TUCSON — The Arizona Wildcats fell seven spots in the first regular-season AP Top 25 men’s basketball poll on Monday after opening the season with a loss to UCLA, Arizona Sports reported.
Arizona had been ranked fifth in the preseason poll. Michigan State moved into the No. 5 spot.
UCLA beat the Wildcats 84-75 in Las Vegas in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame Series. The Bruins’ Trent Perry scored 21 points to overcome a career-high 38 from Arizona’s Ivan Kharchenkov. Arizona pulled within a point with 3:11 left before UCLA held on.
“It’s not about how we start the season. It’s about how we end the season,” Wildcats coach Tommy Lloyd said. “Obviously, it hurts when we’re losing. Just remember that feeling.”
The win sent UCLA from No. 22 in the preseason to No. 9, its highest ranking since the final poll of the 2022-23 season.
Florida stayed at No. 1 with 53 of 60 first-place votes, Duke received the other seven, and the top four were unchanged with Illinois third and UConn fourth. Virginia climbed three spots to sixth.
“They’re going to win a lot of games, man,” UCLA coach Mick Cronin said of Arizona.
Sources: Arizona Sports. Thee Arizona Times uses AI-assisted reporting reviewed against the sources listed.
Photo: Nihilist007 / CC0 via Wikimedia Commons.
