Riding 11-game win streak, Gonzaga moves up to No. 6 in Associated Press poll

Now riding an 11-game win streak, Gonzaga continues to move up the national college basketball polls.

Coming off a tense one-point victory at BYU and a home blowout of Portland, the Bulldogs (16-3, 5-0 West Coast) moved up two more spots to No. 6 in Week 11 of the Associated Press Top 25.

Gonzaga hasn’t lost since Dec. 2, when the Bulldogs were clipped by Baylor at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The Zags fell to No. 18 in the AP poll following the Baylor loss.

Two teams ahead of GU lost games last week, making way for the Zags to match their second-highest ranking of the 2022-23 season. UConn, previously ranked No. 5, slid to No. 15 after losing to Marquette and St. John’s, while Tennessee dropped to No. 9 after Saturday’s loss to unranked Kentucky.

The top-four of No. 1 Houston, No. 2 Kansas, No. 3 Purdue and No. 4 Alabama remained intact while UCLA climbed up two spots to take over the No. 5 position.

Purdue, which handed Gonzaga its second loss of the season at the Phil Knight Legacy, and Alabama, which lost to the Bulldogs last month in Birmingham, are two of four GU nonconference opponents occupying top-10 spots in this week’s poll.

Texas held off two Big-12 opponents to improve to 15-2 on the season and move up three spots to No. 7. The Longhorns beat the Zags 93-74 in Austin on Nov. 16.

Less than two months after Gonzaga edged out unranked Xavier at the PK85, the Musketeers have managed to move up to No. 9 in the AP Top 25. Sean Miller’s team hasn’t lost since facing the Zags in Portland and improved to 7-0 in Big East play with a win over No. 25 Marquette.

Baylor remained at No. 21 in the poll and Michigan State, which lost to Gonzaga on the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier, is still in the receiving votes category.

Among teams not ranked, Saint Mary’s is receiving the second-most votes and should have an opportunity to climb back into the poll prior to its first matchup with Gonzaga, on Feb. 2 in Moraga. The Gaels have won seven in a row and share first place in the WCC with the Zags at 5-0.

Gonzaga and Saint Mary’s both remain inside the top-10 of the NCAA’s NET rankings, at No. 9 and No. 8 respectively. No other WCC teams are in the top-50, with Santa Clara holding the next highest ranking at No. 80. BYU (No. 90) and Loyola Marymount (No. 99) are the other teams from the conference inside the top 100.

The Bulldogs made a similar move in the USA Today Coaches Poll, climbing two spots to No. 6. The Gaels made their debut in the Coaches Poll at No. 24.