After an undefeated week, Northwestern men's basketball (7-1) received two votes in the Week 5 AP Poll, the same as last week.
On Tuesday, the day after the Week 4 AP Poll was released, Northwestern went on the road and held up their end of the bargain in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge, defeating Virginia Tech in thrilling fashion, 81-79 in overtime. Then, after a slow start, the Wildcats ran past overmatched SIU-Edwardsville by a score of 81-56. More importantly, however, the Wildcats got a great performance from Alex Olah after he had struggled to get established on the offense end during the first few weeks.