How much did Kentucky’s 17-point loss at South Carolina hurt in the new Top 25 rankings?
Kentucky dropped in the new college basketball rankings — a 17-point loss to a lesser regarded opponent will do that — but the Wildcats held on to a spot in the top 10 on Monday afternoon.
The latest Associated Press Top 25 poll placed UK at No. 10 in the country, four spots below its season-high ranking from last week. The Cats, who started the season at No. 16 in the AP rankings, have now been slotted in the top 10 for seven consecutive weeks.
Last week could have gone better for Kentucky, which started things off with a humiliating 79-62 loss at South Carolina, setting a new season low in points scored. The Cats recovered with a hard-fought — but offensively deficient — 63-57 win in Bud Walton Arena over an Arkansas team that dropped to 1-6 in SEC play with the loss.
UK is now 15-4 overall and 5-2 in the league, with two home games coming up this week. The Wildcats will host Florida (14-6, 4-3) on Wednesday and Tennessee (15-4, 5-1) on Saturday. Kentucky won 87-85 at Florida on Jan. 6. This will be the first of two meetings with the Vols.
The AP top five remained unchanged this week, with defending national champion UConn retaining the No. 1 spot, followed by No. 2 Purdue, No. 3 North Carolina, No. 4 Houston and No. 5 Tennessee. None of those teams suffered a loss last week.
After that group came No. 6 Wisconsin, No. 7 Duke, No. 8 Kansas, No. 9 Marquette and No. 10 Kentucky. The Badgers jumped seven spots with wins over Minnesota and Michigan State. Duke moved up five spots following victories over Louisville and Clemson last week.
The Wildcats stayed in the top 10, in part, because everyone around them in last week’s poll also suffered losses. Kansas, which was No. 7 last week, lost at Iowa State. Auburn, previously No. 8, lost to both Alabama and Mississippi State. Arizona lost to Oregon State as the No. 9-ranked team. Illinois, which was No. 10 last week, lost to Northwestern. And Oklahoma — 11th in the last poll — dropped games to Texas and Texas Tech.
Iowa State was the biggest riser in the poll, going from No. 23 to No. 12 with wins over Kansas and Kansas State, while Oklahoma’s two-loss week dropped the Sooners from No. 11 to No. 23.
Auburn fell eight spots to No. 16 in the rankings with its first two losses in SEC play. Alabama, which was 29th in the voting last week, moved into the poll with the No. 24 ranking. The Crimson Tide are now 6-1 in the SEC, a half-game up on Tennessee in the conference standings.
Other SEC teams included on AP ballots this week were South Carolina (26th in the voting) and Ole Miss (30th).
The Gamecocks (17-3, 5-2 SEC) were picked to finish 14th and last in the league during the preseason, but they’ve already surpassed their conference win total from last year in their second season under head coach Lamont Paris.
South Carolina was 11-21 overall and 4-14 in the SEC last season. The Gamecocks will play at Tennessee on Tuesday night. They have not made an appearance in the AP Top 25 poll since Feb. 13, 2017. South Carolina advanced to its first Final Four later that season, but it entered March Madness as a 7 seed, unranked in the final AP poll.
That 2017 run remains the Gamecocks’ only NCAA Tournament appearance in the past 20 years.
Kentucky in other rankings
The Wildcats start this week at No. 23 in the NET ratings, an important sorting tool for the NCAA Tournament selection committee. They are now 2-3 in Quad 1 games — the highest level of competition, according to the NCAA’s metrics — and UK’s upset loss to UNC Wilmington last month currently counts as a Quad 3 defeat.
Saturday’s meeting against Tennessee will be another Quad 1 opportunity, and the matchup with Florida on Wednesday night will count as a Quad 2 game.
Houston remains No. 1 in the NET ratings, followed by Purdue, Tennessee, Arizona and UConn, with coach Mark Pope’s BYU Cougars at No. 6 on that list. (BYU is No. 22 in the new AP poll.)
Kentucky is No. 20 in the KenPom ratings to start the week, with the nation’s No. 9 offense. The Cats jumped to No. 70 in that site’s defensive efficiency ratings following their effort at Arkansas over the weekend. UK was 96th nationally before that game.
UK was generally projected as a 4 seed in the 2024 NCAA Tournament going into its game against Arkansas on Saturday, according to various bracketology updates late last week.
This story was originally published January 29, 2024 at 1:08 PM.
