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Gonzaga Basketball

Gonzaga slips five spots to No. 15 in AP Top 25 after loss to UConn

Gonzaga Bulldogs forward Jun Seok Yeo (21) puts his arm around teammate guard Dusty Stromer (4) as time expires and the Bulldogs fall to the Connecticut Huskies during the second half of of a college basketball game on Friday, Dec. 15, 2023, at Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle, Wash. The Connecticut Huskies won the game 76-63. (Tyler Tjomsland / The Spokesman-Review)
By Theo Lawson theol@spokesman.com(509) 459-5584

For the second time in a week, Gonzaga lost a game in Seattle and paid the price in the next edition of the Associated Press Top 25 poll.

One week after a 78-73 loss to Washington at Alaska Airlines Arena that pushed them down three spots in the weekly rankings, the Zags suffered a 76-63 loss to UConn on Friday at Climate Pledge Arena and dropped five more spots to No. 15 in Monday’s Top 25 poll.

After opening the season at No. 11, it’s the lowest ranking for Gonzaga since the Bulldogs fell to No. 16 in a Feb. 6, 2023, edition of the AP poll after a road West Coast Conference loss to Saint Mary’s.

Purdue, which beat Gonzaga 73-63 in the first round of the Maui Invitational, took over the No. 1 ranking after beating Arizona, coached by former GU assistant Tommy Lloyd, 92-84 in Indianapolis on Saturday.

Rounding out the top 10 were No. 2 Kansas, No. 3 Houston, No. 4 Arizona, No. 5 UConn, No. 6 Marquette, No. 7 Oklahoma, No. 8 Tennessee, No. 9 Kentucky and No. 10 Baylor.

UConn didn’t move in Monday’s poll after cruising past Gonzaga during Friday’s Elite Eight rematch in Seattle.

After playing eight games against ranked foes last year during the regular season and conference tournament, the Bulldogs have faced just two up to this point and might play only one other – Kentucky on Feb. 10 in Lexington – the remainder of the regular season.

San Diego State and Saint Mary’s entered the season ranked No. 17 and No. 23 respectively, but the Aztecs dropped out of the poll after an early loss to BYU and are unlikely to crack the Top 25 again before a Dec. 29 showdown with the Bulldogs at McCarthey Athletic Center.

The Gaels, meanwhile, have already suffered five losses and narrowly avoided a sixth, edging UNLV in double overtime on Saturday at the Jerry Colangelo Classic in Phoenix.

Gonzaga was No. 33 in the NCAA NET rankings prior to the UConn game but since dropped to No. 36. The Bulldogs are now 0-3 in Quad 1 games, but 8-0 in all other contests.

Previously ranked No. 13 in the USA Today Coaches Poll, the Bulldogs dropped three spots to No. 16 on Monday. Purdue, Kansas, Houston, Arizona and UConn also make up the top five in the Coaches Poll.