UConn men’s basketball stays at No. 5 in AP Poll, ranks No. 8 in NET

UConn men’s basketball stayed put at No. 5 in the AP Top 25 this week, despite a convincing wire-to-wire win over then-No. 13 Illinois at Madison Square Garden. The Illini dropped one spot to No. 14 following the loss to the Huskies, while Kansas broke back into the Top 25 at No. 21 ahead of Tuesday’s matchup with UConn at Phog Allen Fieldhouse.

The Jayhawks (6-2) welcome UConn (6-1) after taking down No. 17 Tennessee on the road last week as an unranked squad. Now, KU is back in the Top 25 and might have star freshman Darryn Peterson back in action against the Huskies. Peterson has missed the last six games with a hamstring injury, but is a game-time decision ahead of the Tuesday night matchup with UConn.

St. John’s is the only other Big East school in the Top 25 at No. 23, while Seton Hall received votes after a strong performance in the Maui Invitational. Florida, who the Huskies will play at MSG next week, is No. 15, while former opponent BYU remains at No. 9. Arizona, UConn’s only loss of the season so far, stayed at No. 2 and received six first-place votes this week.

The NCAA also released its first round of NET rankings this week, with UConn coming in at No. 8. The Huskies are already 2-1 in Quad One games this season, and the upcoming matchups against Kansas (No. 17) and Florida (No. 33) figure to be Quad One matchups as well. The Huskies’ tough non-conference schedule currently looks to be a smart decision, as only three other Big East schools — Butler (No. 21), St. John’s (No. 23) and Seton Hall (No. 50) — rank in the top 50.

While UConn’s win over Illinois didn’t move the Huskies up in the AP Poll, the dominant performance did help the team in KenPom. UConn is now up to No. 7 overall in KenPom and ranks No. 12 in offensive efficiency. After holding Illinois to under one point per possession on Saturday, the Huskies’ defense now ranks No. 8 nationally in terms of efficiency. UConn is just one of six schools in the country with an offensive and defensive efficiency each in the top 15 nationally, joining Michigan, Arizona, Duke, Gonzaga and Iowa State.