Both Kansas and West Virginia moved up in this week’s Associated Press Top 25, setting up a battle of top-7 teams at Allen Fieldhouse on Tuesday night in the Jayhawks’ final game of 2020.
Thanks to losses by Iowa and Michigan State, as well as their own victory over then-No. 14 Texas Tech last week, the Jayhawks jumped two spots to No. 3 in this week’s poll.
Unbeatens Gonzaga and Baylor remained in the top two spots, with Iowa falling just one spot to No. 4 and Villanova jumping from No. 7 to No. 5 to round out the top five.
West Virginia, which opened Big 12 play with a win over Iowa State last week, moved up one spot from No. 8 to No. 7, and the Mountaineers head to Lawrence with a record that’s identical to that of Kansas — 7-1 with the lone loss to top-ranked Gonzaga.
Two more future-KU foes moved up in the top 10 this week, with Tennessee (4-0) moving from No. 10 to No. 8 and Texas (7-1) jumping from 11th to 10th.
The Jayhawks, who have now been ranked in the AP Top 25 for an NCAA record 225 consecutive weeks, will host Texas on Jan. 2 for the first of two matchups with the Longhorns this season. And KU is slated to travel to Tennessee on Jan. 30 for the annual SEC/Big 12 Challenge.
Texas Tech (6-2) dropped just one spot this week to No. 15 after its loss to Kansas. And Oklahoma State, which received three votes in this week’s poll, is the only other Big 12 team in this week’s poll.
Kansas and West Virginia are slated to tip off at 8 p.m. Tuesday night at Allen Fieldhouse on ESPN2.
Here’s a look at this week’s complete Top 25:
—————————
1 – Gonzaga, 4-0, 1,597 (61)
2 – Baylor, 5-0, 1,538 (3)
3 – Kansas, 7-1, 1,426
4 – Iowa, 6-1, 1,365
5 – Villanova, 7-1, 1,304
6 – Houston, 5-0, 1,272
7 – West Virginia, 7-1, 1,225
8 – Tennessee, 4-0, 1,109
9 – Wisconsin, 6-1, 1,051
10 – Texas, 7-1, 1,035
11 – Rutgers, 6-0, 878
12 – Michigan State, 6-1, 839
13 – Creighton, 6-2, 773
14 – Missouri, 5-0, 768
15 – Texas Tech, 6-2, 661
16 – Virginia, 3-1, 510
17 – North Carolina, 5-2, 492
18 – Illinois, 5-3, 468
19 – Michigan, 6-0, 367
20 – Duke, 3-2, 352
21 – Florida State, 4-1, 335
22 – Xavier, 8-0, 249
23 – Ohio State, 6-1, 245
24 – Virginia Tech, 6-1, 181
25 – Oregon, 6-1, 167
**Others receiving votes:** San Diego State 146, Richmond 142, Saint Louis 64, Arkansas 54, Indiana 53, Clemson 28, Florida 20, Georgia 19, Colorado 13, BYU 9, Purdue 9, Louisville 8, Northwestern 7, UCF 6, Minnesota 4, UCLA 3, Oklahoma State 3, LSU 2, Western Kentucky 2, SMU 1
