MEN’S BASKETBALL: Creighton Returns To Top Ten, Kansas Is New No. 1

OMAHA–(CU Athletics Feb.24)– Back-to-back wins over ranked teams helped the Creighton men’s basketball team soar five spots to a season-best No. 10 in this week’s Associated Press Top 25 poll.

The USA Today/Coaches poll has Creighton 11th this week.

The ascension comes after commanding victories at No. 19 Marquette and over No. 21 Butler last week. CU never trailed in the final 29 minutes against the Golden Eagles and posted a wire-to-wire triumph over the Bulldogs. The victories gave Creighton five top-25 wins this season, and fourth in the month of February. Both are school records.

This is Creighton’s highest ranking since the week of January 16, 2017, when the Bluejays were a program-record seventh. Creighton has now been ranked in the top-10 on 11 different occasions — once each in 2003, 2014 and 2020, as well as eight consecutive weeks in the 2016-17 campaign.

Creighton (22-6, 11-4 BIG EAST) has now been ranked 93 times in program history, with 65 of those under the direction of Greg McDermott. Creighton is 118-45 all-time as a ranked team, including an 84-33 mark under McDermott. Creighton has been ranked at least one week in seven of McDermott’s 10 seasons on The Hilltop after doing it just five different seasons in program history before his 2010 arrival. This marks the fifth time this season that Creighton has been ranked, and fourth consecutive week.

The Bluejays are idle until Sunday, when they visit St. John’s for an 11 a.m. Central start. That game will be nationally televised by FS1.

CU is one of three BIG EAST teams that are nationally ranked by the AP this week, joining No. 12 Villanova and No. 13 Seton Hall. Kansas took over the top overall spot after beating previous No. 1 Baylor on a wild Saturday that saw three of the nation’s top four teams lose.

The NCAA NET ranking has Creighton up to a season-best ninth, the best mark in the BIG EAST.

Associated Press Top 25
February 24, 2020
Rk    School    W-L     PTS
1    Kansas (62)    24-3    1598
2    Baylor (2)    24-2    1532
3    Gonzaga    27-2    1442
4    Dayton    25-2    1413
5    San Diego State    26-1    1287
6    Florida State    23-4    1247
7    Duke    23-4    1186
8    Kentucky    22-5    1130
9    Maryland    22-5    1124
10    Creighton    22-6    986
11    Louisville    23-5    966
12    Villanova    23-5    966
13    Seton Hall    20-7    842
14    Oregon    21-7    653
15    Auburn    23-4    643
16    Penn State    20-7    618
17    BYU    23-7    598
18    Iowa    19-8    489
19    Michigan    18-9    329
20    West Virginia    19-8    313
21    Colorado    21-7    291
22    Texas Tech    18-9    226
23    Ohio State    18-9    210
24    Michigan State    18-9    160
25    Houston    21-7    102
Others receiving votes: Arizona State 95, Illinois 82, Arizona 71, Butler 51, Virginia 50, Marquette 41, Stephen F. Austin 29, LSU 24, East Tennessee State 13, Utah State 9, Florida 8, Wisconsin 7, New Mexico State 2, Northern Iowa 2, Liberty 2, UCLA 1.