Arizona basketball leaps into AP Poll after rout of Michigan

Wins against Wichita State and then-No. 4 Michigan helped the Arizona Wildcats men’s basketball team leap into The Associated Press Top 25 Poll on Monday.

First-year coach Tommy Lloyd’s team ranks No. 17 after it improved to 5-0 on Sunday with a 80-62 victory against the Wolverines in the Roman Main Event in Las Vegas.

It’s the first time Arizona has been ranked since February of 2020.

Center Christian Koloko has led Arizona’s surge to begin the year by averaging team highs in points (co-lead at 15.4), rebounds (7.6) and blocks (4.0). He scored 22 points to go with seven rebounds, four blocks and two assists in the win against Michigan.

Now-No. 20 Michigan (3-2) dropped 16 spots in the AP Poll. Its loss to Arizona that followed a split earlier in the week with Seton Hall and UNLV.

The Wildcats are the second-highest rated Pac-12 club, behind No. 2 UCLA Bruins (4-0). The USC Trojans moved up to No. 24 in the rankings after appearing at 25th last week in the poll.

The Gonzaga Bulldogs (4-0) remain atop the poll, while following UCLA in the top-five are Purdue (5-0), Kansas (3-0) and Duke (5-0).

Sitting sixth in the rankings are the Baylor Bears (4-0), who on Wednesday face the Arizona State Sun Devils.

ASU (2-2) has begun the year with wins over Portland and North Florida and losses to UC Riverside and San Diego State.

AP Top 25

Ranking	Team	Record	Points	Trend
1	Gonzaga(55)	4-0	1515	–
2	UCLA(5)	4-0	1443	–
3	Purdue(1)	5-0	1391	↑3
4	Kansas	3-0	1354	↓1
5	Duke	5-0	1225	↑2
6	Baylor	4-0	1154	↑3
7	Villanova	3-2	1090	↓2
8	Texas	3-1	1083	–
9	Memphis	4-0	1002	↑2
10	Alabama	4-0	880	↑4
	Kentucky	3-1	880	↑3
12	Houston	3-0	861	↑3
13	Arkansas	3-0	754	↑3
14	Illinois	2-1	624	↓4
15	Tennessee	3-1	558	↑2
16	St. Bonaventure	5-0	517	↑6
17	Arizona	5-0	474	↑9
18	BYU	4-0	449	↑8
19	Auburn	3-0	374	↑2
20	Michigan	3-2	367	↓16
21	Seton Hall	3-0	363	↑5
22	UConn	4-0	342	↑1
23	Florida	3-0	294	↑1
24	USC	3-0	138	↑1
25	Xavier	4-0	102	↑1

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