Irish slip after Spartan effort
Notre Dame drops to No. 9 in AP poll; UNR in at No. 22
Notre Dame won the Maui Invitational with an impressive comeback against Wichita State.
The Fighting Irish didn’t fare as well against another top 10 team, leading to a shuffling in the top half of The Associated Press Top 25 poll.
Duke (10-0) received all 65 firstplace votes in the poll released Monday after a pair of easy victories, its second straight week as the unanimous No. 1. The next three spots also remained the same from last week: Kansas, Michigan State and Villanova.
Notre Dame was No. 5 last week, but dropped to No. 9 following its 81-63 loss to the Spartans.
“They come at you with fresh bodies, they just keep coming at you and it takes its toll,” Notre Dame coach Mike Brey said of Michigan State.
Florida moved up to No. 5 despite not playing last week, followed by Wichita State, Texas A&M, Kentucky and Miami at No. 10 behind the Irish.
Notre Dame (7-1) pulled off an impressive comeback in Maui to beat Wichita State for its first title in paradise.
The Irish were no match for Michigan State last week, taken out of rhythm by the Spartans while falling into an early hole. Notre Dame did make a push in the second half, but Michigan State pushed back to run away with it.
The Irish bounced back to beat St. Francis Brooklyn on Sunday.
Wolf Pack howling
UNR has made big strides in Eric Musselman’s three seasons and this was expected to be his best team yet.
A year after making it to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2007, the Wolf Pack were picked as the favorites to win the Mountain West title behind Jordan Caroline and Lindsey Drew.
UNR has lived up to expectations so far, winning its first eight games for its best start as a Division I program (since 1970). The Wolf Pack were No. 22 in this week’s poll for their first ranking since finishing the 2006-07 season at No. 15.
“It’s great to see that we have that record now, but we have to keep improving and don’t want to stop now and be 8-1 or 8-2,” Caroline said after the Wolf Pack shook off an ugly first half to beat UC Irvine 76-65 last week. “We’re rolling and we have to
keep moving along.”
The Wolf Pack play at Texas Tech on Tuesday.
Welcomed in
No. 19 Seton Hall, No. 21 Purdue and No. 24 Tennessee joined UNR in moving into the poll this week.
Shown the door
Louisville dropped out from No. 17 after losing to Purdue and Seton Hall, Texas Tech fell out from No. 22 after losing to Seton Hall, Alabama dropped from No. 24 after losing to Central Florida and Creighton was out from No. 25 following a lopsided loss to then-no. 15 Gonzaga.
Monday’s results
■ Florida State 83, No. 5 Florida 66— At Gainesville, Fla., Terance Mann scored 25 points on 11-for-17 shooting and added eight rebounds for the Seminoles (7-0), who held a 51-34 edge on the boards in their fourth straight victory over the Gators (5-2) — their longest win streak in the series’ 68-game history.
■ No. 23 Baylor 84, Sam Houston State 56 — At Waco, Texas, Jo Lual-acuil had 15 points and 11 rebounds for the Bears (6-2), who had two 12-0 runs to rout the Bearkats (5-4) and halt a two-game skid.