Utah
BYU drops 6 spots in latest AP Top 25, just ahead of newcomer Utah State
Estimated read time: 2-3
minutes
PROVO — BYU basketball’s first Big 12 loss of the year had a dramatic impact on its Associated Press poll ranking, and the same can be said of Utah State’s biggest home win of the season Saturday night.
The Cougars (12-2, 0-1 Big 12) dropped six spots to No. 18 in the latest AP Top 25 released Monday following Saturday’s 71-60 home loss to Cincinnati in both team’s Big 12 debut, two spots ahead of the Aggies after earning a 77-72 win over then-No. 13 Colorado State.
That’s the first ranking for Utah State (14-1, 2-0 Mountain West) since the 2019-20 team climbed as high as No. 15, and comes with a 13-game winning streak that matches the sixth-longest in program history and ties with Samford for the second-longest active winning streak in the nation.
BYU’s loss to the Bearcats followed Trevin Knell’s career-high 27 points on nine 3-pointers, the second-most 3-pointers in a single game in program history. The redshirt junior from Woods Cross ranks seventh in the country in 3-point percentage at 46.5%, but the rest of the Cougars hit just four 3-pointers in the loss.
BYU 6-foot-11 center Aly Khalifa continues to lead the nation in assist-to-turnover ratio at 8.0:1, with 48 assists to just six turnovers on the year.
Utah State graduate senior Darius Brown II ranks fourth in the country in the same category with a 5.0 clip, and also fourth in assists per game at 7.3.
Purdue sits atop the AP Top 25 for the third straight week ahead of Monday’s top-10 showdown with Big Ten rival Illinois, while Houston jumped Kansas to No. 2 as the last unbeaten squad in Division I men’s basketball.
The Houston Cougars (14-0) opened Big 12 play with a rout of West Virginia a year after Kelvin Sampson’s squad advanced to a third straight Sweet 16 (that also includes an Elite Eight and Final Four appearance in that time frame).
“I think our kids have always had a bit of a chip on their shoulders here,” Sampson said after Houston’s win, per the Associated Press. “We’ve had to get some of our own fans to understand that we’re pretty good. They were so bad for so long. Some of them still have not figured it out. Our kids have, and our coaches have, and we know who we are. And what we’re capable of doing.”
The Big 12 continues to lead the country with six ranked teams, double any other conference. Utah State joins No. 17 Colorado State and No. 19 San Diego State for three from the Mountain West, tied for the second-most nationally with the Big Ten, Big East, ACC and SEC.
The 18th-ranked Cougars will travel to Waco, Texas, for their first Big 12 road game at Baylor before continuing the swing Saturday at UCF.
Utah State is home Tuesday to welcome Wyoming to the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum.