AP men's basketball Top 25: Alabama jumps to No. 1 after Purdue falls again, this time to Northwestern

Thanks to Northwestern, it’s time for a new No. 1 team in college basketball once again.

Here’s everything you missed in Week 14 of the season, and the latest Associated Press men’s college basketball poll.

Purdue, Arizona stunned as Alabama takes No. 1 spot

Purdue may have held on last week, but that won’t work two weeks in a row.

The Boilermakers, who remained at No. 1 last week despite a loss to Indiana, fell again on Sunday in a shocking upset to Northwestern, who had never beaten a top-ranked team in program history.

While Purdue is still in the mix to receive a top seed in the NCAA tournament, the Boilermakers have fallen to No. 3 in this week’s poll after their second loss in three games.

That moved Alabama, which beat Auburn 77-69 on Saturday, to the top spot for the first time in 20 years. Houston, which as won five straight games, remained at No. 2.

No. 4 Arizona was stunned on Saturday night, too. The Wildcats fell by nine to Stanford, which has been struggling in the Pac-12 all season. Spencer Jones dropped all 18 of his points in the second half for the Cardinal in what was their biggest win in more than a decade. As a result, Arizona dropped four spots to No. 8 in this week’s poll.

Iowa State stumbles, Big 12 remains wide open

Last week, it looked like the Big 12 may be running through Ames, Iowa.

We may have jumped the gun on that one.

Iowa State fell twice last week, first to unranked West Virginia and then again on Saturday after unranked Oklahoma State rallied in the final minutes at Hilton Coliseum. The Cyclones, who were ranked No. 11 last week, have now lost four of their last five games. Their only win in that stretch came against Kansas.

The Cyclones aren’t a bad basketball team. They have plenty of top-tier wins on their resume as the season winds down, and will take on both No. 22 TCU and No. 12 Kansas State this week. Still, after their struggles, the Cyclones fell eight spots to No. 19.

But the Big 12 is still anybody’s to take. The conference has six teams ranked this week, and could end up getting seven teams into the NCAA tournament. Seven teams are within just three games of first place in the Big 12 standings, too.

Though the conference still has plenty of unknowns, it’s hard to argue that the Big 12 isn’t the best conference in the sport right now.

Tennessee is down bad

Tennessee’s struggles continued this week in perhaps the most painful way possible.

The Volunteers, who were at one point ranked No. 2 in the country, lost to both Vanderbilt and Missouri on buzzer beaters this week. First, after missing out on several moments that could have sealed the win, Tennessee gave up a game-winning shot to Vanderbilt’s Tyrin Lawrence on Wednesday.

Then on Saturday, the Volunteers missed free throws with the lead late and were called for a lane violation before Missouri’s DeAndre Gholston drilled a game-winning 3-pointer at the buzzer in their game in Knoxville.

Tennessee has now lost three of its last four, beating only Auburn in that stretch while scoring a mere 46 points. The Vols are down four spots to No. 10 this week.

At one point, Tennessee looked like it was not only a real contender in the SEC, but had a legitimate shot at making a deep tournament run. Now, coach Rick Barnes has some work to do — and fast. Tennessee will host No. 2 Alabama on Wednesday.

Games to watch this week

Tuesday, Feb. 14
No. 18 Creighton at No. 24 Providence | 7 p.m. ET

Wednesday, Feb. 15
No. 1 Alabama at No. 10 Tennessee | 7 p.m. ET
No. 16 Xavier at No. 11 Marquette | 7 p.m. ET
No. 22 TCU at No. 19 Iowa State | 9 p.m. ET

Thursday, Feb. 16
No. 13 Gonzaga at Loyola Marymount | 11 p.m. ET

Saturday, Feb. 18
No. 19 Iowa State at No. 12 Kansas State | 2 p.m. ET
No. 9 Baylor at No. 5 Kansas | 4 p.m. ET
Michigan State at Michigan | 9 p.m. ET

Full AP Top 25

The full AP Top 25 poll from Monday, Feb. 13:

1. Alabama (22-3)

2. Houston (23-2)

3. Purdue (23-3)

4. UCLA (21-4)

5. Kansas (20-5)

6. Texas (20-5)

7. Virginia (19-4)

8. Arizona (22-4)

9. Baylor (19-6)

10. Tennessee (19-6)

11. Marquette (20-6)

12. Kansas State (19-6)

13. Gonzaga (21-5)

14. Indiana (18-7)

15. Miami (20-5)

16. Xavier (19-6)

17. Saint Mary's (22-5)

18. Creighton (17-8)

19. Iowa State (16-8)

20. UConn (19-7)

21. San Diego State (20-5)

22. TCU (17-8)

23. North Carolina State (20-6)

24. Providence (18-7)

25. FAU (24-2)

Others receiving votes: Missouri 114, Northwestern 96, Illinois 84, Pittsburgh 82, Nevada 36, Oklahoma State 23, Texas A&M 16, Oral Roberts 9, Iowa 5, Arkansas 4, Rutgers 2, Charleston 1, Maryland 1, Boise State 1