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Gonzaga Basketball

Gonzaga overtakes UCLA, rises to No. 4 in Associated Press Top 25 poll

Gonzaga Bulldogs forward Drew Timme (2) smiles as he is introduced before the first half of a college basketball game against the Texas Tech Red Raiders on Saturday, Dec 18, 2021, at Footprint Center in Phoenix, Ariz. (Tyler Tjomsland / The Spokesman-Review)
By Theo Lawson theol@spokesman.com(509) 459-5584

Two weeks after slipping to No. 5 in the Associated Press Top 25 poll, Gonzaga is on the rise again.

The Bulldogs (9-2) collected their third win over a Top 25 opponent on Saturday against No. 25 Texas Tech and moved up one spot in the AP poll on Monday, jumping UCLA – which had games cancelled due to COVID-19 – to take over at No. 4 in the country.

The 69-55 loss to Gonzaga didn’t harm Texas Tech in the national rankings as the Red Raiders retained their spot at No. 25.

Mark Few’s team moved up in the top-10, as did former assistant Tommy Lloyd, who’s led Arizona to an unbeaten start while becoming the first Pac-12 coach to open his debut season with an 11-0 record since Stanford’s Walter Powell in 1920-21.

Lloyd’s Wildcats moved up two spots, from No. 8 to No. 6 in the week seven rankings, and collected one first-place vote.

Baylor (10-0) held onto the No. 1 ranking for the second straight week after surviving a scare against Oregon in Eugene and grabbed 60 of 61 first-place votes. The Bears are followed by No. 2 Duke (10-1) and No. 3 Purdue (10-1).

The complete top-10 is as follows: No. 1 Baylor, No. 2 Duke, No. 3 Purdue, No. 4 Gonzaga, No. 5 UCLA, No. 6 Arizona, No. 7 Kansas, No. 8 USC, No. 9 Iowa State, No. 10 Alabama.

Gonzaga remains the only team from the West Coast Conference inside the Top 25 poll, but two others are still receiving consideration. BYU (9-2) is eighth among those receiving Top 25 votes while San Francisco (11-1) is 10th. Hours after the Zags beat Texas Tech at the Footprint Center, the Dons absorbed their first loss of the season, a one-point decision to Grand Canyon, at the same venue before bouncing back to beat Arizona State the following day.

The Bulldogs, with a 3-2 record against quadrant one opponents, remain at No. 6 in the NCAA’s NET rankings. Arizona, 3-0 against such teams, held the No. 1 spot in NET.