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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