A pair of thrilling wins last week was enough for Illinois to move up in this week’s AP Top 25.
The Illini checked in Monday morning at No. 18, up 6 spots from last week’s ranking of No. 24.
It was a memorable week as lengthy scoring droughts nearly cost Illinois a ranked win against Michigan State and what would have been a disappointing loss at Northwestern.
But now halfway through Big Ten play sitting at 8-2 and atop the standings, the Illini are not the team that was having to claw its way back into the rankings earlier this month.