With less than two weeks before Selection Sunday, the UCLA men’s basketball team has put itself in a good position.
Saturday’s victory at Arizona vaulted the Bruins two spots to No. 3 in Monday’s Associated Press poll. It’s UCLA’s highest ranking since it was No. 2 on Dec. 26.
Arizona dropped from No. 4 to No. 7 and Gonzaga fell from No. 1 to No. 4 after suffering its first defeat in its final regular season game Saturday against BYU.
Kansas moved up to No. 1, receiving 58 of the 65 first-place votes. No. 2 Villanova got two first-place votes, UCLA got three and Gonzaga two.
North Carolina moved up three spots to No. 5 and Oregon held steady at No. 6, giving the Pac-12 three teams in the top seven.
UCLA’s two remaining regular-season games are at Pauley Pavilion this week. The Bruins play Washington on Wednesday and Washington State on Saturday, both of whom they defeated on the road this season.
UCLA dropped as low as No. 11 in the AP poll after back-to-back losses to Arizona and USC brought its loss total to three on Jan. 25. It hasn’t lost since.
UCLA went undefeated in February for the first time since its 1995 team went on to win the program’s last national championship.
Saturday’s 77-72 win at Arizona ended the Wildcats’ 21-game home winning streak. It was UCLA’s first win at McKale Center in more than four years and gave the Bruins victories this season over three teams ranked in the top five at the time.
Arizona and Oregon, each with one game remaining in the regular season, are tied, a game and a half ahead of UCLA in the conference standings. Arizona plays at Arizona State on Saturday; Oregon plays at Oregon State.
Both would need to lose and UCLA would need to sweep its final two games to pull the Bruins into a tie atop the conference standings.
The top 25 teams in The Associated Press’ college basketball poll, with first-place votes in parentheses, records through Feb. 26, total points based on 25 points for a first-place vote through one point for a 25th-place vote and last week’s ranking:
Rec
Pts
Prv
1. Kansas (58)
26-3
1618
3
2. Villanova (2)
27-3
1487
2
3. UCLA (3)
26-3
1474
5
4. Gonzaga (2)
29-1
1419
1
5. North Carolina
25-5
1381
8
6. Oregon
26-4
1343
6
7. Arizona
26-4
1223
4
8. Louisville
23-6
1176
7
9. Kentucky
24-5
1119
11
10. West Virginia
23-6
1041
12
11. Baylor
23-6
923
9
12. Florida
23-6
807
13
13. Butler
23-6
795
22
14. SMU
25-4
738
17
15. Florida State
23-6
722
19
16. Purdue
23-6
651
14
17. Duke
22-7
622
10
18. Cincinnati
25-4
504
15
19. Notre Dame
22-7
482
21
20. Saint Mary’s
26-3
445
20
21. Wichita State
27-4
250
25
22. Wisconsin
22-7
206
16
23. Virginia
19-9
194
18
24. Iowa State
19-9
168
_
25. Miami
20-8
123
_
Others receiving votes: Minnesota 66, Oklahoma State 54, Dayton 32, Michigan 14, Middle Tennessee 13, Creighton 12, USC 7, Michigan State 3, Monmouth 3, Vermont 2, VCU 2, Virginia Tech 2, Arkansas 1, BYU 1, Maryland 1, Princeton 1.
Contact the writer: cfowler@scng.com
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