Bleacher Report
Purdue and Kentucky were among the biggest risers in the newest Associated Press Top 25 poll thanks to huge wins last week.
The Boilermakers upset then-No. 2 Alabama 87-78, which vaulted them from 13th up to sixth. The Wildcats earned their first signature win of the Mark Pope era, beating Duke 77-72, and jumped to ninth from 19th as a result.
Freshman phenom Cooper Flagg made quite the impression in his third college game. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to lift his team to victory.
Flagg had 26 points, 11 rebounds and two blocks against Kentucky.
Three-point shooting was the difference as the Wildcats shot 10-of-25 from beyond the arc. The Blue Devils, by contrast, made just four of their 24 long-range attempts.
Purdue adopted a much different approach to attack Alabama. The Boilermakers scored 34 points in the paint and got to the free-throw line 25 times. Trey Kaufman-Renn put up a game-high 26 points while Braden Smith and Fletcher Loyer had 17 points apiece.
The players change in West Lafayette yet the winning stays the same.
Wisconsin also carried the Big Ten flag with distinction when it caught fire and handed Arizona a 15-point defeat.
The Wildcats out-rebounded the Badgers 52-28 and had a plus-22 advantage on the offensive glass. They also had 16 more points in the paint. But Wisconsin shot 48.1 percent from the field and nailed 12 long-range jumpers to counteract Arizona’s strength inside.
Badgers senior John Tonje had a scoring line that needs to be seen to be believed. He had 41 points, with 21 of those coming from the charity stripe.
The officiating crew was liberal with the whistle. Arizona and Wisconsin combined for 63 personal fouls and 87 free-throw attempts.
This wasn’t exactly one for the purists.
Looking to the week ahead, Purdue won’t get to rest on its laurels. The Boilermakers face off with Marquette in Milwaukee on Tuesday night at 9 p.m. ET.
Another intriguing matchup pits St. John’s against Baylor in the Bahamas Championship. The Red Storm have moved into the Top 25 of the AP poll for the first time since 2018-19. A win over the Bears would be an early sign the program can potentially approach the heights it was hoping for when it hired Rick Pitino.
The week’s marquee battle arrives Friday, when Arizona welcomes Duke to Tucson. The Wildcats got the better of the Blue Devils last year, which foreshadowed an up-and-down regular season for the latter.
Head coach Jon Scheyer will be eager to set a much different tone in the rematch.
