Florida Holds No. 1 as UCLA Climbs 13 Spots to No. 9 and Nebraska Debuts in the Men's AP Top 25

One week of real games was enough to scramble the middle of the men's AP Top 25. Florida is still No. 1 in Monday's poll, released Nov. 9, but UCLA vaulted 13 spots to No. 9, Arizona slid seven places to No. 12 and Nebraska cracked the rankings at No. 25. Then Tuesday night happened, and the teams at No. 2 and No. 3 both lost before the poll was a day old.

Florida keeps the top spot

The Gators drew 53 of the 60 first-place votes from the national media panel, with Duke taking the other seven at No. 2. The top four did not move: Florida, Duke, Illinois and UConn. Florida earned it by handling No. 14 Miami in Tampa, where Thomas Haugh posted a 19-point, 10-rebound double-double, and then burying Jacksonville 88-57 behind Rueben Chinyelu's career-high 21.

UConn held at No. 4 after beating defending national champion Michigan 85-77 in Boston, a title game rematch that cost the Wolverines four spots. Michigan sits at No. 20. Michigan State moved from 6 to 5, filling the hole Arizona left in the top five.

UCLA's opening night statement

No team gained more than UCLA, which jumped from No. 22 to No. 9. It is the Bruins' highest ranking since the final poll of the 2022-23 season, according to the AP. The whole leap traces back to opening night in Las Vegas, where UCLA beat then-No. 5 Arizona 84-75 at T-Mobile Arena. Trent Perry scored 21, UCLA built a 16-point lead and then held on after Arizona pulled within a point with 3:11 to go, closing with a Xavier Booker 3 and clean free throw shooting.

The Bruins backed it up four nights later with a 114-63 rout of North Florida in their home opener, as Nikola Kusturica went 10 of 12 for 29 points. A team that started the season as a fringe Top 25 pick now sits ahead of Louisville, Tennessee and every Big 12 team except Houston.

Arizona pays for one loss

Arizona tied Arkansas for the biggest fall, seven spots from No. 5 to No. 12, and its only blemish was that UCLA loss. Ivan Kharchenkov did everything he could in Las Vegas, scoring a career-high 38 in the defeat. ESPN noted Arizona became the third AP top five team in the past four seasons to lose its opener.

The Wildcats have answered since. Motiejus Krivas scored a career-high 30 as Arizona beat Cal Poly 104-84, and after the poll came out, Kharchenkov stuffed the stat sheet with 20 points, seven rebounds and seven assists in a 90-59 win over Northern Arizona.

Elsewhere, Virginia climbed three spots to No. 6 after a 3-0 week that included a 91-72 rout of then-No. 12 Arkansas in Washington. Arkansas dropped seven spots to No. 19.

Nebraska in, Iowa State out

Iowa State, No. 18 in the preseason poll, fell out entirely after Jayden Reid scored 26 and Memphis upset the Cyclones 80-76 at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls. Iowa State finished third among teams receiving votes with 57 points. Memphis was the first team out with 97, followed by Saint Louis with 67.

Nebraska took the open spot at 2-0. The Huskers opened with a 106-64 win over Le Moyne in Lincoln, with Pryce Sandfort scoring 20, then beat Providence 67-58 in the Basketball Hall of Fame Tip-Off on Nov. 7. Sandfort led everyone with 25 points on 9 of 14 shooting against the Friars, according to Nebraska's game recap (opens in a new tab). That win was the program's 24th straight regular season nonconference victory, a school record, per ESPN.

By league, the SEC leads with seven ranked teams. The Big Ten has six, the Big 12 five, the ACC four, the Big East two and the Pac-12 one, Gonzaga.

Tuesday already changed next week's poll

The ink was barely dry before the Champions Classic and a loaded Tuesday slate shook things up. No. 5 Michigan State beat No. 2 Duke 79-73 at United Center behind Jeremy Fears Jr.'s 18 points and 11 assists. In Lubbock, No. 16 Texas Tech held off No. 3 Illinois 84-78 with 20 points from Cruz Davis. Florida did its part, winning 81-72 at Florida State to reach 3-0.

Kentucky has the most riding on next Monday. The AP reports the Wildcats are one week shy of becoming the first program in the poll's nearly 78-year history to be ranked for 1,000 weeks. Then Tre White poured in 30 as No. 15 Kansas beat No. 24 Kentucky 89-69, leaving the milestone in the voters' hands.

The bubble got messier too. Memphis, the first team out, lost 105-81 at No. 22 Vanderbilt, where Ace Glass scored all 23 of his points after halftime. And closer to home for Undrafted, unranked Dayton fell to Siena 99-89 at UD Arena as Tim Ibukunoluwa scored 23 and Brendan Coyle hit six 3s.

The next AP poll arrives Monday.

Sources: Associated Press, ESPN, Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, Nebraska Athletics, WOWT.

Photo: Jan Kim Lim/UCLA Athletics (file photo from Nov. 2, 2026, vs. Arizona).