Kentucky men’s basketball earned the No. 4 spot in the Week 5 AP Top 25 on Monday, earning its highest ranking ever under Head Coach Mark Pope.

The ranking also marked the highest the Cats had been ranked since November 14, 2022, under then Head Coach John Calipari. It also came after a four-spot increase.

The Kansas Jayhawks held onto the No. 1 spot in the poll, having not moved all season, narrowly beating out No. 2 Auburn by just nine points after the Tigers won the Maui Invitational.

The Tennessee Volunteers, another SEC foe, claimed the No. 3 spot to make Kentucky the third-highest ranked SEC program in the poll. Marquette rounded out the top five.

Five other SEC programs earned rankings in the poll, with Alabama checking in at No. 10 after losing to No. 12 Oregon in the final of the Players Era Festival Championship.

Florida also rose five spots to No. 13, one behind the Ducks, after a calmer week without any multi-team events.

Jumping down the list, Oklahoma was the next SEC representative, entering the poll for the first time after defeating Louisville in the final of the Battle 4 Atlantis.

One spot below the Sooners was Texas A&M, which fell two spots after losing in the Players Era Festival to Oregon before salvaging a fifth place finish.

Finally, Ole Miss rounded out the poll for the conference by checking in with a No. 23 ranking, not moving from its spot one week ago after going 1-1 with a close loss to No. 8 Purdue.

Outside of the Top 25, Arkansas, Texas, Mississippi State and Georgia all received votes in the poll.

The Week 5 poll also saw some notable shifts outside of the SEC as well, with Gonzaga — which Kentucky will face on Dec. 7 — falling four spots to No. 7 after losing to West Virginia (RV) in the Battle 4 Atlantis.

Duke, which Kentucky beat in the Champions Classic earlier this year, also jumped back into the top 10 with a two-spot rise to claim the No. 9 spot.

Perhaps most notably was one of the largest slides seen in the AP Poll’s history as reigning back-to-back national champions UConn slid from the No. 2 spot all the way down to a No. 25 ranking (23 spot drop) after finishing the Maui Invitational 0-3.

The Huskies were stunned by Memphis (No. 16, previously unranked), lost to Colorado and were blown out by Dayton (RV).

A full list of the Week 5 poll is available below:

1. Kansas Jayhawks (7-0)
2. Auburn Tigers (7-0)
3. Tennessee Volunteers (7-0)
4. Kentucky Wildcats (7-0)
5. Marquette Golden Eagles (8-0)
6. Iowa State Cyclones (5-1)
7. Gonzaga Bulldogs (7-1)
8. Purdue Boilermakers (7-1)
9. Duke Blue Devils (5-2)
10. Alabama Crimson Tide (6-2)
11. Wisconsin Badgers (8-0)
12. Oregon Ducks (8-0)
13. Florida Gators (8-0)
14. Cincinnati Bearcats (6-0)
15. Baylor Bears (5-2)
16. Memphis Tigers (6-1)
17. Houston Cougars (4-3)
18. Pittsburgh Panthers (7-1)
19. Illinois Fighting Illini (6-1)
20. North Carolina Tar Heels (4-3)
21. Oklahoma Sooners (7-0)
22. Texas A&M Aggies (6-2)
23. Ole Miss Rebels (6-1)
24. San Diego State Aztecs (4-2)
25. UConn Huskies (5-3)

Receiving votes: Michigan State (108), Arkansas (104), Texas (97), Michigan (95), Arizona State (89), Indiana (72), Drake (58), Xavier (33), Utah State (28), Louisville (27), West Virginia (26), Clemson (25), BYU (24), Dayton (24), Texas Tech (22), Nebraska (22), Mississippi State (20), Ohio State (19), Maryland (13), UCLA (13), Creighton (12), Saint Mary’s (11), Georgia (10), St. John’s (7), Loyola Chicago (4), Florida State (3), DePaul (3), UC Irvine (2), Columbia (2).