By DAVE SKRETTA AP Basketball Writer
UCLA climbed into the top 10 in the first regular-season AP Top 25 men’s college basketball poll of the season on Monday while Florida remained No. 1 and the top four were unchanged and Duke remains in second place.
The Gators, who began the season with wins over then-No. 14 Miami and Jacksonville, earned six more first place-votes and had 53 of the 60 from a national media panel. Duke earned the other seven first-place votes, Illinois held down No. 3 in the poll, and UConn was fourth after winning an NCAA championship game rematch with then-No. 16 Michigan on Friday night.
Next up for the Gators is a rivalry game against Florida State.
“I talked to the guys about Tuesday night. We’re going into enemy territory as the No. 1 team in America,” Florida coach Todd Golden said. “We’re going to get their best shot, and they’re going to be well-prepared, and we have to bring our best effort.”
Michigan State rounded out the top five Monday, taking the place of Arizona, which lost its opener to the Bruins a week ago.
The former Pac-12 rivals met in Las Vegas, where the Bruins’ Trent Perry scored 21 points to help them overcome a career-best 38 from the Wildcats’ Ivan Kharchenkov. Arizona got within a point with 3:11 left before the Bruins held on for the 84-75 win.
It sent UCLA from No. 22 in the preseason poll to No. 9, its highest ranking since the final poll of the 2022-23 season.
“Huge,” Bruins coach Mick Cronin said of the win. “They’re going to win a lot of games, man. I don’t know exactly how many (wins) they’ve averaged over the last three years, but I’d guess it’s close to 30. So when you get a win over a team like that, it’s massive.”
Virginia moved up three spots to sixth after a trio of wins last week, including a victory over then-No. 12 Arkansas. Texas and Houston were next, then UCLA and Louisville, which moved up one spot to round out the top 10.
Tennessee fell three spots to No. 11 after beating Wofford in its only game last week. Arizona dropped seven spots to No. 12.
“It’s not about how we start the season. It’s about how we end the season,” Wildcats coach Tommy Lloyd said. “Obviously, it hurts when we’re losing. Just remember that feeling. We’ll have a tough stretch in another game, and we’ll need to dig deeper.”
The rest of the Top 25
St. John’s, Gonzaga and Kansas rounded out the first 15 in the poll. Texas Tech, Miami and Alabama were next, while Arkansas dropped seven spots to No. 18 after its loss to Virginia, and Michigan fell four spots to No. 20 after its loss to UConn.
USC, Vanderbilt, BYU, Kentucky and Nebraska finished out the Top 25. The Wildcats, who play the Jayhawks on Tuesday night, are one week shy of becoming the first school in the nearly 78-year history of the AP poll to be ranked for 1,000 weeks.
In and out and on the bubble
The Huskers, who opened their season with wins over Le Moyne and Providence, jumped into the poll thanks in part to Iowa State’s loss to Memphis. The Cyclones fell from No. 18 out of the poll, and were third among the others receiving votes.
Memphis was the first team outside of the Top 25, followed by Saint Louis, which had an impressive win over Missouri last week.
Conference watch
The Southeastern Conference not only had the No. 1 team in Florida but seven of the Top 25. The Big Ten was next with three of the top 10 and six in the poll. The Big 12 had five ranked teams, the ACC had four, the Big East had two and Gonzaga gave the new-look Pac-12 one team in the Top 25.
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