Sports digest: Stanford women fall to No. 4 in AP poll after loss at USC
One day after its second loss of the season, Stanford fell two spots to No. 4 in the Associated Press women’s basketball poll, and powerhouse Baylor fell out of the poll for the first time since 2004.
The Cardinal (17-2, 5-1 Pac-12) lost 55-46 at USC on Sunday. Ohio State moved up one spot to No. 2 behind No. 1 South Carolina, which was a unanimous choice again from a 28-member national media panel and has held the top spot for 30 consecutive weeks. LSU moved up to third, completing a top three of unbeaten teams.
Baylor, which won its latest NCAA title in 2019, saw its 19-year run in the poll end. The Bears had been ranked for 365 consecutive polls before falling out Monday after losing twice last week. Only Tennessee (565) and UConn (556) have had longer streaks in the 46-year history of the poll. The fifth-ranked Huskies’ run in the poll is still active.
Stanford’s next two games are against ranked opponents, hosting No. 8 Utah on Friday and No. 24 Colorado on Sunday. Other ranked teams in the Pac-12 are No. 9 UCLA, No. 19 Arizona and No. 23 Oregon.
• In the men’s poll, Houston, Kansas, Purdue and Alabama remained the top four teams in the country after a record weekend of Top 25 losses. Eleven teams in the Top 25 went down on Saturday, tying a record.
UCLA, riding a 13-game winning streak, climbed two spots to round out the top five. The other ranked Pac-12 team is No. 11 Arizona, which fell two spots after losing to unranked Oregon.
No. 6 Gonzaga is the only ranked WCC team. St. Mary’s narrowly missed being ranked, getting the 27th-most votes.
• The Gaels’ starting guards did get recognized Monday, as Logan Johnson was named the WCC Player of the Week and Aidan Mahaney was named the conference’s Freshman of the Week. In wins over LMU and USF last week, Johnson had a combined 43 points (going 17-for-27 from the floor), 13 rebounds and 11 assists. Mahaney received the freshman honor for the sixth time this season as he scored a combined 46 points. … Santa Clara’s Marya Hudgins earned the women’s WCC Freshman of the Week award. She had a combined 32 points and 14 rebounds as the Broncos split two games.
— Steve Kroner
• In men’s Top 25 games, Zach Edey made a go-ahead shot at the front of the rim with 2.2 seconds left and finished with a career-high 32 points and 17 rebounds to help No. 3 Purdue prevail 64-63 at Michigan State…. Norchad Omier had 16 points and 16 rebounds as No. 16 Miami beat visiting Syracuse 82-78…. Ante Brzovic scored 17 points as No. 18 College of Charleston won its nation-leading 18th straight, 82-54 over visiting William & Mary…. Nicholas Boyd scored 16 points and No. 24 Florida Atlantic (17-1, 7-0 Conference USA), making its program debut as a Top 25 team, won 76-62 at Western Kentucky.
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