Houston remained No. 1 in the new AP Top 25 men’s basketball poll released Monday.
The Cougars (26-3 overall) jumped to No. 1 in last week’s rankings and remained in the top spot again Monday after earning a hard-fought road win at Oklahoma on Saturday. Kelvin Sampson’s team received 52 first-place votes.
UConn (26-3) moved ahead of Purdue to No.2 in this week’s AP poll after posting a 91-61 blowout win over Seton Hall on Sunday. The defending national champion Huskies clinched their first outright Big East regular-season championship in 25 years.
Purdue (26-3) fell to No. 3 but defeated Michigan State over the weekend to clinch no worse than a share of the Big Ten regular-season championship.
Tennessee (23-6) earned impressive wins against Alabama and Auburn but stayed at No. 4. The Vols will face South Carolina Wednesday before closing their regular season at home against Kentucky.
Arizona moved back to No. 5 to round out the top five in this week’s rankings.
Clemson (20-9) received no votes for top 25 consideration from the various sportswriters and broadcasters who make up the AP poll. The Tigers defeated Pitt, 69-62, on Tuesday but they fell by the same score in an upset loss at Notre Dame on Saturday.
As has been the case for much of the season, ACC leader North Carolina (23-6) was the league’s highest-ranked team. The Tar Heels jumped two spots from last week’s poll to move to No. 7.
Duke moved up one spot to No. 10 after a 73-48 blowout win over Virginia over the weekend. The Tobacco Road rivals were the only ACC schools ranked in the AP poll.
The SEC and Big 12 tied for the most ranked teams in this week’s poll with five apiece.
Clemson returns to action Tuesday when the Tigers host Syracuse at 7 p.m. (EST) at Littlejohn Coliseum. The game will be televised on ESPN2.