Arizona climbs to No. 4, expects Allen, Ristic back this week
Arizona has moved up to a season-high No. 4 in this week's college basketball rankings heading into two big home games that could go a long way toward cementing a Pac-12 title for the Wildcats.
Arizona (25-3, 14-1 Pac-12) hosts USC (21-6, 8-6) on Thursday and fifth-ranked UCLA (24-3, 11-3) on Saturday at McKale Center. The Wildcats are one game clear of Oregon (24-4, 13-2) in the conference standings with two weeks remaining, but the Ducks hold the tie-breaker due to a head-to-head victory in the team's only meeting of the season.
The Wildcats posted a pair of road victories over Washington State and Washington last week. Freshman forward Lauri Markkanen averaged 22.5 points and 12.0 rebounds in the two games to earn Pac-12 Player of the Week honors for the second time.
Arizona coach Sean Miller said Monday that he expects guard Kadeem Allen and center Dusan Ristic to be "fully functional" for this week's games, after Allen missed both of last week's games (dislocated pinkie) and Ristic (sprained ankle) played only 12 minutes on Thursday.
Miller said Allen could require a few weeks to recover completely, but the injury shouldn't prevent him from playing.
"Hopefully it's a positive for Kadeem, because he’s led our team in minutes and, sometimes when a guy can get a brief stretch away . . . you have kind of have a renewed energy. We ask a lot of him, especially considering how much we depend on him as a defensive player."
Arizona, UCLA and Oregon are back-to-back-to-back in the AP rankings, fourth through sixth. The top three spots remain occupied by Gonzaga (28-0), Villanova (26-20 and Kansas (24-3).
Rounding out the Top 10 after the three Pac-12 teams are Louisville, North Carolina, Baylor and Duke. Baylor dropped from fourth to ninth following a pair of losses last week -- allowing Arizona to climb to No. 4.
Wichita State (25-4) makes its Top 25 debut this week at No. 25, while South Carolina (20-7) drops out after losses to Arkansas and Vanderbilt.
In addition to UCLA-Arizona, other Top-25 matchups this week include:
No. 7 Louisville at No. 8 North Carolina and No. 22 Butler at No. 2 Villanova on Wednesday.
No. 23 Creighton at No. 2 Villanova and No. 13 Florida at No. 11 Kentucky on Saturday.
AP Top 25
The top 25 teams in The Associated Press' college basketball poll, with records through Feb. 19:
1. Gonzaga (59) 28-0 1618 1
2. Villanova (5) 26-2 1556 2
3. Kansas (1) 24-3 1503 3
4. Arizona 25-3 1356 5
5. UCLA 24-3 1316 6
6. Oregon 24-4 1297 7
7. Louisville 22-5 1267 8
8. North Carolina 23-5 1138 10
9. Baylor 22-5 1108 4
10. Duke 22-5 1014 12
11. Kentucky 22-5 943 13
12. West Virginia 21-6 908 9
13. Florida 22-5 822 15
14. Purdue 22-5 807 16
15. Cincinnati 24-3 733 18
16. Wisconsin 22-5 713 11
17. SMU 24-4 554 19
18. Virginia 18-8 427 14
19. Florida State 21-6 419 17
20. Saint Mary's 24-3 375 22
21. Notre Dame 21-7 322 25
22. Butler 21-6 295 24
23. Creighton 22-5 178 20
24. Maryland 22-5 159 23
25. Wichita State 25-4 153 --
Others receiving votes: VCU 39, Northwestern 25, Iowa State 22, South Carolina 12, Southern Cal 10, Dayton 9, Middle Tennessee 8, Oklahoma State 7, Minnesota 5, Miami 2, Monmouth (N.J.) 2, Michigan 1, Vermont 1, Virginia Tech 1.
