Auburn keeps finding ways to win – even sometimes in tougher-than-expected games – to maintain its hold on No. 1 in the The Associated Press men’s college basketball poll.
Bruce Pearl’s Tigers haven’t lost since November and are firmly locked into the top spot after earning 48 of 61 first-place votes in Monday’s poll. That came after a narrow road win against a six-win Georgia team over the weekend, which came less than two weeks after a one-point escape against a nine-win Missouri team.
Still, Auburn (22-1) has won 19 straight games since losing in double overtime to Connecticut in November, including all 10 of its Southeastern Conference games.
“We’re 22-1 for a reason,” said Wendell Green Jr., who had a tiebreaking layup late to beat Georgia. “We’ve got winners. We believe we can win against any team in the country. We’ve got big-time players that’s going to make big-time plays.”
Auburn is part of a select group of teams that rank highly on both ends of the court in KenPom’s national statistics. The Tigers rank 13th in adjusted offensive efficiency (116.5 points per 100 possessions) and 14th in defensive efficiency (90.1), joining No. 2 Gonzaga, No. 4 Arizona, No. 5 Kentucky, No. 6 Houston and No. 7 Duke as the only teams ranked in the top 15 of both categories entering the week.