Kentucky women’s basketball remained in the No. 14 slot in the Week 5 AP Top 25 women’s basketball poll on Monday despite a 76-53 victory over No. 19 Illinois and an undefeated record.
The Wildcats are coming off of back-to-back wins against Arizona State and Illinois as part of the Music City Classic in Nashville, Tennessee, boosting the Cats’ record to 7-0 on the season. The event was also the Cats’ first road matchups of the season.
Entering the top 10 in the AP Poll is challenging, and an exciting week of college basketball this time around showed that.
Teams such as No. 8 Duke jumped five spots due to its overtime win over No. 8 Oklahoma and No. 9 TCU jumped eight spots with its upset over No. 3 Notre Dame.
Although Kentucky dominated No. 19 Illinois late, outscoring the Fighting Illini 27-7 in the final quarter, the Wildcats have more work to do in order to show the nation that they belong in the top 10.
Before the Wildcats begin SEC play on Jan. 2, they feature five more games starting with the No. 16 North Carolina Tar Heels (7-1), followed by the Queens Royals (3-3), Purdue Boilermakers (4-3), Belmont Bruins (3-4) and Western Kentucky Hilltoppers (7-0).
If Kentucky can knock off the Tar Heels inside of Carmichael Arena and pick up its third ranked win of the season, it’s likely it could enter SEC play undefeated for the first time since the 2015-16 season.
The SEC featured five teams in the top 15 including No. 3 South Carolina, No. 4 Texas, No. 5 LSU, No. 11 Oklahoma and No. 14 Kentucky. No.18 Ole Miss and No. 19 Alabama rounded off the ranked SEC teams, trailing only the Big 10 with the most ranked teams by conference.
No. 23 Michigan and No. 24 Michigan State entered the rankings this week after being the top two vote getters last week, adding to the Big 10’s ranked total.
Despite the conference war, Kentucky holds the SEC and national leader in assists per game with Georgia Amoore dishing out 8.3 dimes a night.
The Wildcats also feature Teonni Key, who’s blocking 3.6 shots a night, leading the SEC and ranking third in the nation.
Clara Strack, solidifying herself as one of the best bigs in the nation, also ranks eighth in the SEC with 18.3 points per game and ninth in the nation with 11 rebounds a night.
Amoore, Key and Strack will take the court next against the No. 16 North Carolina Tar Heels on Dec. 5 as part of the SEC/ACC Challenge, looking to remain undefeated and pick up their third ranked win of the season.
The game is set to tip off at 5 p.m. and will be aired live on ESPN2.
A full list of the rankings can be found below:
- UCLA Bruins (8-0)
- UConn Huskies (6-0)
- South Carolina Gamecocks (7-1)
- Texas Longhorns (7-0)
- LSU Tigers (9-0)
- USC Trojans (6-1)
- Maryland Terrapins (8-0)
- Duke Blue Devils (8-1)
- TCU Horned Frogs (8-0)
- Notre Dame Fighting Irish (5-2)
- Oklahoma Sooners (6-1)
- Ohio State Buckeyes (7-0)
- Kansas State Wildcats (7-1)
- Kentucky Wildcats (7-0)
- West Virginia Mountaineers (8-1)
- North Carolina Tar Heels (7-1)
- Iowa Hawkeyes (8-0)
- Ole Miss Rebels (5-2)
- Alabama Crimson Tide (8-0)
- Iowa State Cyclones (6-2)
- Illinois Fighting Illini (6-1)
- Louisville Cardinals (5-2)
- Michigan Wolverines (7-1)
- Michigan State Spartans (8-0)
- Nebraska Cornhuskers (6-1)
Receiving votes: NC State (58), Georgia Tech (33), Stanford (28), Tennessee (16), Oregon (15), Florida State (14), Richmond (13), Mississippi State (11), Vanderbilt (8), Baylor (6), Utah (5), Harvard (4), South Dakota State (4), Creighton (3), Minnesota (3).
