Kentucky survived a pair of overtime games to stay unbeaten, though those tougher-than-expected wins loosened the Wildcats’ hold a bit on the top spot in the AP Top 25.
The top-ranked Wildcats (15-0) were atop 63 of 65 votes cast Monday, ending a run of five straight weeks as the unanimous No. 1. Kentucky beat Mississippi at home in overtime in its Southeastern Conference opener then won in double OT at Texas A&M.
“Every team right now has issues in the country. Every team,” coach John Calipari said Monday. “Every team’s working through something. All I’ll tell you is I’m happy I’m coaching this team. I believe I have the best team in the country with the best players. So we got some things to figure out.”
Virginia (15-0) earned the other two first-place votes and moved up a spot to No. 2 as the only other unbeaten team after Duke’s loss at North Carolina State. The Cavaliers have their highest ranking since reaching No. 2 in Ralph Sampson’s final year in March 1983.
Gonzaga was third, followed by the Blue Devils – who fell from second and were among five top-10 losers – and Villanova.