 3 team at the time and now the No. 5 team in the nation in Purdue. So, that wasn’t a bad loss, but I expected a slight drop given that we did lose by 16 points. I was expecting us to be ranked 13-15.

The Illinois basketball schedule is a little harder than expected.

I can’t believe there are only six games left of the regular season schedule. It feels like just yesterday the season had started. The six remaining games seem to have gotten tougher with the new rankings being revealed.

Illinois takes on No. 19 Michigan State and No. 18 Ohio State in the coming weeks, but we shouldn’t look past any of the teams on the schedule.

The next game for the Illini is at Rutgers this Wednesday. The Scarlet Knights actually received 10 votes to be in the AP Top 25. Illinois also takes on Iowa in the final game of the season in Champaign. The Hawkeyes received 17 votes to be ranked.

So, out of the final six games of the season, four of the teams have at least received votes to be ranked inside the top 25. That is pretty tough.

The other two games for the Illini are at Michigan, which is never easy, and Penn State, which has given Illinois troubles at times the last few years.

We are in the home stretch of the 2021-22 campaign. Illinois is leading the Big Ten, and we are poised to be a top-three seed in the NCAA tournament. Let’s finish this season strong and shock the world with a national title.

Next. 5 observations from the Illini win vs Northwestern. dark