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AP men’s basketball Top 25: Purdue holds No. 1 spot despite loss after upset-filled weekend

Despite a big in-state loss Saturday, Purdue still retained the top spot in college basketball on Monday.

Here’s everything you missed in Week 13 of the season, and the latest Associated Press men’s college basketball poll.

Purdue holds at No. 1 amid upsets

It looked as if there would be a new No. 1 team this week after a big Saturday across the sport.

Yet one week after they were unanimously voted No. 1, the Boilermakers held strong for a second week.

Purdue’s nine-game win streak came to an end Saturday at Assembly Hall after Indiana held on to take a five-point win in what was its first over a top-ranked team in a decade. The Hoosiers, led by 25 points from star Trayce Jackson-Davis, moved up three spots in this week’s poll to No. 18.

Purdue, however, received 38 first place votes and retained its top spot for another week.

The rest of the top 5 however, bounced around quite a bit. Last week’s No. 2 Tennessee fell to unranked Florida on Wednesday before sweating out a brutal 46-43 win over Auburn on Saturday. The Volunteers moved to No. 6 this week.

Alabama recovered nicely from its stunning loss to Oklahoma last month, starting with a nearly 60-point win over Vanderbilt before Saturday’s win over LSU. The Crimson Tide jumped to No. 3. Arizona has won six straight now, too, including its double digit wins over Oregon and Oregon State. The Wildcats are No. 4.

That leaves Houston, which has won four straight, though close, games to get back to No. 2. The Cougars rallied to get past Wichita State and then avenged their loss to Temple this week, to improve to 20-2 on the year.

Indiana knocked off Purdue on Saturday, but the Boilermakers stayed on top of the poll.
Indiana knocked off Purdue on Saturday, but the Boilermakers stayed on top of the poll. (Brian Spurlock/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) (Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Will the Big 12 run through Ames?

Sure, Iowa State has a few bad losses on its resume. But Saturday’s showing at Hilton Coliseum certainly proved the Cyclones can run with anyone in the Big 12.

The conference may end up running through Ames.

Iowa State, after dropping consecutive losses to unranked Missouri and Texas Tech, handled Kansas on Saturday 68-53. The Cyclones led nearly the entire way, and the Jayhawks looked very off. While Jalen Wilson put up 26, nobody else scored more than eight for Kansas.

“It's not a formula for success for us,” Kansas coach Bill Self said, via The Associated Press. “We need balance from our starting five. If one guy feels like he's got to go do it all on his own, it crashes the offense.”

Iowa State now has wins over Kansas State, Texas, TCU and Baylor with just eight games to go in conference play. The Cyclones moved to No. 11 this week, while Kansas fell to No. 9.

Iowa State are currently second in the Big 12 standings, just a game back from Texas. Though more than half of the league is within just two games from the top, so it’s still anyone’s race to a conference title before the tournament kicks off in Kansas City. And six teams are ranked inside the top-17 in this week’s latest poll.

But if Iowa State can keep its run alive, there’s no reason why the Cyclones can pull their first Big 12 regular season title in more than two decades.

Full AP Top 25

The full AP Top 25 poll from Monday, Feb. 6:

  1. Purdue (22-2)

  2. Houston (22-2)

  3. Alabama (20-3)

  4. Arizona (21-3)

  5. Texas (19-4)

  6. Tennessee (19-4)

  7. UCLA (19-4)

  8. Virginia (17-4)

  9. Kansas (18-5)

  10. Marquette (19-5)

  11. Iowa State (16-6)

  12. Kansas State (18-5)

  13. Xavier (19-5)

  14. Baylor (17-6)

  15. Saint Mary's (21-4)

  16. Gonzaga (19-5)

  17. TCU (17-6)

  18. Indiana (16-7)

  19. Miami (18-5)

  20. Providence (17-6)

  21. UConn (18-6)

  22. NC State (19-5)

  23. Creighton (15-8)

  24. Rutgers (16-7)

  25. San Diego State (18-5)

Others receiving votes: Florida Atlantic 93, Duke 87, Auburn 65, Clemson 31, Pittsburgh 26, Illinois 25, Nevada 16, New Mexico 16, Maryland 12, Arkansas 11, Iowa 8, Missouri 6, West Virginia 5, Oral Roberts 5, Northwestern 3, Charleston 3, VCU 2, Utah State 2, Kentucky 1