AP basketball Top 25: Purdue drops another while Arizona, Miami fall to wild buzzer-beaters
The final week of the regular season is here, and last week's top 5 finally stayed the exact same.
Here’s everything you missed in Week 16 of the season, and the latest Associated Press men’s college basketball poll.
Purdue’s stumble continues
Just weeks after sitting comfortably at No. 1, Purdue’s stumble continued this past week.
The Boilermakers fell to Indiana again Saturday, marking their fourth loss in six games. Two of those have come at the hands of the Hoosiers, who swept the in-state season series for the first time in a decade. Jalen Hood-Schifino put up a career-high 35 points in the win, and Indiana is now 20-9 headed into its games with Iowa and Michigan this week to close out the regular season. The Hoosiers jumped to No. 15 this week, up two spots.
Purdue, despite the losses, stayed at No. 5 in this week's poll. The Boilermakers missed a shot to claim the Big Ten regular season title Saturday, but they still ended up taking it on Sunday night via Northwestern's loss to Maryland. They'll likely claim the top seed in the Big Ten tournament.
Still, the team is now losing games consistently for the first time all season. That's never a good sign entering March. Games against Wisconsin and Illinois this week suddenly seem much more important.
Arizona State stuns Arizona, FSU rallies to get Miami
Arizona State pulled off a dream win over an in-state rival on Saturday night.
The Sun Devils, after trailing by double digits midway through the second half at the McKale Center, rallied and stunned Arizona 89-88 on a wild 60-foot buzzer-beater from Desmond Cambridge Jr.
ARIZONA STATE WITH THE STUNNER‼️
The Sun Devils upset #7 Arizona with a shot beyond the half-court at the buzzer 😱pic.twitter.com/6Dt5zlmQ3X— Yahoo Sports (@YahooSports) February 25, 2023
“I did not think that shot was going in,” Cambridge said, via The Associated Press. “I just wanted to have a nice miss and everyone in the crowd go, 'ohhh!' Once it went in, I literally could only scream because I couldn’t make sense of it.”
The loss marks Arizona’s second in four games, and moved it down to No. 8 in this week’s poll. The Wildcats will close out their season with games against USC and UCLA in Los Angeles. The Bruins, who have won eight straight, claimed the Pac-12 regular season title on Sunday with a four-point win over Colorado.
On the other side of the country in another rivalry game, Florida State pulled off one of the biggest rallies of the season. The Seminoles came back from a 25-point second half hole to upset Miami in Coral Gables. Matthew Cleveland drilled a deep 3-pointer at the buzzer to seal the win for Florida State, too.
Matt did THAT 🫡#NewBlood | @MCleveland35 pic.twitter.com/ALbtXRcNav
— Florida State Men’s Basketball (@FSUHoops) February 26, 2023
The 25-point comeback, according to ESPN, was the largest in ACC history.
The win marked just the ninth of the season for Florida State, and ended a seven-game win streak for the Hurricanes — who were a perfect 15-0 at home before the loss. Miami dropped to No. 16 this week.
Games to watch this week
Wednesday, March 1
No. 19 Xavier at No. 20 Providence | 6:30 p.m. ET
No. 9 Texas at No. 22 TCU | 9 p.m. ET
Saturday, March 4
No. 2 Alabama at No. 24 Texas A&M | 12 p.m. ET
Iowa State at No. 7 Baylor | 12 p.m. ET
No. 3 Kansas at No. 9 Texas | 4 p.m. ET
No. 8 Arizona at No. 4 UCLA | 10 p.m. ET
AP Top 25
Houston (27-2)
Alabama (25-4)
Kansas (24-5)
UCLA (24-5)
Purdue (24-5)
Marquette (23-6)
Baylor (21-8)
Arizona (24-5)
Texas (22-7)
Gonzaga (25-5)
Kansas State (22-7)
Tennessee (21-8)
Virginia (21-6)
UConn (22-7)
Indiana (20-9)
Miami (23-6)
Saint Mary's (25-6)
San Diego State (23-5)
Xavier (21-8)
Providence (21-8)
Maryland (20-9)
TCU (19-10)
Kentucky (20-9)
Texas A&M (21-8)
Pittsburgh (21-8)
Others receiving votes: Creighton 87, Duke 78, Oral Roberts 40, Northwestern 39, Florida Atlantic 25, Iowa State 20, Nevada 17, Missouri 16, Arkansas 7, North Carolina State 6, Charleston 6, Clemson 5, Memphis 4, Boise State 3, VCU 1, West Virginia 1