SPOKANE, Wash. — The Gonzaga Bulldogs reign atop the AP Poll was short-lived.
After rising to No. 1 last week, the Zags are back down to No. 2, even after beating a team who many regard as an NCAA Tournament team in San Francisco on Thursday. Auburn received 45 number one votes while Gonzaga received 15 number one votes this week.
Auburn, the new top team, beat Kentucky on Saturday, who was ranked No. 12 in last week's poll. The Wildcats did lose their second-leading scorer, TyTy Washington, midway through the first half. They were leading at that point, and then Auburn came back to win 80-71.
The Wildcats had more No. 1 votes in the AP Poll (36) last week than Gonzaga (25) but also had voters rank them 6th and 9th, which dragged down their overall ranking into second place.
Last week was the Zags' second time atop the polls this year as they began the season ranked No. 1. They stayed there until falling to Duke the day after Thanksgiving. The lowest the Zags have been ranked this year is No. 5 after their loss to Alabama.
Former Gonzaga assistant coach Tommy Lloyd and his Arizona Wildcats remained at No. 3 after a pair of wins this week.
Gonzaga plays LMU this week on Thursday at 8 PM in The Kennel and Portland on Saturday at 6 PM also in The Kennel. LMU is currently 1-3 in conference play and 9-8 overall while Portland is 1-2 in the WCC and 10-9 overall. Portland is tied for sixth while LMU is eighth in the conference. The Pilots are led by former Eastern Washington head coach Shantay Legans, who is in his first year at the program and brought many EWU players with him.