Kentucky falls to No. 20 in Coaches Poll, No. 22 in AP Poll

Kentucky HC John Calipari — Jordan Prather | USA TODAY Sports

Kentucky is trending in the wrong direction in the polls. It was a four-spot fall from No. 6 to No. 10 two weeks ago in the AP, then a seven-spot drop to No. 17 last week. Now, the Cats are down to No. 22 in the Week 15 update released Monday afternoon, a five-spot fall following the home loss to Gonzaga.

That’s the second-steepest drop of the week behind only Wisconsin, who fell nine spots from No. 11 to No. 20.

As for SEC foes, Tennessee leads the conference at No. 8 overall, followed by South Carolina at No. 11, Auburn at No. 13 and Alabama at No. 15, the Cats sliding in that fifth spot.

AP Poll – February 12

RK	TEAM	REC	PTS	TREND
1	UConn (45)	22-2	1509	–
2	Purdue (16)	22-2	1480	–
3	Houston	21-3	1386	⬆️ 2
4	Marquette	18-5	1273	⬆️ 3
5	Arizona	19-5	1241	⬆️ 3
6	Kansas	19-5	1227	⬇️ 2
7	North Carolina	19-5	1216	⬇️ 4
8	Tennessee	17-6	1033	⬇️ 2
9	Duke	18-5	1025	–
10	Iowa State	18-5	969	⬆️ 4
11	South Carolina	21-3	921	⬆️ 4
12	Baylor	17-6	811	⬆️ 1
13	Auburn	19-5	799	⬇️ 1
14	Illinois	17-6	728	⬇️ 4
15	Alabama	17-7	618	⬆️ 1
16	Dayton	19-4	425	⬆️ 2
17	Creighton	17-7	410	⬆️ 2
18	Saint Mary’s	20-6	296	–
19	BYU	17-6	294	⬆️ 2
20	Wisconsin	16-8	249	⬇️ 9
21	Virginia	19-5	218	–
22	Kentucky	16-7	217	⬇️ 5
23	Indiana State	22-3	209	–
24	Florida Atlantic	19-5	206	⬇️ 4
25	Oklahoma	18-6	178	–

The Cats move down to No. 20 in the Coaches Poll

Rank	Team	Record	PTS	1st	Prev	Chg	Hi/Lo
1	UConn	22-2	792	24	1	–	1/5
2	Purdue	22-2	776	8	2	–	1/4
3	Houston	21-3	722	0	5	+2	2/6
4	Marquette	18-5	647	0	7	+3	3/18
5	North Carolina	19-5	643	0	3	-2	3/21
6	Arizona	19-5	642	0	8	+2	1/13
7	Kansas	19-5	635	0	4	-3	1/9
8	Duke	18-5	529	0	10	+2	3/21
9	Tennessee	17-6	524	0	6	-3	5/13
10	Iowa State	18-5	510	0	14	+4	10/NR
11	South Carolina	21-3	475	0	20	+9	11/NR
12	Auburn	19-5	421	0	11	-1	6/NR
13	Baylor	17-6	402	0	13	–	6/19
14	Illinois	17-6	356	0	12	-2	8/NR
15	Alabama	17-7	337	0	16	+1	15/NR
16	Creighton	17-7	242	0	18	+2	7/NR
17	BYU	17-6	202	0	19	+2	12/NR
18	Dayton	19-4	195	0	17	-1	17/NR
19	Saint Mary’s	20-6	185	0	NR	+7	19/NR
20	Kentucky	16-7	136	0	15	-5	6/20
21	Wisconsin	16-8	117	0	9	-12	6/NR
21	Oklahoma	18-6	117	0	NR	+10	8/NR
23	Virginia	19-5	109	0	NR	+7	18/NR
24	Indiana State	22-3	106	0	NR	+3	24/NR
25	Colorado State	19-5	96	0	NR	+4	12/NR

Schools Dropped Out

No. 21 Utah State; No. 22 Florida Atlantic; No. 23 Texas Tech; No. 24 San Diego State; No. 25 New Mexico;

Others Receiving Votes

Utah State 94; Texas Tech 89; Florida Atlantic 63; Clemson 38; Gonzaga 35; San Diego State 34; Nevada 27; TCU 20; Washington State 18; Grand Canyon 13; Texas A&M 9; New Mexico 8; Florida 8; Northwestern 6; South Florida 5; Wake Forest 4; VCU 4; Michigan State 4; James Madison 3; Richmond 1; App State 1;

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Where Kentucky stands in other national rankings

ESPN’s Jeff Borzello is hitting the panic button with the Cats after previously dropping them outside his power rankings a week ago. Now, they’re not even ‘in the waiting room’ and nosediving.

“The Wildcats’ defensive issues were apparent earlier in the season, but their offense was so efficient it didn’t seem to matter. Well, that’s no longer the case,” he said. “They’re 4-5 in their past nine games and have lost three straight games at home for the first time since 1966. Over the past four games, the Wildcats are No. 283 nationally in adjusted defensive efficiency at BartTorvik.com.”

FOX Sports also left Kentucky outside the top 25 and criticized the defense, adding it will “hold the Wildcats back from reaching their potential in March Madness and is a major issue.” No change in the latest Top 25-and-1 from Gary Parrish of CBS Sports, either — UK unranked both last week and today.