Ohio State Remains No. 4 in Latest AP Poll, Sets Up Top-5 Showdown with Michigan Sunday

Ohio State won two games this past week, earning victories now in nine of its last ten contests.

After handling Maryland and Indiana with relative ease this past week, the Ohio State Buckeyes remain the No. 4-ranked team in the country in today's release of the Associated Press Top 25 College Basketball Poll.

The Buckeyes have been on an upward climb now for the last month and a half, after opening the month of January with a loss and falling out of the poll for this first time all season. But since then, OSU has ripped off nine wins in its last 10 games, many of which came on the road against other top-15 teams (Rutgers, Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa) and they've surged to a top-5 ranking.

No. 1 Gonzaga, No. 2 Baylor and No. 3 Michigan till hold the top three spots in the AP Poll. The Wolverines ended a 23-day CoVID-19 pause on Sunday with a double-OT win at Wisconsin, which helped them hold their spot.

That sets up easily the biggest game of the week in college hoops for Sunday afternoon's showdown between the Buckeyes and their most hated rival. It is Ohio State's only regular season game against Michigan this year.

Ohio State (17-4) and Michigan (14-1) are the two highest-ranked teams in the Big Ten, but the league continues to be extremely well-represented in the national poll.

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Illinois has jumped to a No. 5 ranking this week, Iowa moved up four spots to No. 11 and Wisconsin held their No. 21 spot. Rutgers and Purdue fell out of this week's poll, but they are among the teams still receiving votes and they are both extremely likely to be NCAA Tournament teams.

Ohio State will travel to Penn State on Thursday before hosting Michigan on Sunday afternoon. The Nittany Lions are coming off a tough loss to Nebraska, which hadn't won a Big Ten basketball game in 404 days, a stretch that lasted 26 games.

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