College basketball rankings: Indiana, preseason Big Ten favorite, back on track after January slide

Indiana suffered a three-game losing streak in January that dropped the Hoosiers to 1-4 in the Big Ten.

One. And. Four.

That’s never good for a program of Indiana’s caliber, but it was especially bad considering IU was the preseason favorite to win the conference. The third loss dropped the Hoosiers to 33rd at KenPom.com and 37th in the NET, and things were trending in the wrong direction. As any coach will tell you, though, these seasons are long and often filled with twists and turns. The best thing about struggling in January is that you still have February and March to get back on track.

Indiana is back on track. The Hoosiers beat Rutgers 66-60 on Tuesday to improve to 7-1 in their past eight games. In this stretch, they’ve added three Quadrant-1 wins — most notably last weekend’s 79-74 victory over top-ranked Purdue — thanks largely to Trayce Jackson-Davis emerging as a legitimate First Team All-America candidate and all-time Indiana great.

“I think we’ve gotten a lot better playing around Trayce — giving him space,” said Indiana senior Miller Kopp. “It comes down to getting better at what the coaches are asking us to do, and we’re all feeling more comfortable with where our looks are coming from.”

Indiana is No. 21 in Wednesday morning’s updated CBS Sports Top 25 And 1, where Purdue remains No. 1 for the 17th consecutive day. The Boilermakers have at least a three-game lead over everybody else in the Big Ten standings and will return to the court Thursday when they play Iowa inside Mackey Arena.