Purdue a unanimous No. 1
Purdue became this season's first unanimous No. 1 team in the AP Top 25 men's college basketball poll Monday after wins over Michigan and Michigan State last week as chaos ensued behind the Boilermakers among other ranked teams.
More than half of Top 25 teams lost, including second-ranked Alabama, which was routed by Oklahoma in the Big 12-SEC Challenge. That allowed Purdue to grab the remaining No. 1 votes and tighten its grip atop the poll, while Tennessee jumped two spots to second and Houston held onto third in voting by 62 national media members.
The Boilermakers (21-1) have won eight straight since a one-point loss to Rutgers on Jan. 2.
“We're the No. 1 team in the country because of how unselfish we are as a team,” Purdue guard David Jenkins Jr. said. “We had a lot of people doubting us in the beginning because, you know, we may not be the most talented team or whatever, but we're close on the court and off the court and it's really translating to how we're winning.”
The Volunteers climbed to their highest perch since reaching No. 1 for four weeks during the 2018-19 season. They routed Georgia before becoming one of three SEC teams to beat Big 12 opponents on Saturday, knocking off No. 10 Texas 82-71 for their fifth consecutive win over a top-10 team.
Perhaps this is the year Rick Barnes finally gets the Vols through the Sweet 16 for the first time as their coach.
“We have a chance to be as good as we want to be,” he said. “It's up to one thing: Are we tough enough to embrace the daily grind? And not worry about going to the Final Four or worry about going to the NCAA Tournament, but can we build a team that can be successful that time of year? It starts with truly embracing the grind.”
The Crimson Tide dropped to fourth after the blowout loss to the Sooners, when Alabama fell behind by 17 at halftime in an eventual 93-69 defeat. The Tide edged fifth-ranked Arizona by just two points in this week's poll.
Virginia was sixth and Kansas State, which rebounded from a narrow loss at No. 13 Iowa State by pummeling Florida on Saturday, fell two spots to seventh; the Wildcats face eighth-ranked Kansas in a top-10 showdown Tuesday night.
UCLA dropped to ninth after losing to Southern California and Texas rounded out the top 10.
Baylor continued its climb from unranked to No. 11 following wins over the Jayhawks and Arkansas.
The Bears were followed by Gonzaga, Iowa State, Marquette and league rival TCU — the sixth Big 12 team in the top 15.
TCU’S Miles out with knee injury
TCU leading scorer Mike Miles Jr. will miss Tuesday night's home game against West Virginia because of a hyperextended right knee.
Miles got hurt less than four minutes into 15thranked TCU'S overtime loss at Mississippi State on Saturday in the SEC/ Big 12 Challenge. A subsequent MRI showed no serious issues for the Big 12's second-leading scorer.
While the timetable for his return was still uncertain, coach Jamie Dixon said Miles didn't have an ACL or MCL injury.
“I don't anticipate him being out as long as others have been,” Dixon said before practice Monday.
South Carolina tops women’s poll
It was a rough week for Ohio State, which lost all three of its games and tumbled down the AP Top 25 as a result.
The previously unbeaten Buckeyes fell from second to 10th in the Associated Press women's basketball poll released Monday after losing to Iowa and Indiana, two top 10 teams, as well as Purdue. Ohio State fell two games back in the Big Ten Conference standings.
South Carolina remained No. 1 for the 32nd consecutive week. The Gamecocks, who were again a unanimous choice from the 28-member national media panel, have the fourth-longest streak ever atop the poll.
Stanford moved back up to No. 2 in the poll and the Cardinal were followed by LSU, Indiana and Uconn in the top five.
One week after falling out of the rankings, Texas re-entered the poll at No. 24. The Longhorns routed then-no. 14 Oklahoma and Oklahoma State last week.