The top five went unchanged in the AP Top 25 poll with the UConn men’s basketball team holding serve at No. 4 after winning its 10th consecutive game on Sunday.
The Huskies, 14-1 and 4-0 in Big East play, are also No. 4 in the USA Today Coaches Poll, No. 7 by KenPom and No. 8 in the NCAAs NET rankings with four Quad One wins, which is tied for most in the country.
Solo Ball, who returned from a wrist injury with back-to-back 17-point performances against Xavier and Marquette, was named to the Big East’s weekly honor roll. The Huskies’ leading scorer at 15.6 points per game on the season, Ball added 5.0 rebounds, 1.5 assists, and 1.0 blocked shots per game while shooting nearly 55% from the floor in the pair of wins.
Arizona, which handed UConn its only loss, held at No. 1 for the fourth week in a row with 32 first place votes, followed by No. 2 Michigan with the other 29 first place votes and No. 3 Iowa State, which has also yet to lose. Purdue remained at No. 5 with Duke at No. 6. There was some movement at the bottom of the top 10 with Houston jumping Gonzaga to move to No. 7 and 8, respectively, and BYU moving to No. 9 as unbeaten Nebraska lept three spots to No. 10.
Still the only ranked Big East team, though Villanova (12-2) and Seton Hall (13-2) were the first two in the “receiving votes” category, UConn had four opponents ranked this week in No. 16 Illinois and No. 22 Kansas along with Arizona and BYU.
St. John’s, which was voted No. 5 in the first AP poll of the season and picked to finish atop the league in the Big East preseason coaches’ poll, didn’t receive any AP votes this week and finds itself in NCAA Tournament bubble territory after losing to Providence at Madison Square Garden over the weekend. UConn is set to visit the Friars on Wednesday for what will be a Quad Two opportunity.
AP Top 25 men’s basketball poll: Week 9
Arizona (32 first place votes)
Michigan (29)
Iowa State
UConn
Purdue
Duke
Houston
Gonzaga
BYU
Nebraska
Vanderbilt
Michigan State
Alabama
Texas Tech
Arkansas
Illinois
North Carolina
Georgia
Iowa
Louisville
Tennessee
Kansas
Virginia
SMU
UCF
