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Men's basketball AP poll: UConn drops 23 spots after losing 3 straight games to unranked teams in Hawaii

Kansas held at No. 1 after it beat Cooper Flagg and Duke last week

ryan young
Staff writer
·5 min read
The Maui Invitational was not kind to Dan Hurley or the Huskies last week.
The Maui Invitational was not kind to Dan Hurley or the Huskies last week. (Brian Spurlock/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Feast Week is now behind us, and top-ranked Kansas made it out of the tournaments unscathed. UConn, and more specifically head coach Dan Hurley, however, wasn’t so lucky.

Here’s everything you missed in Week 4 of the college basketball season, and the latest Associated Press men’s basketball poll.

UConn completely fell apart in Hawaii last week.

In fact, things got so bad that Hurley doesn’t want to play in any tournament like it ever again.

“I’m not doing another 3-game [multi-team event] again,” Hurley said Sunday. “Moving forward, we will only play home-and-homes or single-game events in big time arenas. I don’t think I’ll ever do a three-game MTE again, unless I’m not coaching here … [There’s] zero chance I ever do that again.”

While that’s almost certainly an overreaction in the wake of a bad week, it’s easy to see why Hurley feels that way after the Maui Invitational. The reigning back-to-back national champions lost three straight games to unranked opponents at the Lahaina Civic Center.

First, they fell to Memphis in overtime in the opening round. Hurley ripped the officiating after the game, too, and blamed the loss on “s****y calls” despite the fact that he was called for a critical late technical foul as part of a seven-point swing in overtime. Colorado handed the Huskies another loss the next day, and then Dayton beat them by 18 points on Wednesday to wrap up the event. UConn star Alex Karaban was taken to the hospital with a head injury during that game, too, after his head hit the floor in the final minutes of the contest.

While UConn recovered with a 54-point throttling against Maryland-Eastern Shore on Saturday, the damage was done. UConn, which entered the week at No. 2 in the country, fell 23 spots in this week’s poll to No. 25.

UConn’s tumble completely reset the top five in the national rankings. Kansas held strong at No. 1, as it’s still undefeated at 7-0, but Auburn jumped to take the Huskies’ spot right behind the Jayhawks. The Tigers beat Iowa State on a game-winning bucket in Hawaii before beating North Carolina and Memphis to win the tournament title and remain undefeated.

Tennessee jumped to No. 3, and Kentucky and Marquette then rounded out the top five. Memphis entered the poll for the first time after its run to the title game in Hawaii. The Tigers are ranked No. 16 this week.

There is no doubt that Hurley has a good team. The Huskies should be capable of making a decent run come March, too, when they will try to defend their national title. But how the team, and Hurley specifically, recover after this skid in the very near future can define its season. They’ll host No. 15 Baylor in the Big 12-Big East Battle on Wednesday before traveling to Texas and then taking on No. 7 Gonzaga in New York next week.

If Hurley can’t turn things around quickly, dreams of a three-peat in Storrs will be over before conference play can even get going.

*Neutral site game

Wednesday, Dec. 4

No. 15 Baylor at No. 25 UConn | 6:30 p.m. ET | FS1

No. 10 Alabama at No. 20 North Carolina | 7:15 p.m. ET | ESPN

No. 5 Marquette at No. 6 Iowa State | 8 p.m. ET | ESPN+

No. 1 Kansas at Creighton | 8:30 p.m. ET | FS1

No. 2 Auburn at No. 9 Duke | 9:15 p.m. ET | ESPN

Saturday, Dec. 7

No. 11 Wisconsin at No. 5 Marquette | 1:30 p.m. ET | Fox

No. 4 Kentucky at No. 7 Gonzaga | 10 p.m. ET | ESPN2*

The full Associated Press men’s basketball poll from Dec. 2, 2024.

1. Kansas (7-0)

2. Auburn (7-0)

3. Tennessee (7-0)

4. Kentucky (7-0)

5. Marquette (8-0)

6. Iowa State (5-1)

7. Gonzaga (7-1)

8. Purdue (7-1)

9. Duke (5-2)

10. Alabama (6-2)

11. Wisconsin (8-0)

12. Oregon (8-0)

13. Florida (8-0)

14. Cincinnati (6-0)

15. Baylor (5-2)

16. Memphis (6-1)

17. Houston (4-3)

18. Pittsburgh (7-1)

19. Illinois (6-1)

20. North Carolina (4-3)

21. Oklahoma (7-0)

22. Texas A&M (6-2)

23. Ole Miss (6-1)

24. San Diego State (4-2)

25. UConn (5-3)

Others receiving votes: Michigan State 108, Arkansas 104, Texas 97, Michigan 95, Arizona St 89, Indiana 72, Drake 58, Xavier 33, Utah State 28, Louisville 27, West Virginia 26, Clemson 25, BYU 24, Dayton 24, Texas Tech 22, Nebraska 22, Mississippi State 20, Ohio State 19, Maryland 13, UCLA 13, Creighton 12, Saint Mary's 11, Georgia 10, St. John's 7, Loyola Chicago 4, Florida St. 3, DePaul 3, UC Irvine 2, Columbia 2