The Wildcats’ ascension from the No. 2 slot means Saturday a top-ranked team will be visiting Kansas University’s Allen Fieldhouse for the first time since Feb. 15, 1989, when

No. 1 Oklahoma tripped unranked KU, 94-89, in overtime.

“At this point, I would say that there are a number of teams that are playing basketball better than we are,” Arizona coach Lute Olson said Monday.

His Wildcats (13-1 overall, 6-0 Pac Ten) play host to Arizona State (12-5, 4-2) on Wednesday before heading to streaking Kansas (13-3), which jumped six slots to No. 6.

“You take a look at what (No. 2) Pittsburgh is doing against really good competition,” Olson said. “Kansas had the early losses, but over the last couple of weeks, they have been as good as anybody, just as people expected them to be at the start of the season. (No. 8) Kentucky is playing really well at this point and so is (No. 9) Louisville.”

KU opened at No. 2 in the AP poll and stayed there the first two weeks of the regular season. But the Jayhawks dipped to No. 14 on Dec. 2 after losing to North Carolina and Florida at the Preseason NIT in New York. Kansas plunged all the way to No. 20 on Dec. 9 after a loss at Oregon.

During the last five weeks, KU had been ranked 19, 19, 18, 14 and 12, just now returning to the national limelight thanks to a 10-game winning streak heading into an 8 p.m. battle Wednesday at Colorado.

“Part of it has been nice,” KU coach Roy Williams said of getting unnoticed by the national media the past several weeks, “but the way that we got under the radar, with all those people beating our tails early, that wasn’t very nice.

“At the beginning of the season I didn’t feel like that ranking was quite justified because we were so thin. Still, I feel that way, and yet, if we can get Wayne (Simien, dislocated shoulder) back, I think we’ve strengthened ourselves with the way Jeff Graves has matured since we told him we had to have him be a player for us.

“Hopefully our team continues to grow during this whole process. I think we gained something from those losses, even though I think we could have possibly gained something by sneaking out a win in one or two of those games as well.”

Arizona topped the poll for five weeks until suffering a loss at LSU. The Wildcats replace Duke (12-1), now No. 3 after falling at Maryland. Pittsburgh (14-1) is No. 2 after ending Syracuse’s 11-game winning streak Saturday.

Texas, which visits KU on Monday, remained fourth, and was followed by Florida, Kansas, Oklahoma, Kentucky, Louisville and Creighton. Missouri (10-3) fell from No. 11 to 21 after a blowout loss at Oklahoma State.

Connecticut was 11th, and Maryland 12th, followed by Oklahoma State, Indiana, Alabama, Notre Dame, Wake Forest, Illinois, Georgia and Marquette. The final five ranked teams were Missouri, Mississippi State, Oregon, Auburn and California. California (12-2) has won six straight since losing to Kansas.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.