Auburn keeps winning games coming down to the wire. It also kept the Tigers in the AP Top 25.
The Tigers were a unanimous choice Monday with the men’s college basketball poll for the second consecutive week, receiving all 62 votes from the national media panel. Their spot at No. 1 was solidified when Miles Kelly hit a go-ahead 3-pointer with 30 seconds left to seal a 53-51 victory over the Ravens on Saturday. 6 Tennessee.
Tigers coach Bruce Pearl said, “We can play better, and we can still beat a great team.” “We have won four of the last six games on the previous possession. It’s going to be a battle every night, but we’re happy with it because this is a great team. ,
Suffice to say, so are the Tigers, who have All-America running back Johnny Broome back from an ankle injury that sidelined him for two games. He led the way against the Vols with 16 points, 12 rebounds and four blocked shots.
The Tigers led a top five that was unchanged from the previous week. Duke finished No. 2, followed by Iowa State, Alabama and Florida, having defeated South Carolina earlier in the week before a blowout win over Georgia.
Big changes came elsewhere in the top 25.
Houston climbed one spot to the finals thanks to a rout of Utah and a frenetic, double-overtime win at Kansas.
“Our kids have a clear understanding that this is how we win,” Cougar coach Kelvin Sampson said. “The way we won in double overtime, I think it speaks to the culture of this program, how tough our kids are and our ability to hang around out there.”
Michigan State moved up one spot to No. 7 and was followed by the Vols, who balanced their close loss to Auburn by defeating No. 14 Mississippi State. Marquette and Purdue—who beat then-No. 21 Michigan – Out of top 10.
Kansas moved up one spot to No. 11 despite the loss to the Cougars, while Kentucky dropped three spots to No. 12 after losing to Vanderbilt. Texas A&M and Mississippi State were next after each going 1–1 in the week, and St. John’s defeated Xavier in overtime to move up five spots to No. 15, the best ranking for the Red Storm since December 29, 2014. Matched.
Oregon was No. 16, followed by Wisconsin, Illinois, Memphis and Missouri. Louisville continued its climb, now up to No. 21, followed by Texas Tech, which entered the poll after two wins last week.
Mississippi fell to No. 23, Vanderbilt broke into the polls at No. 24 and two-time defending national champion Connecticut fell to No. 25 after a loss to Xavier.
rise and fall
St. John’s and Memphis made the biggest jumps, climbing five spots. The Red Storm have won six straight since losing to Creighton, while the Tigers have won seven of eight and are tied for atop the American Athletic Conference.
Ole Miss dropped seven spots after close losses to Texas A&M and Missouri, while UConn dropped six spots, but remained in the top 25 for the 52nd straight week—Houston (98), Kansas (77). and the fourth-longest streak behind Tennessee (72).
In
Texas Tech began its Top 25 season at No. 22 after defeating Cincinnati and Oklahoma State and running its Big 12 winning streak to four games. Vanderbilt entered the poll at No. 24 for the first time since December 7, 2015. The Commodores women’s team also cracked the poll this week for the first time since 2014.
Their spots came at the expense of Michigan and West Virginia, which lost both of their games last week to unseeded teams.
conference
The SEC dominated the top 25 with three teams in the top five, four in the top 10 and 10 overall in the poll. The Big Ten was next with five ranked teams, the Big 12 had four, the Big East three, the ACC two and the American one.