Win over Louisville gives Kentucky a jolt in the rankings. How high did Cats rise?
Kentucky got a convincing win over an archrival in its first “true road game” of the season Saturday against Louisville, helping it jump up five spots to No. 13 in the latest Associated Press Top 25 released Monday.
It was the biggest poll jump of any team this week. In past polls this season, Kentucky has seen teams leapfrog it while the Cats have stood pat in the rankings, but this week, UK jumped both North Carolina and Ohio State. Both of those teams had wins during a light holiday schedule, but, of course, UK defeated North Carolina on a neutral court just before Christmas.
Kentucky begins Southeastern Conference play at 1 p.m. EST Saturday at Alabama and will have a chance to continue to improve its NCAA Tournament resume with top-ranked SEC foes No. 3 Tennessee (Feb. 16, March 2), No. 12 Auburn (Jan. 19), No. 17 Mississippi State (Jan. 22, Feb. 9).
Kentucky also hosts No. 5 Kansas in the Big 12/SEC Challenge on Jan. 26.
Duke remained atop the rankings by earning 35 of 64 first-place votes to stay at No. 1 for the second straight week and fourth week this season, while the top 12 remained unchanged in the latest poll..
Second-ranked Michigan earned nine first-place votes, while No. 3 Tennessee earned 12. Fourth-ranked Virginia and fifth-ranked Kansas each earned four votes to round out the poll’s top tier.
No. 22 Wisconsin fell seven spots after losing to Western Kentucky, while Arizona State fell out after losing to Princeton. Nebraska was the lone addition at No. 24, though the Cornhuskers were ranked twice earlier this month.
Kentucky was ranked No. 14 in the USA Today coaches’ poll, which was released later Monday.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Men’s AP Top 25
The top 25 teams in The Associated Press’ men’s college basketball poll, with first-place votes in parentheses, records through Dec. 30, total points based on 25 points for a first-place vote through one point for a 25th-place vote and last week’s ranking:
| | Record | Pts | Pvs |
1. Duke (35) | 11-1 | 1,530 | 1 |
2. Michigan (9) | 13-0 | 1,478 | 2 |
3. Tennessee (12) | 11-1 | 1,469 | 3 |
4. Virginia (4) | 11-0 | 1,428 | 4 |
5. Kansas (4) | 11-1 | 1,378 | 5 |
6. Nevada | 13-0 | 1,317 | 6 |
7. Gonzaga | 12-2 | 1,200 | 7 |
8. Michigan St. | 11-2 | 1,146 | 8 |
9. Florida St. | 11-1 | 1,063 | 9 |
10. Virginia Tech | 11-1 | 934 | 10 |
11. Texas Tech | 11-1 | 893 | 11 |
12. Auburn | 11-2 | 820 | 12 |
13. Kentucky | 10-2 | 799 | 16 |
14. Ohio St. | 12-1 | 769 | 13 |
15. North Carolina | 9-3 | 744 | 14 |
16. Marquette | 11-2 | 595 | 18 |
17. Mississippi St. | 12-1 | 572 | 19 |
18. NC State | 12-1 | 424 | 20 |
19. Houston | 13-0 | 368 | 22 |
20. Buffalo | 12-1 | 353 | 21 |
21. Indiana | 11-2 | 330 | 23 |
22. Wisconsin | 10-3 | 250 | 15 |
23. Oklahoma | 11-1 | 244 | 25 |
24. Nebraska | 11-2 | 204 | - |
25. Iowa | 11-2 | 182 | 24 |
Others receiving votes: Arizona St 116, Kansas St 61, Villanova 43, Seton Hall 24, TCU 20, Cincinnati 14, Iowa St. 10, Florida 6, Purdue 6, Toledo 5, Louisville 3, St. John’s 1, North Texas 1.
This story was originally published December 31, 2018 at 12:27 PM.