Purdue new No. 1 in AP Top 25; Houston No. 2

Field Level Media
18 Nov 2025, 01:10 GMT+10

(Photo credit: Marc Lebryk-Imagn Images)

Purdue reclaimed the No. 1 spot from Houston in the Associated Press Top 25 men's college basketball poll released on Monday.

The Boilermakers (4-0) received 44 of 61 first-place ballots on the strength of an 87-80 road win over then-No. 8 Alabama (2-1), who dropped to the No. 11 spot.

The Cougars didn't fall far, dropping just to No. 2 with 12 first-place ballots after topping Oakland by 33 points and squeaking past No. 22 Auburn (3-1) by just one point.

Other first-place votes went to UConn (4-0, two first-place votes), who stayed at No. 3, while Arizona (4-0, two first-place votes) moved up a spot to bump Duke (4-0) back to No. 5 with one first-place vote.

Louisville (4-0) and Illinois (4-0) broke into the top ten by jumping six spots each. The Cardinals landed at No. 6 after beating Ohio by 25 points and winning against then No. 9 Kentucky, who dropped to No. 12. Illinois takes the No. 8 spot with wins over Colgate and then-No. 11 Texas Tech (3-1), who dropped to No. 15. Gonzaga (4-0) also jumped six spots to No. 13.

Michigan (3-0) fell one spot to No. 7 and BYU (3-1) dropped two spots to No. 9, while Florida stayed steady in the ten spot.

Creighton fell out of the poll, bringing NC State (3-0) onto the list at No. 25 after a 110-64 dominance of UNC-Greensboro.

The rest of the Top 25:

11. Alabama (2-1)

12. Kentucky (3-1)

13. Gonzaga (4-0)

14. St. John's (2-1)

15. Texas Tech (3-1)

16. Iowa State (3-0)

17. Michigan State (3-0)

18. North Carolina (4-0)

19. UCLA (3-1)

20. Tennessee (3-0)

21. Arkansas (3-1)

22. Auburn (3-1)

23. Wisconsin (3-0)

24. Kansas (3-1)

25. NC State (3-0)

--Field Level Media

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