For the third straight week, Clemson remained out of the weekly AP Top 25 men’s basketball poll released Monday. It marked the second straight week that the Tigers received no votes for top 25 consideration from the various writers and broadcasters who make up the AP poll.
Clemson was one play away from knocking off Duke over the weekend at Cameron Indoor Stadium, but the Blue Devils prevailed, 72-71, after a series of close calls went their way in the closing seconds of the game. Clemson fell to just 2-5 in their first seven games since ACC play resumed on Jan. 3.
North Carolina (17-3 overall) remained the ACC’s highest ranked team at No. 3, followed by Duke, who jumped five spots to move to No. 7. No other ACC schools were ranked.
All told, the top five teams remained the same from last week’s rankings.
Defending national champion Connecticut (18-2) stayed No. 1 for the third week in a row and received 48 first-place votes. The Huskies have won eight straight games.
Purdue (19-2) received 14 first-place votes and was ranked No. 2. Houston (18-2) stayed at No. 4 and Tennessee (15-4) rounded out the top five.
The Big 12 had the most ranked teams of any conference with eight total.