After a monthlong hiatus, the UCLA men’s basketball team is back in the top five of the Associated Press poll.
The Bruins moved up one spot Monday to No. 5 courtesy of Baylor’s fall five spots to No. 9.
UCLA (24-3, 11-3 Pac-12) spent seven weeks in the top five before consecutive losses to Arizona and USC dropped it to No. 11 on Jan. 30.
It was fitting that Saturday’s 32-point win over USC at Pauley Pavilion was the Bruins’ final game before its return to the top five.
Gonzaga was No. 1 for the fourth consecutive week, but received one less first-place vote than last week. Gonzaga got 59 of the 65 first-place votes, No. 2 Villanova earned five first-place votes and No. 3 Kansas received a first-place vote for the first time in a month.
UCLA has won five consecutive games since an 84-76 loss at USC Jan. 25, including perhaps its most significant win of the season Feb. 9 against Oregon, which was No. 6 in Monday’s AP poll. The Bruins avenged their earlier defeat to USC on Saturday by scoring 31 of the game’s final 40 points in a 102-70 win.
Only four games remain for UCLA in the regular season, the largest of which is at No. 4 Arizona on Saturday. The Bruins trail Arizona by two games and Oregon by a game in the Pac-12 standings.
UCLA visits Arizona State on Thursday and closes the regular season with a pair of games at Pauley Pavilion against Washington on March 1 and Washington State on March 4.
Arizona, UCLA and Oregon each moved up one spot in the AP poll this week. Arizona moved from No. 6 to No. 4 in the USA Today Coaches’ poll while UCLA held steady at No. 5.
AP TOP 25
The top 25 teams in The Associated Press’ college basketball poll, with first-place votes in parentheses, records through Feb. 19, 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. Gonzaga (59)
28-0
1618
1
2. Villanova (5)
26-2
1556
2
3. Kansas (1)
24-3
1503
3
4. Arizona
25-3
1356
5
5. UCLA
24-3
1316
6
6. Oregon
24-4
1297
7
7. Louisville
22-5
1267
8
8. North Carolina
23-5
1138
10
9. Baylor
22-5
1108
4
10. Duke
22-5
1014
12
11. Kentucky
22-5
943
13
12. West Virginia
21-6
908
9
13. Florida
22-5
822
15
14. Purdue
22-5
807
16
15. Cincinnati
24-3
733
18
16. Wisconsin
22-5
713
11
17. SMU
24-4
554
19
18. Virginia
18-8
427
14
19. Florida State
21-6
419
17
20. Saint Mary’s
24-3
375
22
21. Notre Dame
21-7
322
25
22. Butler
21-6
295
24
23. Creighton
22-5
178
20
24. Maryland
22-5
159
23
25. Wichita State
25-4
153
_
Others receiving votes: VCU 39, Northwestern 25, Iowa State 22, South Carolina 12, USC 10, Dayton 9, Middle Tennessee 8, Oklahoma State 7, Minnesota 5, Miami 2, Monmouth (N.J.) 2, Michigan 1, Vermont 1, Virginia Tech 1.
Contact the writer: cfowler@scng.com
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