Arizona basketball falls out of AP Poll after losses in Oregon
Jan 13, 2020, 10:31 AM
27. New York Knicks: Josh Green, G/F, Arizona
Another great result for the Knicks. They need legit young players, and Green's 3-and-D potential took a hit after an inconsistent lone college season. (AP Photo/Chris Pietsch)(AP Photo/Chris Pietsch)
For the first time this season, the Arizona Wildcats aren’t carrying a top-25 ranking. Sean Miller’s team fell out of the Associated Press Top 25 Poll after falling on the road to Oregon and Oregon State over the weekend.
The Wildcats began 2019-20 ranked No. 21 in the preseason and rose as high as 12th in Week 5. They slid and ended up flipping between 24th and 25th in the past three weeks.
They’ve suffered all five of their losses in the last seven games.
Three of those came against teams ranked at the time of Arizona’s defeat. The Wildcats first lost to No. 18 Baylor (Dec. 7) before falling to No. 6 Gonzaga (Dec. 14) and No. 9 Oregon (Jan. 9). They also lost to unranked St. John’s on Dec. 21 and Oregon State on Sunday.
Now, Gonzaga is atop the AP rankings followed by Baylor at second. Oregon moved up a spot to No. 8 after sweeping the Arizona schools.
In the Pac-12, Colorado jumped from 25th to 20th nationally, while Stanford has 77 votes, ahead of Arizona’s 20, which is 33rd-most in the nation.
Baylor (13-1, 3-0 Big 12) hasn’t lost since playing Washington in Alaska in its second game of the season. Along the way, the boys from Waco, Texas, have notched nonconference wins over ranked teams Villanova, Arizona and Butler along with league wins over the Red Raiders, the Jayhawks and Texas.
The win over Kansas was the first for Baylor in 18 tries at Allen Fieldhouse and the first over a top-five team on the road.
The Duke Blue Devils fell from second to third in the AP poll this week and are followed by unbeaten Auburn and Butler. Kansas is next with another unbeaten team, San Diego State, staying at No. 7. Oregon, Florida State and Kentucky rounded out the top 10.
The biggest climb this week came from Wichita State, which jumped seven spots to No. 16 after soundly beating No. 22 Memphis and turning back Connecticut in double overtime. The Shockers’ only loss came against No. 12 West Virginia in the championship game of the Cancun Classic in late November.
| Record | Pts | Prv | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Gonzaga (30) | 18-1 | 1574 | 1 |
| 2. Baylor (31) | 13-1 | 1567 | 4 |
| 3. Duke (4) | 15-1 | 1529 | 2 |
| 4. Auburn | 15-0 | 1359 | 5 |
| 5. Butler | 15-1 | 1299 | 6 |
| 6. Kansas | 12-3 | 1286 | 3 |
| 7. San Diego St. | 17-0 | 1266 | 7 |
| 8. Oregon | 14-3 | 1163 | 9 |
| 9. Florida St. | 14-2 | 1093 | 10 |
| 10. Kentucky | 12-3 | 960 | 14 |
| 11. Louisville | 13-3 | 943 | 13 |
| 12. West Virginia | 13-2 | 911 | 17 |
| 13. Dayton | 14-2 | 842 | 15 |
| 14. Villanova | 12-3 | 822 | 16 |
| 15. Michigan St. | 13-4 | 735 | 8 |
| 16. Wichita St. | 15-1 | 629 | 23 |
| 17. Maryland | 13-3 | 616 | 12 |
| 18. Seton Hall | 12-4 | 496 | — |
| 19. Michigan | 11-5 | 358 | 19 |
| 20. Colorado | 13-3 | 345 | 25 |
| 21. Ohio St. | 11-5 | 270 | 11 |
| 22. Memphis | 13-3 | 232 | 21 |
| 23. Texas Tech | 10-5 | 111 | 22 |
| 24. Illinois | 12-5 | 109 | — |
| 25. Creighton | 13-4 | 97 | — |
Others receiving votes: Iowa 88, Stanford 77, Arkansas 65, Indiana 50, Virginia 41, Penn State 36, LSU 30, Arizona 20, Wisconsin 19, Liberty 11, Northern Iowa 10, Purdue 10, Duquesne 9, Washington 9, TCU 8, Rutgers 8, Virginia Tech 5, Oregon State 4, Houston 4, BYU 3, East Tennessee State 2, Saint Mary’s 1, Harvard 1, Akron 1, USC 1
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
