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ASU BASKETBALL

ASU basketball falls 7 spots in AP top-25 poll

Wins over Rhode Island and Houston Baptist bracketing a loss to the former No. 3 Villanova Wildcats dropped the Arizona State Sun Devils down the AP poll.

Arizona State guard Josh Christopher separates Houston Baptist guard Ty Dalton (10) and Arizona Sta...

Arizona State guard Josh Christopher separates Houston Baptist guard Ty Dalton (10) and Arizona State's Caleb Christopher (3) during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game, Sunday, Nov. 29, 2020, in Tempe, Ariz. (AP Photo/Rick Scuteri)

(AP Photo/Rick Scuteri)

Wins over Rhode Island and Houston Baptist bracketing a loss to the former No. 3 Villanova Wildcats dropped the Arizona State Sun Devils down The Associated Press men’s basketball poll after their first three games.

ASU fell from No. 18 to No. 25.

Arizona State defeated Rhode Island, 94-88, last Wednesday to begin the 2K Empire Classic before losing to Villanova on Thanksgiving by a 83-74 final score. The Sun Devils recovered Sunday with a 100-77 win over Houston Baptist at home.

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It didn’t help ASU’s ranking that Villanova fell to Virginia Tech, 81-73, on Saturday. The Wildcats plummeted nine spots to No. 12 in the new poll released Monday.

After beating Villanova, the Hokies moved into the poll at No. 16.

Gonzaga and Baylor remain the top two teams in the first men’s college basketball poll of the regular season.

The Zags received 57 first-place votes from a 63-person media panel.

The Bears received six first-place votes, with Iowa, Wisconsin and Illinois rounding out the top five.

Gonzaga (2-0) was the preseason No. 1 and lived up to the billing by rolling over Kansas and Auburn in Fort Meyers, Fla.

The Jayhawks dropped a spot to No. 7 this week but were ranked for the 222nd consecutive week, breaking UCLA’s all-time record set from 1966-80.

No. 15 Virginia fell 11 spots this week after losing to San Francisco.

Richmond entered the rankings at No. 19.

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The Associated Press contributed to this story.

AP Top 25 college basketball rankings

(Nov. 30)

RK
TEAM
REC PTS
TREND
1 2-0 1569
2 2-0 1513
3 2-0 1410
↑2
4 2-0 1287
↑3
5 3-0 1281
↑3
6 1-0 1185
↑3
7 1-1 1169
↓1
8 2-0 1028
↑5
9 1-0 981
↑2
10 3-0 949
↑7
11 3-0 943
↑4
12 2-1 939
↓9
13 0-0 878
↓1
14 1-0 591
↑2
15 1-1 581
↓11
16 3-0 570
↑10
17 2-1 478
↓3
1-0 478
↑2
19 2-0 382
↑7
20 1-1 363
↓10
21 0-0 338
↓1
22 0-0 304
↓1
23 2-0 282
24 3-0 252
25 2-1 233
↓7

Others receiving votes: Michigan 90, San Diego State 86, Saint Louis 69, Louisville 55, Alabama 52, Florida 45, Indiana 38, UCLA 14, Maryland 9, Providence 7, Stanford 7, UConn 6, Clemson 4, LSU 3, Arkansas 2, TCU 1, Loyola Chicago 1, BYU 1, Colorado 1

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Dropped from rankings: UCLA 22, Michigan 25

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