ASU basketball falls out of AP top-25 after splitting SDSU, GCU
Dec 14, 2020, 11:04 AM
Arizona State guard Remy Martin (1) shoots against Grand Canyon during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game, Sunday, Dec. 13, 2020, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Ralph Freso)
(AP Photo/Ralph Freso)
Splitting two games this past week, the Arizona State men’s basketball team’s loss to ranked San Diego State held more weight for voters than a slim win over Grand Canyon.
The Sun Devils fell from 23rd to 34th in The Associated Press rankings and earned 13 points.
An 80-68 loss to then-No. 24 San Diego State on Thursday cast doubt on ASU’s ranking and further legitimized the Aztecs. SDSU jumped to 18th in this week’s poll.
ASU rebounded from the loss with a 71-70 win over Grand Canyon on Sunday but needed a Remy Martin three-pointer in the closing seconds to hold off the Antelopes.
Arizona State was the only Pac-12 school in the AP top-25 last week, and its departure from the poll on Monday leaves no conference team in the top-25.
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Oregon, with 31 points, is No. 31 in the rankings. UCLA (9) and Arizona (5) also earned some top-25 consideration.
Sean Miller’s Wildcats moved to 5-0 over the past week. They defeated Northern Arizona (96-53), CSU Bakersfield (85-60) and UTEP (69-61) since the last poll was released.
Gonzaga and Baylor sit atop an unchanged top tier of The Associated Press poll, while West Virginia and Tennessee have cracked the top 10.
The top five teams remained in place in Monday’s latest top 25, with Mark Few’s Bulldogs claiming 54 of 62 first-place votes to remain firmly in place at No. 1 for the fourth straight poll to start the season.
The second-ranked Bears claimed seven first-place votes. Third-ranked Iowa received the remaining one to finish ahead of No. 4 Michigan State and No. 5 Kansas. Houston, Villanova, West Virginia, Creighton and Tennessee rounded out the top 10.
Missouri cracked the poll at No. 16 after beating then-No. 6 Illinois on Saturday, securing the program’s first AP ranking since midway through the 2013-14 season. No. 24 Clemson and No. 25 Michigan were the week’s other new additions.
Illinois and Duke had the two most notable slides. The No. 13 Illini dropped seven spots, while the No. 21 Blue Devils took the longest tumble by falling 11 spots after losing at home to Illinois.
