Auburn keeps winning games that come down to the wire. It has kept them on top of the AP Top 25, too.
The Tigers were the unanimous choice atop the men’s college basketball poll for the second consecutive week Monday, getting all 62 votes from the national media panel. Their place at No. 1 was solidified when Miles Kelly hit a go-ahead 3-pointer with 30 seconds left to propel Auburn to a 53-51 victory over then-No. 6 Tennessee this weekend.
“We can play better, and we still were able to beat a great team,” Tigers coach Bruce Pearl said. “We’ve won four of the last six games in the last possession. It’s going to be a battle every night, but we’re happy with this one because that’s a great team.”
The Tigers got All-American forward Johnni Broome back from an ankle injury that had sidelined him for two games. He led the way with 16 points, 12 rebounds and four blocked shots against the Vols.
The Tigers led a top-five that was unchanged from the previous week. Duke remained No. 2, followed by Iowa State, Alabama and Florida, which rallied to beat South Carolina early in the week before a resounding victory over Georgia.
The big changes came elsewhere in the Top 25.
Houston climbed one spot to No. 6, thanks to a rout of Utah and a frantic, double-overtime win at Kansas.
“Our kids have a clear understanding of how it is we win,” Cougars coach Kelvin Sampson said. “The way we won in double-overtime, I think it speaks to this program’s culture, how tough our kids are and our ability to hang in there, you know?”
Michigan State moved up one spot to No. 7 and was followed by the Vols, who balanced out their close loss to Auburn by beating No. 14 Mississippi State. Marquette and Purdue — which beat then-No. 21 Michigan — rounded out the top 10.
Kansas moved up one spot to No. 11, despite the loss to the Cougars, while Kentucky fell three spots to No. 12 after losing to Vanderbilt. Texas A&M and Mississippi State were next after each went 1-1 on the week, and St. John’s leapt five spots to No. 15 after beating Xavier in overtime, matching the best ranking for the Red Storm since Dec. 29, 2014.
Oregon was No. 16 and followed by Wisconsin, Illinois, Memphis and Missouri. Louisville continued its climb, now up to No. 21, and was followed by Texas Tech, which entered the poll after two wins last week. Mississippi fell to No. 23, Vanderbilt broke into the poll at No. 24 and two-time defending national champ UConn fell to No. 25 after its loss to Xavier.
Rising and falling
St. John’s and Memphis made the biggest jumps, climbing five spots this week. The Red Storm have won six straight since a loss to Creighton, while the Tigers have won seven of their last eight and are tied atop the American Athletic Conference.
Ole Miss fell seven spots after close losses to Texas A&M and Missouri, while UConn tumbled six but remained in the Top 25 for the 52nd straight week – the fourth-longest streak behind Houston (98), Kansas (77) and Tennessee (72).
In and out
Texas Tech made its Top 25 season debut at No. 22 after beating Cincinnati and Oklahoma State to run its Big 12 winning streak to four games. Vanderbilt entered the poll at No. 24 for the first time since Dec. 7, 2015, as the women’s team also cracked the poll this week for the first time since 2014.
Their spots came at the expense of Michigan and West Virginia, which lost both of their games to unranked teams last week.
Conference watch
The SEC continued to dominate the Top 25 with three teams in the top five, four in the top 10 and 10 in the poll overall. The Big Ten was next with five ranked teams; the Big 12 had four, the Big East three, the ACC two and the American had one.
