Arizona men’s basketball drops to 8th in AP Top 25 following Stanford loss

After climbing back to its highest ranking of the season, Arizona has been knocked down a few more rungs after losing at Stanford over the weekend.

The Wildcats (22-4, 11-4 Pac-12) dropped four spots to No. 8 in the latest Associated Press Top 25, but remained in the Top 10 for the 10^th time in 15 rankings. They were a Top-10 team in 14 polls a season ago.

Arizona’s 88-79 loss at Stanford, combined with UCLA pulling off a road sweep of the Oregon schools, not only moved the Bruins (21-4, 12-2) two games up on the UA in the Pac-12 standings but also moved them back ahead in the poll. UCLA moved up three spots to No. 4.

There’s a new No. 1, with Alabama (22-3) taking over the top spot following a second loss in as many weeks for Purdue (23-3), which slipped to third. The rest of the Top 5 is Houston (23-2) at No. 3 and Kansas (20-5) at No. 5.

Besides UCLA, the other ranked teams Arizona has beaten this season are No. 10 Tennessee (19-6), No. 14 Indiana (18-7), No. 18 Creighton (17-8) and No. 21 San Diego State (20-5).

Arizona plays its next three games at McKale Center, the first one against Utah (17-9, 10-5) on Thursday.