After suffering an ugly road loss at Maryland (77-70) and an embarrassing home defeat against Purdue (78-57), Iowa basketball (19-7, 8-6 Big Ten) saw its ranking free-fall in the latest USA Today Sports Men's Basketball Coaches Poll released on Feb. 16.
In the two losses to the Terrapins and Boilermakers, slow starts, prolonged offensive droughts, and a lack of scoring depth have doomed the Hawkeyes. Although senior star guard Bennett Stirtz has continued his sensational play in those two games by averaging 25.5 points on 60.6% shooting, along with senior guard Tavion Banks' 11 points on 66.7% from the floor, the lack of a consistent tertiary scoring option is a glaring issue for Iowa as of late.
As a result of the two defeats this past week, the Hawkeyes now reside in the receiving votes category with 7 votes.
In terms of Big Ten representation in this week's Top 25, Michigan leads the group and national poll at No. 1, followed by No. 7 Purdue, No. 9 Nebraska, No. 10 Illinois, No. 15 Michigan State, and No. 25 Wisconsin.
Iowa is the lone conference member in the pool of programs receiving outside votes.
Despite last week's poor performance, Iowa has two high-quality matchups upcoming that could catapult them back into the Top 25: Nebraska visiting Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Tuesday, and a trip to Wisconsin on Sunday.
| Rank | Team | Record | PTS | 1st | Prev | Chg | Hi/Lo |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Michigan | 24-1 | 775 | 31 | 2 | +1 | 1/7 |
| 2 | Houston | 23-2 | 719 | 0 | 3 | +1 | 2/8 |
| 3 | Duke | 23-2 | 695 | 0 | 6 | +3 | 3/6 |
| 4 | Arizona | 23-2 | 670 | 0 | 1 | -3 | 1/13 |
| 5 | UConn | 24-2 | 663 | 0 | 5 | - | 3/7 |
| 6 | Iowa State | 22-3 | 624 | 0 | 4 | -2 | 2/18 |
| 7 | Purdue | 21-4 | 542 | 0 | 12 | +5 | 1/12 |
| 8 | Gonzaga | 25-2 | 500 | 0 | 11 | +3 | 5/20 |
| 9 | Nebraska | 22-3 | 497 | 0 | 8 | -1 | 5/NR |
| 10 | Illinois | 21-5 | 491 | 0 | 7 | -3 | 6/19 |
| 11 | Florida | 19-6 | 471 | 0 | 14 | +3 | 3/NR |
| 12 | Kansas | 19-6 | 445 | 0 | 9 | -3 | 9/NR |
| 13 | Texas Tech | 19-6 | 423 | 0 | 16 | +3 | 11/20 |
| 14 | Virginia | 22-3 | 388 | 0 | 15 | +1 | 14/NR |
| 15 | Michigan State | 20-5 | 349 | 0 | 10 | -5 | 8/21 |
| 16 | St. John's | 20-5 | 315 | 0 | 17 | +1 | 6/NR |
| 17 | Arkansas | 19-6 | 247 | 0 | 21 | +4 | 14/23 |
| 18 | Vanderbilt | 21-4 | 244 | 0 | 20 | +2 | 8/NR |
| 19 | Saint Louis | 24-1 | 233 | 0 | 19 | - | 19/NR |
| 20 | North Carolina | 20-5 | 200 | 0 | 13 | -7 | 12/25 |
| 21 | Louisville | 19-6 | 159 | 0 | 23 | +2 | 5/23 |
| 22 | BYU | 19-6 | 114 | 0 | 22 | - | 7/22 |
| 23 | Miami (OH) | 25-0 | 90 | 0 | 24 | +1 | 23/NR |
| 24 | Clemson | 20-6 | 68 | 0 | 18 | -6 | 18/NR |
| 25 | Wisconsin | 18-7 | 36 | 0 | NR | - | 21/NR |
Schools Dropped Out
No. 25 Iowa;
Others Receiving Votes
Alabama 32; Villanova 30; Utah State 20; Tennessee 19; Iowa 7; Kentucky 6; Saint Mary's 2; Miami (FL) 1;
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This article originally appeared on Hawkeyes Wire: Iowa basketball plummets in the latest USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll