Kentucky rises in Top 25 college basketball rankings. SEC rival pushes into top five.
Their lone result of the past week wasn’t the most impressive, but the Kentucky Wildcats nevertheless made another jump in the latest Top 25 rankings released Monday.
UK sits at No. 13 in the new Associated Press poll, moving up three spots following a 69-59 victory over Yale on Saturday, a game in which the Cats trailed early in the second half against a Bulldogs team that came into Lexington as a 15.5-point underdog and had its top scorer ruled out just minutes before the opening tipoff.
Still, other teams’ losses were Kentucky’s gain in the polls. UK was No. 16 in the previous poll, but three teams ranked in the 11-15 range suffered defeats over the past week, with No. 11 Auburn losing to unranked Memphis; No. 13 Maryland losing to unranked Wisconsin and No. 7 Tennessee; and No. 14 Indiana losing to No. 10 Arizona.
UK jumped all three of those teams, moving up three spots in the poll for the second consecutive week after being elevated from No. 19 to No. 16 in the previous rankings.
The Wildcats’ only opponent this week will be UCLA, which is No. 16 in the new Top 25 rankings and will take an 8-2 record into the CBS Sports Classic matchup with Kentucky at Madison Square Garden in New York on Saturday.
With Houston and Texas — last week’s No. 1 and 2 teams, respectively — both suffering their first defeats of the season, Purdue took over the No. 1 position in the new AP Top 25 rankings, with Virginia at No. 2 and UConn at No. 3. All three of those teams are undefeated this season. Alabama and Houston round out the top five in the new poll, making the Tide the only Southeastern Conference team other than Kentucky to be ranked in that range this season. (The Cats were No. 4 in the poll before losing to Michigan State on Nov. 15).
Tennessee is the new No. 6 team in the rankings, and the Volunteers received one first-place vote.
Of UK’s three previous marquee opponents this season — Gonzaga, Michigan and Michigan State — only the Zags are currently ranked, coming in at No. 15 in the latest poll. Michigan State landed five points in the voting, good enough for 41st overall. Michigan did not receive any votes.
The Cats’ game against the Bruins will be their final opportunity this calendar year to face a ranked opponent. Kentucky is slated to finish off 2022 against Florida A&M in Rupp Arena on Dec. 21, begin league play at Missouri on Dec. 28, and then return home Dec. 31 to face rival Louisville, which is off to an 0-9 start in its first season under new head coach Kenny Payne.
Once the new year begins, UK should get plenty of shots against ranked foes.
Five additional teams in the SEC are in the Top 25: No. 4 Alabama, No. 6 Tennessee, No. 10 Arkansas, No. 17 Mississippi State (the league’s only undefeated program) and No. 19 Auburn, and the Cats have a total of seven games against those squads, playing home-and-homes with both Arkansas and Tennessee.
UK will also host No. 8 Kansas in Rupp Arena on Jan. 28.
After the UCLA game, the Cats’ next ranked opponent is likely to be Alabama, which will host Kentucky on Jan. 7 in Tuscaloosa. Bama’s only loss so far this season came on a neutral court against UConn, and the Tide knocked off No. 1-ranked Houston over the weekend. They play Memphis and Gonzaga this week.
Next game
No. 13 Kentucky vs. No. 16 UCLA
What: CBS Sports Classic
Where: Madison Square Garden in New York City
When: About 5:15 p.m. Saturday
TV: CBS-27
Radio: WLAP-AM 630, WBUL-FM 98.1
Records: Kentucky 7-2, UCLA 8-2
Series: Kentucky leads 8-7
Last meeting: UCLA won 83-75 on Dec. 23, 2017, at the CBS Sports Classic in New Orleans
This story was originally published December 12, 2022 at 12:34 PM.
