The UConn men's basketball team, one of four ranked teams in the Big East, held at No. 5 in this week's AP poll despite a stunning loss in its conference opener.
The UConn men’s basketball team held at No. 5 in the AP poll for the fourth consecutive week despite a stunning loss at Seton Hall to open Big East play on Wednesday. The Huskies (11-2, 1-1 Big East) responded with a close, 69-65, win over St. John’s in their home conference opener on Saturday.
It is UConn’s seventh consecutive week ranked in the AP top five, which saw no movement this week.
Purdue remains No. 1 and Kansas, after a 15-point win over Yale on Friday, held at No. 2. Houston (12-0) and Arizona, despite a double-overtime loss to Florida Atlantic, are No. 3 and 4, respectively.
The Big East has four teams ranked in the top 25, led by the Huskies with Marquette dropping to No. 10 after its 15-point road loss to Providence, which entered the poll at No. 25 for the first time this season, also beating Butler in overtime on Saturday. An overtime loss to Villanova sent Creighton down 10 spots to No. 22.
UConn, No. 8 in the NCAAs NET rankings, is 2-1 in Quad One games and 2-1 in Quad Two.
Previous opponent North Carolina moved into the top 10 after beating Oklahoma, Gonzaga moved up to No. 13 and Texas dropped to No. 21.
UConn has a mandatory three-day break for the holidays and will return to action in the new year with DePaul visiting on Jan. 2. The Huskies will be without 7-foot-2 sophomore Donovan Clingan for the next 3-4 weeks of Big East play after the center suffered an injury to a tendon in his right foot in the loss at Seton Hall. Junior backup Samson Johnson, starting for the second time in his college career, had 16 points and four rebounds to win a tough matchup against St. John’s Joel Soriano before the break.