ARIZONA BASKETBALL
Arizona basketball falls in AP Poll after loss, ASU sniffs top 25
Dec 5, 2022, 10:35 AM
Suffering their first loss of the season led the Arizona Wildcats to fall six spots, to No. 10, in The Associated Press top 25 poll for men’s basketball.
Arizona (7-1) lost, 81-66, at Utah on Thursday before beating the 0-9 California Golden Bears, 81-68, on Sunday.
Meanwhile, the Arizona State Sun Devils advanced to 8-1 on the year with a 60-59 win over Colorado on the road Thursday and another victory at home Sunday against Stanford, 68-64.
ASU received 20 points in the voting, putting the team five spots outside the top 25.
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College basketball’s NET ratings, which play a hand in NCAA Tournament bracket-building, rate Arizona 26th and Arizona State 35th. Those rankings debuted Monday for the first time this 2022-23 season.
Houston and Texas remain firmly entrenched atop The Associated Press men’s college basketball poll, while preseason No. 1 North Carolina has dropped out entirely after a fourth straight loss.
The Cougars earned 37 of 62 first-place votes in Monday’s poll, extending the program’s first stay at No. 1 since the “Phi Slama Jama” days in the 1980s for another week. Houston (8-0) beat Norfolk State and Saint Mary’s in its first week at the top.
The Longhorns received 14 first-place votes. No. 3 Virginia got three votes and No. 4 Purdue got the remaining eight.
Connecticut (9-0) climbed to No. 5, the program’s highest ranking since early in the 2011-12 season. Other than the top five, there are three other teams in the AP Top 25 that entered Monday undefeated (No. 11 Auburn, No. 13 Maryland and No. 23 Mississippi State).
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
AP Poll top 25
| Team | Record | Pts | Prv |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Houston (37) | 8-0 | 1502 | 1 |
| 2. Texas (14) | 6-0 | 1473 | 2 |
| 3. Virginia (3) | 7-0 | 1416 | 3 |
| 4. Purdue (8) | 8-0 | 1411 | 5 |
| 5. UConn | 9-0 | 1295 | 8 |
| 6. Kansas | 8-1 | 1131 | 9 |
| 7. Tennessee | 7-1 | 1046 | 13 |
| 8. Alabama | 7-1 | 1029 | 11 |
| 9. Arkansas | 7-1 | 1021 | 11 |
| 10. Arizona | 7-1 | 1013 | 4 |
| 11. Auburn | 8-0 | 853 | 15 |
| 12. Baylor | 6-2 | 841 | 6 |
| 13. Maryland | 8-0 | 811 | 22 |
| 14. Indiana | 7-1 | 759 | 10 |
| 15. Duke | 8-2 | 745 | 17 |
| 16. Kentucky | 6-2 | 596 | 19 |
| 17. Illinois | 6-2 | 554 | 16 |
| 18. Gonzaga | 5-3 | 517 | 14 |
| 19. UCLA | 7-2 | 479 | 21 |
| 20. Iowa St. | 7-1 | 376 | 23 |
| 21. Creighton | 6-3 | 346 | 7 |
| 22. San Diego St. | 6-2 | 265 | 24 |
| 23. Mississippi St. | 8-0 | 187 | – |
| 24. TCU | 6-1 | 113 | – |
| 25. Ohio St. | 6-2 | 81 | 25 |
Others receiving votes: Iowa 70, Coll of Charleston 54, Miami 29, Virginia Tech 27, Arizona St 20, Utah 16, Wisconsin 16, UNLV 14, Texas Tech 10, West Virginia 8, Marquette 7, Xavier 6, New Mexico 3, Michigan St. 3, Memphis 3, Missouri 2, North Carolina 1, Kansas St 1.
