Where Alabama basketball ranks ahead of Saturday trip to Auburn

Where Alabama basketball ranks ahead of Saturday trip to Auburn

Alabama moved up one spot in Monday’s Associated Press men’s basketball poll to No. 3, remaining behind Purdue and Houston.

The Boilermakers kept the top spot despite losing by five points on the road Saturday to Indiana. The Cougars won both of their games last week, while Alabama beat Vanderbilt by 57 points and defeated LSU on the road by 10.

Alabama received one first-place vote, as did No. 4 Arizona. The Tide received 23 first-place votes two weeks ago, which were the program’s first in the AP poll since 2002.

Alabama moved ahead of Tennessee, which dropped from No. 2 to the AP poll to No. 6 after losing to Florida early last week.

Alabama (20-3, 10-0 in SEC) hosts Florida on Wednesday night before traveling Saturday to play Auburn (17-6, 7-3 in SEC). The 1 p.m. CT tip off in Neville Arena will be preceded by ESPN’s College Gameday airing from campus.

Auburn, which fell out of the AP poll this week after losing Saturday to second-ranked Tennessee, has three wins in program history over teams ranked No. 3 or better in the AP poll. It defeated then-No. 2 Kentucky in 1984, then-No. 1 Kentucky in 1988, and beat North Carolina, ranked No. 3 in the AP poll, during the 2019 NCAA tournament.

In the coaches poll released later Monday, Alabama moved up two spots to No. 3 and received one first-place vote.

In NET ranking used by the NCAA tournament committee, Alabama is No. 3 behind Houston and Tennessee. Its strength of schedule is 16th-hardest in the nation.

AP top 25 (Feb. 6):

1. Purdue (38)

2. Houston (22)

3. Alabama (1)

4. Arizona (1)

5. Texas

6. Tennessee

7. UCLA

8. Virginia

9. Kansas

10. Marquette

11. Iowa State

12. Kansas State

13. Xavier

14. Baylor

15. Saint Mary’s

16. Gonzaga

17. TCU

18. Indiana

19. Miami

20. Providence

21. UConn

22. NC State

23. Creighton

24. Rutgers

25. San Diego State

Mike Rodak is an Alabama beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @mikerodak.