Kentucky basketball makes slight move in new Top 25 rankings. Another top 10 foe is next.

An 81-66 win over Penn on Saturday didn’t do much to move the national needle for Kentucky, but the Wildcats will get another opportunity to make a major impression this weekend.

UK jumped two spots to the No. 14 ranking in the new Associated Press Top 25 poll, which was released Monday afternoon. Next up: a date with No. 9 North Carolina in the CBS Sports Classic on Saturday in Atlanta.

Kentucky has been ranked between No. 12 and No. 17 in every AP poll dating back to the preseason. The Cats seemed primed to jump into the top 10 following a 22-point rout of then-No. 8 Miami two weeks ago, but a stunning loss to heavy underdog UNC Wilmington four days later sent UK’s ranking in the other direction when last week’s poll was released.

The Wildcats’ slight gain in Monday’s Top 25 came with some bad news attached.

So far, that win over Miami counts as Kentucky’s best victory of the season, and it’s not even close. The Cats’ second-best win — according to the KenPom ratings — is a 96-88 overtime victory over Saint Joseph’s in Rupp Arena on Nov. 20. The Hawks started this week rated as the No. 85 team in the country.

UK’s epic performance against the Hurricanes took a big hit over the weekend, when unranked Colorado defeated Miami 90-63 in Brooklyn. That loss sent the Canes from No. 15 in last week’s AP poll to No. 24 in Monday’s new rankings.

The game against UNC on Saturday will give the Cats (7-2) one final opportunity to pad their resume before SEC play. After this weekend, UK will have just two games — at Louisville (Dec. 21) and home against Illinois State (Dec. 29) — before traveling to Florida for the league opener Jan. 6, and neither of those non-conference games will do much to bolster Kentucky’s standing. (Both of those opponents started the week ranked outside the top 175 nationally, per KenPom.)

North Carolina already has a home win over Tennessee and a neutral-court victory over Arkansas, and the Tar Heels stayed in the No. 9 spot following a loss to defending NCAA champion UConn last Tuesday.

With Aaron Bradshaw now playing major minutes, D.J. Wagner back from injury and fellow freshman Reed Sheppard being discussed nationally as a possible NBA lottery pick, the Cats are finally getting closer to full strength with their blue blood battle looming this weekend.

Arizona (8-0) held the No. 1 spot in the new AP rankings Monday, and the Wildcats will put their undefeated record on the line Saturday against reigning national player of the year Zach Edey and the Purdue Boilermakers before games against Alabama and No. 15 FAU next week.

Following Zona in the top five are No. 2 Kansas, No. 3 Purdue, No. 4 Houston and No. 5 UConn — all winners last week. The rest of the top 10 consists of No. 6 Baylor, No. 7 Marquette, No. 8 Creighton, No. 9 North Carolina and No. 10 Gonzaga.

Kentucky and Tennessee (at No. 12) are now the only two teams from the SEC in the Top 25, that number shrinking by one with Texas A&M’s loss to Memphis over the weekend. The Aggies dropped from No. 21 in last week’s poll to unranked this week.

Five SEC teams were on the also receiving votes list this week: Ole Miss (27th), Texas A&M (28th), Auburn (29th), Alabama (31st) and South Carolina (39th).

Five SEC teams were in the Top 25 when the preseason poll was released in October, the most of any conference. Alabama, Arkansas and Texas A&M are the three league teams that have dropped out of the rankings since then.

This story was originally published December 11, 2023 at 1:07 PM.

Ben Roberts

Lexington Herald-Leader

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Ben Roberts is the University of Kentucky men’s basketball beat writer for the Lexington Herald-Leader. He has previously specialized in UK basketball recruiting coverage and created and maintained the Next Cats blog. He is a Franklin County native and first joined the Herald-Leader in 2006. Support my work with a digital subscription