Arizona men’s basketball rises to No. 4 in Associated Press Top 25

The No. 5 spot in the Associated Press poll has been an unlucky one since the calendar turned to 2023, with every team ranked there lost at least once in the ensuing week.

Until Arizona. And combined with losses from teams above them, the Wildcats are moving up.

Arizona (21-3, 10-3 Pac-12) is now No. 4 in the AP Top 25, tied for its highest ranking of the season. The UA was also 4^th in early December before losing at Utah to open Pac-12 play.

Losses by Purdue and Tennessee provided another shakeup to the Top 5, with Purdue (22-2) staying at No. 1 (but losing 24 first-place votes) while Houston (22-2) and Alabama (20-3) are second and third, respectively.

One of those first-place voters the Boilermakers lost went to Arizona, as it was voted No. 1 by Dave Preston of WTOP radio in Washington, DC.

UCLA (19-4, 10-2) remains the only other ranked Pac-12 team, sitting at No. 7.

Arizona has won its last six games since losing two of three in the first half of January, holding opponents to 61 points per contest. Next up on the schedule is a trip to the Bay Area, facing Cal (3-19, 2-9) on Thursday and Stanford (10-13, 4-8) on Saturday.