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Gonzaga Basketball

Gonzaga moves up to No. 11 in AP poll, No. 6 in NET rankings

Gonzaga’s Tyon Grant-Foster, Adam Miller (23) and Graham Ike (left) celebrate after the Zags’ 94-86 road win over Santa Clara on Saturday. (TYLER TJOMSLAND/THE SPOKESMAN-REVIEW)
By Jim Meehan jimm@spokesman.com(509) 459-5585

Gonzaga took a step toward returning to the top 10 in the Associated Press poll and the top five in the NET rankings.

The Zags’ 2-0 week resulted in a one-spot gain in both sets of rankings over a seven-day span. GU is No. 11 in the latest media poll and No. 6 in the NET, the latter used by the selection committee to select and seed the NCAA Tournament.

Arizona, guided by former GU assistant coach Tommy Lloyd, saw its unbeaten start and nine-week stay at No. 1 come to an end with tight losses to Kansas and Texas Tech. The Wildcats dropped to No. 4. Michigan, which clobbered Gonzaga 101-61 in November in Las Vegas, is No. 1 for the first time in 13 years. Houston is second and Duke third.

UConn is No. 5, followed by Iowa State, Purdue, Kansas, Nebraska and Illinois. The Zags are 35 points behind Illinois and eight ahead of No. 12 Florida.

Gonzaga, which has four wins over teams that were ranked at the time, still has one over a current top 25 squad. Alabama, a 95-85 loser to GU in November, returned to the rankings at No. 25 while previous No. 25 Kentucky, which fell 94-59 to the Zags in December, dropped out of the rankings.

The Wildcats received 15 points, fifth among teams outside the top 25. Saint Mary’s received three points.

Gonzaga moved closer to a West Coast Conference regular-season title after an 83-53 home win over Washington State and a 94-86 road victory over Santa Clara. The Zags (25-2, 13-1 WCC) hold the top spot in front of Santa Clara (22-6, 13-2) and Saint Mary’s (23-4, 12-2).

Gonzaga faces San Francisco on Wednesday at the Chase Center and entertains Pacific on Saturday.

Saint Mary’s is on the road against Seattle U on Wednesday and WSU on Saturday before returning home to close the regular season against Santa Clara and Gonzaga.

Michigan, Duke, Arizona, Houston and Illinois are the top five in the NET. Saint Mary’s is 26, Santa Clara 42, Pacific 103 and USF 118. Washington State is No. 135.

The Zags are 6-1 in Quad 1 and 4-0 in Quad 2. The Gaels are 0-3 in Q1 and 5-1 in Q2 while the Broncos are 1-4 in Q1 and 6-1 in Q2.

Gonzaga is considered a three or four seed in most NCAA Tournament projections. ESPN’s Joe Lunardi, On3.com and ClutchPoints have the Zags as a three. CBS Sports, Bracketmatrix.com and Jerry Palm list GU as a four.

Michigan replaced Arizona as the top overall seed in most projections. Lunardi has Santa Clara as one of the last four teams in while Palm’s bracket has the Broncos as a No. 10 seed and Saint Mary’s as a nine.

Gonzaga is 5-1 against teams in Palm’s bracket.

The Zags climbed from 11th to eighth in the USA Today coaches’ poll. Saint Mary’s received two points.

Ike honored again

GU center Graham Ike earned his fifth WCC player of the week award this season after leading the Zags to wins over Washington State and Santa Clara.

Ike scored 20 points and grabbed seven rebounds against WSU before his 21-point, 15-rebound performance against the Broncos. The senior big man has scored 20 points in seven straight games.