Defending national champion Connecticut, which has won 10 straight games and hasn’t lost since December 20, remained atop the AP Top 25 men’s basketball poll released Monday, February 5.
Monday’s poll marked the fourth consecutive week that UConn (20-2 overall) was No. 1 in the AP poll. The Huskies received 45 first-place votes.
It was also the fourth straight week that Clemson was outside the Top 25. The Tigers (14-7) had been ranked 16th entering the new year, but a brutal stretch has seen them drop six of nine contests since ACC play resumed on Jan. 3.
Purdue (21-2) remained at No. 2 in the latest poll following wins over Northwestern and Wisconsin last week.
North Carolina (18-4) remained the ACC’s top-ranked team at No. 3. Despite a 74-73 loss to Georgia Tech in Atlanta last week, the Tar Heels rebounded for a convincing 93-84 win over Duke on Saturday night. Clemson travels to Chapel Hill to face Carolina Tuesday at 7 p.m. EST. The game will be televised by ESPN.
Duke (16-5) fell two spots to No. 9 and remained the only other ranked ACC team in the top 25.
Kansas (18-4) moved back into the top five at No. 4. Houston (19-3) fell one spot to No. 5 after falling to the Jayhawks over the weekend.
As has been the case for most of the season, the Big 12 had the most ranked teams of any conference with six total. The SEC was second with five, including South Carolina. The Gamecocks made the biggest jump of any team, going from unranked in last week’s poll to No. 15 this week.
Elsewhere around the AP poll, Alabama made the biggest jump of any ranked team. The Crimson Tide moved eight ahead spots to No. 16. Baylor moved five spots to climb to No. 13.
Texas Tech suffered the biggest fall, dropping eight spots to No. 23. Kentucky fell seven spots to No. 17.