ARIZONA BASKETBALL

Arizona basketball slides in AP rankings after loss to Stanford

Feb 13, 2023, 10:45 AM

A slip-up against Stanford on Saturday slid the Arizona Wildcats four spots, to eighth, in the updated men’s basketball top 25 released Monday by The Associated Press.

The Wildcats split a road trip last week, beating California 85-62 before falling to the Cardinal 88-79 on Saturday.

Arizona (22-4) in the Stanford game got 12 points and four rebounds combined out of its big-man duo of Azuolas Tubelis and Oumar Ballo. They average 34.9 points and 18.1 boards per game between them.

The loss drops the Wildcats to 11-4 in Pac-12 play, behind No. 4 UCLA’s 12-2 conference record.

Alabama is the new No. 1, rising to the top spot in The Associated Press Top 25 men’s college basketball poll for the first time in 20 years.

Purdue’s loss to Northwestern last week caused a jumble at the top of the AP Top 25 and that helped the Crimson Tide.

Alabama received 38 first-place votes from a 62-person media panel Monday, moving up two spots to leapfrog No. 2 Houston. The Cougars had 22 first-place votes to remain at No. 2 and Purdue, down to No. 3, still had two first-place votes.

UCLA and Kansas rounded out the top five. Texas and Virginia filled out sixth and seventh, respectively, before Arizona, Baylor and Tennessee filled out the top 10 in that order.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

AP top-25 men’s basketball rankings

Team Record Pts Prv
1. Alabama (38) 22-3 1523 3
2. Houston (22) 23-2 1503 2
3. Purdue (2) 23-3 1408 1
4. UCLA 21-4 1302 7
5. Kansas 20-5 1283 9
6. Texas 20-5 1214 5
7. Virginia 19-4 1212 8
8. Arizona 22-4 1139 4
9. Baylor 19-6 1072 14
10. Tennessee 19-6 896 6
11. Marquette 20-6 815 10
12. Kansas St 19-6 790 12
13. Gonzaga 21-5 761 16
14. Indiana 18-7 717 18
15. Miami 20-5 693 19
16. Xavier 19-6 642 13
17. Saint Mary’s 22-5 567 15
18. Creighton 17-8 517 23
19. Iowa St. 16-8 396 11
20. UConn 19-7 358 21
21. San Diego St. 20-5 271 25
22. TCU 17-8 204 17
23. NC State 20-6 140 22
24. Providence 18-7 136 20
25. FAU 24-2 117

Others receiving votes: Missouri 114, Northwestern 96, Illinois 84, Pittsburgh 82, Nevada 36, Oklahoma St. 23, Texas A&M 16, Oral Roberts 9, Iowa 5, Arkansas 4, Rutgers 2, Maryland 1, Coll of Charleston 1, Boise St. 1.

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