Cincinnati remains among unbeaten
Former No. 21 Saint Mary’s drops from AP’s Top 25
Gary Clark had 14 point and seven rebounds, and No. 11 Cincinnati stayed unbeaten heading into its game against its crosstown rival by beating winless Alabama State 83-51 on Monday night.
The host Bearcats (7-0) play at No. 21 Xavier on Saturday. The Musketeers have won seven of the past 10 in the crosstown rivalry, although Cincinnati won on its home court last season.
Facing a ranked team for the first time in five years, Alabama State (0-7) had 20 turnovers that led to 30 Cincinnati points. Branden Johnson led with the Hornets with 10 points.
Cincinnati won its 30th straight home game, a streak that spans two home courts. The Bearcats are playing this season at BB&T Arena at Northern Kentucky University while their on-campus arena is renovated.
VIRGINIA 49, WISCONSIN 37 >> Kyle Guy scored 17 points, and No. 18 Virginia (7-0) held Wisconsin (3-4) scoreless for more than 7 minutes in the second half of a victory in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge.
Devon Hall added 16 points for the Cavaliers. Ethan Happ led Wisconsin with 14 points and D’Mitrik Trice had 10, but the Badgers shot poorly all night.
SAINT MARY’S DROPS FROM TOP 25 >> Saint Mary’s (52), which lost its first two games of the season (to Georgia and Washington State), has dropped out of the Associated Press Top 25 after previously being ranked 21st. Duke is now the unanimous No. 1 in the poll And Arizona has gone from No. 2 to out of the poll in a week.
The Blue Devils (8-0) were atop all 65 ballots. That came after they rallied from big deficits against Texas and No. 6 Florida to win their PK80 Invitational bracket in Portland, Oregon. The Wildcats (3-3) had a stunning 0-3 showing in the Battle 4 Atlantis in the Bahamas. That made them the first team to go from No. 2 to unranked in a week since Louisville in 1986-87 after its own November tournament flop.
Kansas climbed to No. 2, followed by Michigan State, Villanova and Notre Dame.
Women
UCONN STILL NO. 1 >> No. 16 Stanford (4-3), ranked 16th in the AP Top 25 poll, already has shown it’s grown a bit since the start of the season a few weeks ago. The Cardinal were routed by Ohio State by 21 points in the season opener. The teams played again on Saturday night in the Play4Kay championship game and the Buckeyes needed overtime to win.
“It was definitely a different look from when we played them the first time,” said Kelsey Mitchell, who was named MVP of the event. “I knew something would be different. They’re a great team with a great coach.”
UConn is still No. 1 in the poll while former Big East rival Villanova is back in the Top 25 for the first time in 13 years. The No. 25 Wildcats (5-0) are ranked for the first time since Nov. 29, 2004. Cal (3-2) is ranked 24th.