Kentucky basketball drops out of Top 25 after losses to North Carolina, Gonzaga
Kentucky’s terrible week on the basketball court led to a tumble in the new Associated Press Top 25 rankings Monday afternoon.
The Wildcats are no longer ranked following losses to North Carolina and Gonzaga last week, dropping from No. 18 in the previous poll to out of the Top 25 altogether. UK plummeted in the new rankings, falling all the way to 32nd in the voting.
This is the team’s lowest regular-season ranking during Mark Pope’s tenure as head coach and the first time UK has been unranked since the 2022-23 season. Pope’s first team was No. 23 in the preseason AP poll last year before jumping to 19th in the first poll after games began, rising as high as No. 4 nationally.
The Wildcats ended last season with the No. 12 ranking and were at No. 9 in the preseason poll this year. They now have a 5-4 record, with last week’s losses to UNC and Gonzaga joining previous defeats at the hands of Louisville and Michigan State.
The 67-64 loss to North Carolina was the first of the season in Rupp Arena, and Kentucky’s 94-59 loss to Gonzaga was the program’s most-lopsided defeat since 2008 and tied for the third-largest losing margin since the shot clock was introduced in 1985.
UK’s highest-rated win so far came against Valparaiso, which started the week at No. 199 nationally in the KenPom ratings and No. 224 in the NCAA’s NET rankings.
The Cats return to Rupp Arena on Tuesday night against North Carolina Central — the No. 350 team in the KenPom ratings, the lowest of any opponent on UK’s schedule — and they’ll get another shot at a high-profile opponent after that.
Kentucky will host Indiana in Rupp on Saturday night. The Hoosiers were No. 22 in last week’s rankings but dropped out of Monday’s poll — falling all the way to 34th in the voting — after losses to Minnesota and Louisville. Indiana, which is in its first season under coach Darian DeVries, got off to a 7-0 start.
The four teams that have defeated UK so far this season all remain well-regarded nationally. Gonzaga moved up three spots to No. 8 in the new poll, followed by No. 9 Michigan State, No. 11 Louisville and No. 14 North Carolina.
Kentucky will get one more shot at a ranked opponent during the nonconference portion of the schedule. The Cats are set to face Rick Pitino and 22nd-ranked St. John’s on Dec. 20 in the CBS Sports Classic in Atlanta. Pitino’s team will play Iona on Saturday, its only game this week.
New Top 25 college basketball rankings
The No. 1 team in last week’s poll, Purdue, also lost its first game of the regular season, an 81-58 loss at home to Iowa State. Kentucky beat the Boilermakers in an exhibition game in Rupp Arena on Oct. 24.
Arizona is the new No. 1 team in the rankings, with No. 2 Michigan, No. 3 Duke, No. 4 Iowa State and No. 5 UConn rounding out the top five. Next comes No. 6 Purdue, No. 7 Houston, No. 8 Gonzaga, No. 9 Michigan State and No. 10 BYU.
Louisville suffered its first loss of the season last week, an 89-80 defeat at Arkansas in the ACC/SEC Challenge. John Calipari’s Razorbacks jumped eight spots — from No. 25 to No. 17 — in the new rankings.
The rest of the Top 25: No. 11 Louisville, No. 12 Alabama, No. 13 Illinois, No. 14 North Carolina, No. 15 Vanderbilt, No. 16 Texas Tech, No. 17 Arkansas, No. 18 Florida, No. 19 Kansas, No. 20 Tennessee, No. 21 Auburn, No. 22 St. John’s, No. 23 Nebraska, No. 24 Virginia and No. 25 UCLA.
Vanderbilt is now the only unbeaten team in the SEC. The Commodores (9-0) have not yet played a ranked team, and they’re not scheduled to face a Top 25 opponent until they host No. 12 Alabama on Jan. 7.
