After a statement week that featured a pair of home wins against talented teams, UConn men’s basketball rose up two spots to No. 4 in the latest AP Top 25. The 27-3 Huskies are coming off a surprisingly dominant victory on Wednesday over St. John’s in Hartford, as well as an emotional win in Storrs on Saturday over Seton Hall.
All of the teams ranked from No. 4 to No. 10 moved multiple spots either up or down. UConn and Florida each went up two to round out the Top 5, while both Iowa State and Houston
dropped two to No. 6 and No. 7 respectively.
St. John’s remains the only other Big East team ranked in the poll this week, checking in at No. 18 after having the rare “32 point loss and 32 point win” week with a major defeat to the Huskies and an impressive rout of Villanova. The Wildcats are still the only other school in the conference to receive any votes, accumulating just four this week.
Arizona, UConn’s only non-conference loss of the season, defeated Kansas by 23 at home this weekend to continue its impressive response to a pair of losses a few weeks back. The Huskies have four wins this season against teams currently ranked in the poll in No. 5 Florida, No. 11 Illinois, No. 14 Kansas and No. 18 St. John’s. For the first time all season, BYU is not in the rankings as the Cougars have dropped seven of their past 10 games.
The Huskies return to action this week on Saturday as UConn closes the regular season with a road trip to Milwaukee to take on Marquette before heading back to Madison Square Garden for the Big East Tournament next week.
Looking at NET rating, UConn jumped two spots to No. 8 from last Monday with the rout over St. John’s holding a lot of weight. The Huskies are one of 10 teams in the country with at least eight Quad One wins this season. Looking ahead to this next week, on the road against Marquette, No. 109 in NET, is considered a Quad Two opportunity. In terms of KenPom, UConn ranks No. 10 overall, No. 20 in offensive efficiency and No. 11 in defensive efficiency.
