Vanderbilt shooting sinks Arizona State

Furman forward Clay Mounce has a simple question in the team video before the Paladins take the court each home game: “Haven’t you heard of us?”

Not many fans have. But Furman is in the Top 25 for the first time, and the undefeated Paladins (12-0) have road wins over 2018 Final Four team Loyola and defending national champ Villanova.

Nonetheless, most fans probably haven’t bought into the plucky Paladins yet, and Furman forward Matt Rafferty said with a grin, “I don’t know if they will.”

But Furman, which won two games last week and still dropped a spot to No. 24, has an opportunity for another resume-building road win when the Paladins travel to LSU on Friday night, their final game before starting Southern Conference play.

“It’s a big one,” Furman coach Bob Richey said.

The Paladins are among nine undefeated teams left out of 353 Division I programs through Saturday. They made their first-ever appearance in the Top 25 earlier this month and see LSU as a next step toward ending a 38-year NCAA tournament drought.

Richey expects his players will be ready for the moment as they were when they trailed Loyola by 13 points in the second half but won 60-58 on Mounce’s one-handed jam with 1.6 seconds to go. Or when they opened overtime at Villanova with a 7-0 run in a 76-68 win.

“In life, most of the time, when you get big opportunities, it still comes back to the simplest fundamentals,” Richey said.

Rankings: Kansas, Duke and Tennessee are atop the latest AP Top 25 poll for the second straight week.

The Jayhawks earned 56 of 65 first-place votes to stay at No. 1. Michigan and Virginia each climbed a spot into the top 5.