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SALT LAKE CITY — Utah State continued its climb up the national rankings Monday, while BYU basketball roughly held serve in the latest Associated Press Top 25.
The Aggies moved up four spots to No. 16 after Saturday's stunning comeback win over UNLV, while the Cougars dropped two spots to No. 20 after splitting a pair of Big 12 road games.
Utah continued its run in the "others receiving votes" category with three points, just behind Gonzaga and Princeton.
It's the 10th time in school history that Utah State, which also came in at No. 17 in the coaches poll, has been ranked in program history. The Aggies used a 5-point play and overturned an 86-82 deficit with 14.3 seconds remaining to shock the Runnin' Rebels 87-86 and improve to 16-1 and 4-0 in Mountain West play.
Utah State ranks ninth in the country in defensive 3-point field goal percentage (.276), 11th in field-goal percentage (.501) and 18th in scoring margin (+15.35), and graduate senior Darius Brown II ranks second in the nation in assist-to-turnover ratio (4.81) and third in assists per game (7.35).
BYU center Aly Khalifa ranks fourth nationally in assist-to-turnover ratio after leading the Cougars to their first win in the Big 12 era Saturday, pouring in a season-high 17 points on 6-of-12 shooting with three 3-pointers and a season-best two blocked shots in BYU's 63-58 road win over UCF.
The win was also the 100th in BYU coach Mark Pope's tenure at the school that currently ranks 11th in KenPom and fifth in the NET.
"We celebrated coaches' 100th win, obviously," Khalifa said after the game. "We gave him a jersey. It was great to get the first one in the Big 12. We're thirsty. We're ready to play Iowa State."
POLL ALERT: UConn hits No. 1 in AP Top 25 men's poll for first time since 2009; Gonzaga out for first time since '16.
— AP Top 25 (@AP_Top25) January 15, 2024
Full poll: https://t.co/ZJG5mgWrsapic.twitter.com/sCB4eGG9Xq
UConn improved to No. 1 nationally in the AP poll for the first time in nearly 15 years, while Gonzaga fell out of the top 25 for the first time since March 16, 2018 after the Zags' 77-76 loss to Santa Clara.
The run of 143-straight weeks — which was previously the nation's best — now ends, while Houston takes up the longest active streak in the AP poll with 75-straight.
"Some people don't want the target," UConn coach Dan Hurley said last week about the potential of reaching No. 1. "I think we embrace the target at UConn."
The Huskies (15-2) also took advantage of Purdue's 88-72 loss to Nebraska that dropped the Boilermakers one spot to No. 2overall, land Kansas' 65-60 loss at UCF before bouncing back with a 78-66 thumping of No. 15 Oklahoma to stay at No. 3.
North Carolina (13-3) and Houston (14-2) round out the top five.
The Big 12 boasts nearly a third of all teams in the top 25 with eight, including newcomers TCU at No. 19, Iowa State at No. 24 and Texas Tech at No. 25.
The Cougars (13-3) host the Cyclones on Tuesday (7 p.m. MT, ESPN+) before traveling to Lubbock, Texas on Saturday (4 p.m., ESPN2).
