Kentucky made a big leap in the AP Top 25. See where the Cats landed.
Kentucky recovered from its first road loss of the season a week ago with a pair of wins back in Rupp Arena that helped the Cats vault to No. 12 in the Associated Press Top 25 Poll released Monday.
UK’s six-spot jump tied No. 15 Marquette for the biggest jump in the poll this week.
While the Cats (12-3) got off to slow starts against both Texas A&M and Vanderbilt, they eventually pulled out to comfortable victories ahead of a road swing this week that will take them to Georgia on Tuesday and No. 14 Auburn Saturday.
Seven teams previously ahead of UK in the rankings lost last week, including Auburn, who fell three spots after an 82-67 defeat at Mississippi on Wednesday. That win helped the Rebels jump into the rankings at No. 18, the first time they’ve appeared in the poll since January 2013.
Louisville, which got a huge double-digit upset at North Carolina on Saturday, was the first team outside the top 25 in the “others receiving votes” listing. The Tar Heels only lost one rankings spot.
Duke remained at No. 1 for a fourth straight week and the top 10 remain unchanged. The Blue Devils received 36 of 64 first-place votes for their sixth week at No. 1 this season.
No. 24 Mississippi State had the week’s biggest slide among ranked teams, falling 10 spots.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
The AP Top Twenty Five
The top 25 teams in The Associated Press’ men’s college basketball poll, with first-place votes in parentheses, records through Jan. 13, 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 (36) | 14-1 | 1,558 | 1 |
2. Michigan (9) | 17-0 | 1,497 | 2 |
3. Tennessee (13) | 14-1 | 1,482 | 3 |
4. Virginia (6) | 15-0 | 1,473 | 4 |
5. Gonzaga | 16-2 | 1,315 | 5 |
6. Michigan St. | 15-2 | 1,292 | 6 |
7. Kansas | 14-2 | 1,188 | 7 |
8. Texas Tech | 15-1 | 1,157 | 8 |
9. Virginia Tech | 14-1 | 1,091 | 9 |
10. Nevada | 16-1 | 1,015 | 10 |
11. Florida St. | 13-3 | 918 | 13 |
12. Kentucky | 12-3 | 790 | 18 |
13. North Carolina | 12-4 | 678 | 12 |
14. Auburn | 12-3 | 669 | 11 |
15. Marquette | 14-3 | 668 | 21 |
16. Buffalo | 15-1 | 625 | 19 |
17. NC State | 14-2 | 586 | 15 |
18. Mississippi | 13-2 | 501 | - |
19. Maryland | 14-3 | 412 | - |
20. Oklahoma | 13-3 | 394 | 23 |
21. Houston | 16-1 | 387 | 17 |
22. Villanova | 13-4 | 300 | - |
23. Iowa | 14-3 | 172 | - |
24. Mississippi St. | 12-3 | 154 | 14 |
25. Indiana | 12-4 | 116 | 22 |
Others receiving votes: Louisville 112, Nebraska 36, Ohio St. 34, Wisconsin 31, Iowa St. 20, UCF 17, Purdue 16, Kansas St 14, St. John’s 12, TCU 12, Murray St. 9, Washington 8, Arizona 8, LSU 7, Seton Hall 6, South Carolina 6, Temple 5, Minnesota 3, Wofford 2, Cincinnati 2, Florida 1, Hofstra 1.