BATON ROUGE — For the first time this season, John Brady‘s Tigers earned a spot in the USA Today/ESPN Top 25 Coaches’ Poll after blowing out the fourth-ranked (USA Today) Arizona Wildcats, 86-60, Saturday. LSU also returned to the AP poll with a No. 22 ranking following the upset victory.
The Tigers (16-3, 3-3 SEC) were unranked in both the USA Today/ESPN and the Associated Press Top 25 polls last week (Jan. 23-30). LSU entered the AP poll at No. 24 for the first time this season during the first week in January prior to their reentry Monday afternoon.
Arizona fell only one spot in the Coaches’ poll after the 26-point loss in Baton Rouge. Other Southeastern Conference schools in the poll include Tennessee which jumped four spots to No. 9, Auburn at No. 10, Florida at No. 12, Kentucky in a tie for 17th and Vanderbilt at 23rd in the nation.
In the Ratings Percentate Index (RPI), the Tigers moved up 24 spots to No. 26 in the nation. Arizona actually moved up two spots to No. 3 this week.
The six SEC teams ranked in the USA Today/ESPN Poll represent the league as the only teams in the RPI’s Top 64.
LSU also climbed to No. 17 in the Sagarin rankings.