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Big Ten basketball: The top five
No. 5: Illinois (10-3, 1-1 Big Ten)
The buzzer-beater loss to Nebraska a couple weeks back wasn’t so much a sucker punch as it was a well-placed blow that the Illini clearly underestimated. They could have folded, but a nine-day break – Illinois’ longest of the season – was put to good use, propelling the Illini to a 91-48 win over Missouri in the widest margin of victory in the history of the schools’ Braggin’ Rights series.
So Illinois is back, right? Too early to say, if we’re being honest, and it will be some time before it can be properly confirmed. A road date at Iowa on Jan. 11 would be a strong first step, and the Illini’s talent should otherwise carry them into a Jan. 24 showdown at Purdue. Wins in those matchups – and another at Lincoln on Feb. 1, when Illinois gets to run it back with Nebraska – would prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that the Illini are contenders who are built to last in March.
Tis the season for braggin’ and cheer. pic.twitter.com/AHLpf5GUVW
— Illinois Men’s Basketball (@IlliniMBB) December 24, 2025
No. 4: Nebraska (12-0, 2-0)
To say Nebraska has snuck up on college basketball experts and the Big Ten this season doesn’t do justice to the shock job the Cornhuskers have pulled off. If a one-point loss to BYU in an October exhibition and a clean sweep through the first six weeks were missed as early signs, consecutive wins over Creighton (by 19), Wisconsin (by 30) and Illinois (in Champaign) provided too much evidence to ignore…