Arizona men’s basketball jumps to No. 6 in Associated Press Top 25

The Arizona Wildcats only got one game in last week, an easy win over Washington. But that victory combined with losses from several teams above them provided the path to climb the Associated Press rankings.

The UA (12-1, 2-0 Pac-12) is No. 6 in the latest AP Top 25, up from No. 8 a week ago. The Wildcats benefitted from losses by Duke, Purdue and Kansas, who went from 2^nd, 3^rd and 6^th to 8th, 7th and 9th, respectively. Meanwhile, Auburn leapfrogged the UA, going up five spots to No. 4

The No. 6 ranking is Arizona’s highest since being No. 3 in November 2017 and the fifth consecutive week in the Top 10 is the Wildcats’ longest run ranked that high since doing so for the final eight weeks of the 2016-17 season.

The Pac-12 continues to have three Top 10 teams, with UCLA (10-1, 2-0) at No. 3 and USC (13-0, 3-0) at No. 5. Arizona still has games at those schools to be made up, matchups that were not rescheduled this past week as the Bruins and Trojans returned to action from COVID pauses.

Arizona’s next scheduled game is Thursday at home against Colorado. It will be only the second game in 22 days for the Wildcats.