Arizona narrowly holds on to No. 1 spot in AP Top 25 poll

Field Level Media|published: Mon 5th January, 14:07 2026

Iowa State Cyclones men's basketball head coach T.J. Otzelberger greets Arizona Wildcats men's basketball head coach Tommy Lloyd before cyclones and Wildcats game in the Big-12 men’s basketball showdown at Hilton Coliseum on Saturday March 1, 2025 in Ames, Iowa.

Arizona maintained the slimmest of grips on No. 1 in the latest Associated Press men's top 25 poll released Monday.

The Wildcats (14-0) earned 32 first-place votes, with Michigan (13-0) garnering the remaining 29. In all, Arizona received 1,494 votes, with the Wolverines capturing just one fewer.

The top six in the voting remained unchanged, with Iowa State (14-0), UConn (14-1), Purdue (13-1) and Duke (13-1) slotting into those spots.

Houston (13-1) and Gonzaga (16-1) flipped places, with the Cougars moving into the No. 7 slot and the Bulldogs No. 8. BYU (13-1) moved up a spot to No. 9, and Nebraska (14-0) rose three places to No. 10.

Falling out of the top 10 was Michigan State (12-2), which slid three places after a two-point loss to Nebraska on Friday.

Iowa (12-2) took the biggest climb on the week, rising six spots to No. 19. The biggest plunge belonged to North Carolina (13-2) and Kansas (10-4), which tumbled five spots each.

Entering the poll were No. 24 SMU (12-2) and No. 25 UCF (12-1). Out of the top 25 were Southern California and Florida.

The defending national champion Gators dropped to 9-5 on the season after a 76-74 loss to Missouri.

The rest of the top 25:

11. Vanderbilt (14-0)

12. Michigan State (12-2)

13. Alabama (11-3)

14. Texas Tech (11-3)

15. Arkansas (11-3)

16. Illinois (11-3)

17. North Carolina (13-2)

18. Georgia (13-1)

19. Iowa (12-2)