With a pair of tightly-contested Big East wins that extended its winning streak to six games, the UConn men’s basketball team (10-3) held at No. 11 in the Week 8 AP Top 25 rankings, which were released Monday.
The Huskies took down a hot-shooting Xavier team, 94-89, in overtime at the XL Center on Wednesday night with three players – Alex Karaban, Tarris Reed Jr. and Solo Ball – scoring 20-plus points to hold off the Musketeers after 22 lead changes. On the road Saturday, UConn never trailed as it took down Butler for a 78-74 victory with Karaban, McNeeley and Hassan Diarra making clutch shots down the stretch.
Now 4-2 against Quad One opponents, the 2-0 start to league play dropped UConn five spots to No. 16 in the NCAA’s NET rankings. The Huskies were slotted at No. 14 in the USA Today Coaches’ Poll on Monday and are 15th in the nation by KenPom’s efficiency ratings, with the No. 2 offense and No. 98 defense.
The top three held in the latest AP Top 25 as Tennessee maintained No. 1 with 41 first-place votes, followed closely behind by Auburn, which received 21 votes for the top spot. Duke moved up to No. 4 and Alabama went up to No. 5 following Kentucky’s 20-point loss to Ohio State at Madison Square Garden. The Wildcats (10-2) dropped to No. 10, just ahead of UConn.
Of UConn’s nonconference opponents, Gonzaga moved down to No. 14 and Baylor reentered at No. 25. Memphis and Dayton each dropped out of the rankings.
The Huskies remained one of two Big East teams ranked by the AP, with Marquette (11-2) moving up one spot to No. 8. St. John’s remained in the receiving votes category despite its 10-2 start, which has it rated No. 12 by KenPom and ranked No. 24 in the coaches’ poll.
UConn returns after the holiday break with a New Year’s Day matchup at DePaul, set to tip off at 2 p.m. on CBS Sports Network.
Karaban, McNeeley sweep Big East awards
Following a week in which he averaged 20.5 points and 5.5 rebounds to open Big East play 2-0, Karaban earned his first-ever Big East Player of the Week recognition. The redshirt junior scored seven of his 20 points during the overtime period against Xavier and followed that performance with 21 points and six rebounds at Butler, including a pair of clutch 3-pointers in the game’s final two and a half minutes.
Karaban leads the Huskies with 16.5 points per game on 47.6% shooting from the field and a career-best 42.1% from 3, along with his 5.1 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 1.8 blocks per game.
The Big East Freshman of the Week honor was the third in a row and the fourth on the year for McNeeley, who averaged 15.5 points, 5.5 assists and 4.0 rebounds over his first two Big East games. The Big East’s Preseason Freshman of the Year, McNeeley has contributed 13.9 points and 5.8 rebounds per game, both second on the team and amongst Big East freshmen.
AP Top 25 men’s basketball poll: Week 8
- Tennessee (41)
- Auburn (21)
- Iowa State
- Duke
- Alabama
- Florida
- Kansas
- Marquette
- Oregon
- Kentucky
- UConn
- Oklahoma
- Texas A&M
- Gonzaga
- Houston
- Ole Miss
- Cincinnati
- Michigan State
- Mississippi State
- San Diego State
- Purdue
- UCLA
- Arkansas
- Illinois
- Baylor
