UConn men’s basketball jumps to No. 18 in AP Top 25 poll

The UConn men’s basketball team jumped three spots to No. 18 in the Associated Press Top 25 poll released Monday. The move comes after the Huskies’ wins over Villanova and Georgetown.

Elsewhere in the Big East, Providence moved up to No. 9 after the Friars clinches their first ever regular-season conference title. Villanova dropped to No. 11 while Marquette was the only other Big East program to receive votes.

It was a wild weekend around the country, with seven top-10 teams losing. However, Gonzaga remained No. 1 despite a double-digit loss to Saint Mary’s on Saturday and Arizona stayed in the No. 2 spot after a loss to Colorado. Baylor jumped seven spots to No. 3 after knocking off Kansas, who dropped one spot to No. 6.

Duke moved to No. 4 after wins over Virginia and Syracuse, while Auburn dropped to No. 5. Kentucky and Purdue dropped to Nos. 7 and 8, respectively, and Wisconsin rounded out the top 10.

UConn (21-7, 12-5) enters the final week of the regular season as winners of five straight and still jockeying for position entering the Big East tournament. The Huskies are currently third in the Big East standings, with an outside chance of passing Villanova for second — the Wildcats still have games against Providence and Butler.

On Wednesday, UConn travels to Omaha to avenge an early-season loss to Creighton before returning home for Senior Day against DePaul at Gampel on Saturday.