Auburn closing gap on No. 1 Tennessee in AP poll

Tennessee held onto No. 1 in the AP Top 25 for the second consecutive week, though No. 2 Auburn closed the gap as the top five remained unchanged in the men’s college basketball poll Monday.

The Volunteers received 50 first-place votes from a national media panel after wins over Miami and Illinois pushed coach Rick Barnes’ program to 10-0 for only the fifth time in school history. Auburn picked up nine first-place votes from last week and had 12 total. Iowa State, Duke and Kentucky rounded out the top five.

Tennessee is among five unbeatens left in men’s Division I basketball and one of three teams from the Southeastern Conference, joining No. 7 Florida (10-0) and No. 14 Oklahoma (10-0). Drake (9-0) and Utah State (10-0) also enter this week undefeated.

“We know watching film there’s a lot of areas we have to get better with, more consistent,” Barnes said Monday. “It’s everybody. Coaches getting better, players getting better. When you’re in December, you have to be real. Look at film and realize we’ve done this or that, but we have a long way to go to be where we want to be.”

Auburn improved to 9-1 with its 91-53 blowout of Ohio State in Atlanta. Johni Broome showed the way with 21 points and 20 rebounds for the Tigers’ first 20-20 game in 35 years, then he raced back to Auburn for his graduation Saturday night.

“They may be the best team in the country right now,” Ohio State coach Jake Diebler said. “They have a lot of experience, and they made us pay when we made a mistake.”

The SEC continued to dominate the Top 25 with the Vols and Tigers joined by Kentucky, No. 6 Alabama and No. 7 Florida in giving the conference five of the top seven. Kansas moved up two spots to No. 8 while Marquette and Oregon rounded out the top 10.

Two-time defending national champion UConn jumped seven spots to No. 11 after beating then-No. 8 Gonzaga. The Huskies were followed by Texas A&M, the Bulldogs, the Sooners and Houston, which remained at No. 15.

Purdue dropped five spots to No. 16 after its loss to the Aggies, and was followed by Ole Miss, UCLA, Cincinnati and Michigan State. Dayton entered the poll for the first time this season at No. 22, just behind Memphis, which returned after its win over Clemson. Wisconsin dropped out after its loss to Illinois, and Mississippi State fell out after a narrow win over McNeese State.

San Diego State, Michigan and Clemson rounded out the Top 25.

Mid-major monitoring: Drake appeared on 11 ballots after an easy win over St. Ambrose kept first-year coach Ben McCollum’s club unbeaten. Utah State showed up on 10 ballots after blowing out South Florida to give the Aggies their best start in school history.

“I’ve said all along, this is a place you can win at a high level consistently, and we’ve shown that, right? Year after year,” Utah State coach Jarrod Calhoun said. “We never talk about making history. It was never talked about all week. … It’s about getting better each day. It’s about enjoying the process.”

Rising and falling: UConn made the biggest jump this week, climbing seven spots to No. 11 after beating Gonzaga. UCLA climbed six spots to No. 18 after beating Arizona for its eighth straight win, and Texas A&M moved up five spots to No. 12.

Michigan plummeted 10 places to No. 24 after blowing its halftime lead in an 89-87 loss to Arkansas in the Jimmy V Classic at Madison Square Garden. Clemson fell nine spots to No. 25, and Gonzaga and Purdue each dropped five spots.

In and out: Memphis spent a week at No. 16 earlier this season before a loss to Arkansas State. The Tigers returned while Dayton made its season debut at the expense of Wisconsin and Mississippi State, which received the most votes of those outside the Top 25.

Conference watch: The SEC has eight teams in the Top 25 along with the first three outside the poll in Mississippi State, Arkansas and Missouri. The Big Ten has five, the Big 12 has four, and the ACC and Big East two apiece. Nine leagues had a ranked team.