Jayhawks jump four spots to No. 5 in latest AP poll

By Matt Tait     Feb 13, 2023

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Oklahoma guard Milos Uzan (12) shoots as Kansas guard Kevin McCullar Jr. (15) defends in the second half of an NCAA college basketball game Saturday, Feb. 11, 2023, in Norman, Okla. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

The Kansas men’s basketball team is back in the role of highest-ranked Big 12 Conference men’s hoops team this week in the Associated Press poll.

After wins over Texas and Oklahoma last week, the Jayhawks jumped up four spots to No. 5 in the latest AP Top 25.

KU is one of six Big 12 teams ranked in the top 22 spots in the poll, with three of those landing in the top nine — Texas is down a spot from last week and ranked No. 6 and Baylor jumped five spots to No. 9.

Kansas State, which split with TCU and Texas Tech last week, stayed put at No. 12 while Iowa State dropped eight spots to No. 19 and TCU dropped five spots to No. 22. Both teams lost both of their games last week.

Oklahoma State, which will play host to Kansas at 8 p.m. Tuesday night in Stillwater, Oklahoma, was new to the poll this week, receiving the sixth most votes of any team that did not crack the Top 25.

Missouri was the top team in the receiving votes category, with 114, while Northwestern picked up 96 points after its upset of previously No. 1-ranked Purdue.

The Boilermakers lost for the second week in a row, but this time the lost cost them the top spot. Purdue dropped to No. 3, behind new No. 1 Alabama and Houston at No. 2. All three teams received first-place votes, with ‘Bama getting 38, Houston 22 and Purdue two.

UCLA and KU rounded out this week’s top five, while Texas, Virginia, Arizona, Baylor and Tennessee made up the rest of the top 10.

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Written By Matt Tait

A native of Colorado, Matt moved to Lawrence in 1988 and has been in town ever since. He graduated from Lawrence High in 1996 and the University of Kansas in 2000 with a degree in Journalism. After covering KU sports for the University Daily Kansan and Rivals.com, Matt joined the World Company (and later Ogden Publications) in 2001 and has held several positions with the paper and KUsports.com in the past 20+ years. He became the Journal-World Sports Editor in 2018. Throughout his career, Matt has won several local and national awards from both the Associated Press Sports Editors and the Kansas Press Association. In 2021, he was named the Kansas Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sports Media Association. Matt lives in Lawrence with his wife, Allison, and two daughters, Kate and Molly. When he's not covering KU sports, he likes to spend his time playing basketball and golf, listening to and writing music and traveling the world with friends and family.