Tennessee And Arkansas Move Up To No. 13 and 14 in AP Poll, Auburn, Kentucky Fall To 5 And 7

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Tennessee and Arkansas each jumped four spots to No. 13 and No. 14, respectively, in the latest Associated Press men's college basketball poll released Monday.

The Volunteers (21-7, 12-4 SEC) beat then-No. 3 Auburn, 67-62, at home on Saturday, while Arkansas (23-6, 12-4) beat then-No. 6 Kentucky, 75-73, at home. Auburn (25-4, 13-3), which leads the SEC by one game over Arkansas, Kentucky and Tennessee, dropped two spots to No. 5. Kentucky (23-6, 12-4) fell one spot to No. 7.

The other ranked SEC team is Alabama (19-10, 9-7) at No. 25 after falling one spot.

The SEC regular season comes to an end this week with two more games on the schedule for all 14 members before the SEC Tournament opens on March 9 in Tampa, Florida. Tennessee will be in action Tuesday night at Georgia (6-23, 1-15) at 6:30 p.m. eastern on the SEC Network.

Arkansas will host LSU (20-9, 8-8) Wednesday (ESPN2, 9 p.m.) with Auburn hosting Mississippi State (17-12, 8-8) at the same time on the SEC Network. Key Saturday games with likely SEC title implications are Arkansas at Tennessee (ESPN, noon), South Carolina (17-11, 8-8) at Auburn (SEC Network, 1 p.m.) and Florida (18-11, 8-8) hosting Kentucky (CBS, 2 p.m.)

Gonzaga (24-3) remained No. 1 in the poll despite a 67-57 loss at Saint Mary's on Saturday night. Saint Mary's (24-6) moved from No. 23 to No. 19.

Arizona (25-3) also stayed at No. 2, even though it lost 79-63 at unranked Colorado (19-10). Baylor (24-5) moved from No. 10 to No. 3 after beating No. 5 Kansas, 80-70, at home on Saturday. Kansas (23-5) dropped one spot to No. 6.

Duke (25-4) moved from No. 7 to No. 4, replacing Purdue, which lost 68-65 to unranked Michigan State (19-9). Purdue (24-5) is now No. 8.

Providence (24-3) is No. 9. Texas Tech (22-7) was No. 9 but lost to unranked TCU, 69-66, and fell to No. 12. Wisconsin (23-5).

In all, seven top 10 teams lost on Saturday.

The second 10 also has No. 11 Villanova, No. 14 Houston in a tie for that spot with Arkansas, No. 16 USC, No. 17 UCLA, No. 18 Connecticut and No. 20 Illinois. The bottom five has No. 21 Texas, No. 22 Murray State, No. 23 Ohio State and No. 24 Iowa.

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Guilbeau joined OutKick as an SEC columnist in September of 2021 after covering LSU and the Saints for 17 years at USA TODAY Louisiana. He has been a national columnist/feature writer since the summer of 2022, covering college football, basketball and baseball with some NFL, NBA, MLB, TV and Movies and general assignment, including hot dog taste tests. A New Orleans native and Mizzou graduate, he has consistently won Associated Press Sports Editors (APSE) and Football Writers Association of America (FWAA) awards since covering Alabama and Auburn at the Mobile Press-Register (1993-98) and LSU and the Saints at the Baton Rouge Advocate (1998-2004). In 2021, Guilbeau won an FWAA 1st for a game feature, placed in APSE Beat Writing, Breaking News and Explanatory, and won Beat Writer of the Year from the Louisiana Sports Writers Association (LSWA). He won an FWAA columnist 1st in 2017 and was FWAA's top overall winner in 2016 with 1st in game story, 2nd in columns, and features honorable mention. Guilbeau completed a book in 2022 about LSU's five-time national champion coach - "Everything Matters In Baseball: The Skip Bertman Story" - that is available at www.acadianhouse.com, Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble outlets. He lives in Baton Rouge with his wife, the former Michelle Millhollon of Thibodaux who previously covered politics for the Baton Rouge Advocate and is a communications director.