Where Kentucky women’s basketball ranks following its first loss of the season
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Kentucky fell one spot to No. 18 after an 8-point loss and dominant Maryland pressure.
- Tonie Morgan led Kentucky with 22 points, eight assists and four rebounds.
- Kentucky faces Miami (Fla.) in the ACC/SEC Challenge, then hosts Central Michigan.
Despite dropping its first game of the season, Kentucky fell just one spot in this week’s Associated Press women’s college basketball top 25.
The Wildcats (8-1) — who fell 74-66 to No. 7 Maryland before beating Morgan State 101-39 in last week’s Discover Puerto Rico Tournament — are ranked No. 17 in this week’s rankings.
Kentucky may have only lost by eight to Brenda Frese and the Terrapins, but the game was never that close, as Maryland found ways to contain UK’s typically dynamic core. Clara Strack recorded nine points, nine rebounds, two assists and two blocks, while senior forward Teonni Key tallied just four points in 13 minutes before fouling out.
Senior point guard Tonie Morgan scored a game-high-tying 22 points, including 12 points in the fourth quarter, and added four rebounds, eight assists, two steals and a block. Of all Kentucky’s opponents so far this season, Maryland was most successful at pressuring Morgan, who was responsible for eight of the Wildcats’ 20 turnovers.
As expected, UK’s win over Morgan State was also quickly determined. Five Wildcats — Asia Boone (21), Jordan Obi (17), Key (16), Kaelyn Carroll (15) and Strack (13) — scored in double figures.
Next up, Kentucky faces Miami (Florida) on the road in the 2025 ACC/SEC Challenge on Wednesday at 5 p.m. on ESPN 2. The Hurricanes (5-2) lost their second game of the season Nov. 29 in a neutral-site heartbreaker to No. 24 Oklahoma State. UK will then host Central Michigan (5-2) on Sunday at noon.
As has been the case each week so far, eight Southeastern Conference teams are ranked within the top 25.
Texas (8-0) jumped two places to No. 2 following wins over top-five programs UCLA (8-1) and South Carolina (7-1) in back-to-back days, while South Carolina fell one spot to No. 3, and UCLA fell one spot to No. 4.
No. 5 LSU (8-0), No. 9 Oklahoma (7-1) and No. 13 Ole Miss (7-0) maintain their rankings from last week. No. 15 Vanderbilt (8-0) improved two spots after double-digit wins over both Oregon State and BYU in the Virgin Islands. No. 19 Tennessee had the most dramatic fall following a 99-77 loss at UCLA.
Georgia and Alabama each received at least one top 25 vote.
Connecticut continues its reign at No. 1, while Ohio State (6-1) made its 2025-26 top 25 debut and North Carolina State (5-3) dropped out for the first time this season.
Caroline Makauskas’ AP Top 25 ballot
1. Connecticut
The Huskies’ sole game in Week Four was its first Big East matchup of the season, and Geno Auriemma’s roster was ready.
UConn easily handled Xavier, 104-39, to extend its lead in the all-time series to 10-0. Though the Musketeers are nowhere near as impressive as some of the other teams the Huskies have faced — and will face — good defense is good defense, and UConn’s offense is clicking in all the right ways.
Auriemma’s Huskies are second in the nation in assists per game with 23.4, only behind Michigan State (24.5), and rank eighth overall in points per game with 90.3. This week’s competitors, South Florida and DePaul, should be business as usual for UConn, but South Florida — a team entering the week ranked No. 73 in the NET that boasts wins over both Duke and Harvard — will provide a look at a different type of offense; it’ll be a road challenge that will pay off in experience come postseason play.
2. Texas
No team in the country had a better Feast Week than the Longhorns, who defeated two of the three teams ranked ahead of them in consecutive days.
Outside a late Kiki Rice-driven push, Texas dominated in the game against UCLA; Vic Schaefer and his coaching staff were successful in limiting what All-America center Lauren Betts was able to do in the post. The matchup with South Carolina was much closer, but point guard Rori Harmon and her big-game experience iced the game in the final minutes.
It’s worth noting that Texas did so while having three players out due to injury, including five-star freshman guard Aaliyah Crump and backup point guard Bryanna Preston. The shorthanded Longhorns put on a defensive clinic against two teams with national championship hopes, which likely contributed to the thought process behind the 10 AP voters who picked Texas as their top team this week.
Texas also beat Pennsylvania 81-63 on Sunday afternoon, with Player of the Year candidate Madison Booker posting a 17-point, 10-rebound double-double. Booker made each of her 11 free throws, and recorded five assists, two steals and one block.
The Longhorns have another marquee matchup Wednesday in No. 11 North Carolina, their ACC/SEC Challenge draw.
3. UCLA
The Bruins may have suffered their first loss of the season following several high-ranking victories, but don’t get me wrong — they haven’t lost any of their juice. Going 2 for 3 during a week against top-five Texas and Duke and top-25 Tennessee ain’t bad at all.
However, UCLA needs to find ways to get Rice to take over when the passing lanes into Betts aren’t available. Really, UCLA needs to find ways to get Rice to take over regardless of what’s happening in the post. Since Rice’s freshman campaign, I’ve hoped to see the veteran point guard match up against Harmon but was disappointed that the battle lacked consistent grit. Rice has the basketball IQ, the passing ability and the communication skills to lead UCLA to a national title, but for some reason she struggles to consistently put it all together for four quarters against top-tier competition. Thankfully, the projected first-round pick in the 2026 WNBA Draft has plenty of opportunities to level up over the remainder of her senior campaign.
During the team’s defeat of Tennessee, Rice posted a 20-point, 11-rebound double-double in 30 minutes on the floor. Sure, Rice’s performance may have been overshadowed by that of the always-electric Gabriela Jaquez, who dropped 29 points in the win, but it’s the type of game Cori Close and the Bruins will need from their floor general.
4. South Carolina
It’s funny to consider a season in which the Gamecocks suffer a November loss a down year, but naysayers on social media will always let their voices be heard. One of my coworkers, who just so happened to have covered the 2023 SEC Tournament run where UK went on a magical run to book a spot in the NCAA Tournament, put it like this.
“So South Carolina lost to a determined SEC team?” He asked. “This means South Carolina will go on to win a national championship.”
Do I believe that to be true? No, I don’t think so. But just as Harmon secured the Longhorns’ victory against the Gamecocks last week, there are key leaders on Dawn Staley’s team who know how to win when the going gets tough. And for those who lack the same type of experience against high-level talent and schemes, they’re picking up a form of that experience through South Carolina’s brutal schedule.
This week, Tennessee coach Kim Caldwell discussed how last season’s schedule didn’t preapre her team for conference play as much as she’d have liked. Her hope is that, with a difficult nonconference slate this season, the lessons will be learned before it’s too late. UCLA’s Cori Close has been open about her personal discussions with Staley about how, once you prove your salt as one of the country’s top teams, you don’t have as many teams wanting to play you.
Staley, much like UK volleyball boss Craig Skinner, has been scheduling tough nonconference opponents for years now. If you think South Carolina is losing its edge, I’d encourage you to be patient. The Gamecocks’ next ranked opportunity comes this Thursday at No. 22 Louisville as part of the ACC/SEC Challenge.
5. LSU
Each week, Kim Mulkey calls in to Jacob Hester and Matt Flynn’s show on ESPN’s local Baton Rouge station, 104.5.
Last week, Mulkey called in from the Virgin Islands to discuss the Tigers’ undefeated, 100-point-game-filled season. During that interview, she spoke about how — regardless of what outsiders have to say — she knows what she’s doing when she assembles LSU’s nonconference schedules. I’ve written over the past few weeks that LSU’s nonconference schedule doesn’t exactly inspire fear, but, even after waxing poetic about the power of a difficult slate, I also know better than to suggest to a coach with four national championships how to best prepare for March.
Mulkey said she won’t “overemphasize” a game against a team like any of those her Tigers have dominated so far but said that “It sure would be embarrassing if” her team lost any of those. And hey, fair. The season is long. To her credit, Mulkey did point out that LSU’s ACC/SEC Challenge opponent, Duke, was expected to be a much bigger deal. But the Blue Devils are underperforming after being a preseason top-10 team, so this won’t be one of the tests her teams face this year after all.
I don’t think the Tigers will hang 100 on Duke, but I didn’t think they’d hang 100 on Tulane, either. But I think we’ll learn more about LSU from this game than any other game so far. I’m looking forward to seeing how Mulkey and her staff plan for Toby Fournier, and how LSU’s Kate Koval fares against a team like the Blue Devils, even if they aren’t who many of us thought they’d be at this point in the season.
The rest of Caroline Makauskas’ Top 25 ballot: No. 6 Michigan, No. 7 Maryland, No. 8 Oklahoma, No. 9 TCU, No. 10 Iowa State, No. 11 North Carolina, No. 12 Vanderbilt, No. 13 Iowa, No. 14 Southern California, No. 15 Michigan State, No. 16 Washington, No. 17 Baylor, No. 18 Ole Miss, No. 19 Notre Dame, No. 20 Kentucky, No. 21 Tennessee, No. 22 Princeton, No. 23 Ohio State, No. 24 Louisville, No. 25 Oklahoma State.
