Arizona Wildcats move into top five after crazy week

The Arizona Wildcats capitalized on a crazy week in college basketball, which saw 14 schools ranked in the AP Top 25 fall, to move up two spots in the AP rankings and four spots in the Coaches Poll to a No. 5 ranking in both.

Four teams that were ahead of the Wildcats in the AP Poll lost in No. 1 Villanova, No. 2 Kansas, No. 4 Kentucky and No. 6 Florida State. Arizona leapfrogged Kentucky and Florida State on their way to the fifth slot.

In the Coaches Poll, the Wildcats passed No. 4 Kentucky, No. 6 North Carolina, No. 7 UCLA and No. 8 Florida State after they all suffered losses last week.

The 20-2 Wildcats were one of the few ranked teams to escape last week unscathed, as they beat visiting Washington State 79-62 on Thursday and followed that up with another home win over Washington 77-66 on Sunday .

Arizona has won 14 straight games since their loss to Gonzaga on Dec. 3. Gonzaga is the only remaining undefeated team in the country and now owns the No. 1 spot in both polls. Arizona’s other loss came on Nov. 25 at the hands of Butler, who is now 18-4 and the No. 16 team in the country, according to the AP rankings.

Arizona has outscored their opponents by 13.2 points per game this season, including a 15.1 point average margin of victory over their win streak.

The success of the Wildcats is due in large part to their stifling defense. Arizona is holding opponents to 63.1 points per game (21st best in the country) on 40.1 percent shooting (31st).

Despite missing sophomore guard Allonzo Trier for much of the season, Sean Miller’s Wildcats have five others averaging double figures, led by freshman forward Lauri Markkanen and his 16.8 points per game.

The Wildcats will play their games in Oregon this week, visiting Corvallis on Thursday to play the Beavers before heading over to Eugene to play the No. 13 Ducks on Saturday.