Kentucky basketball plummets in new Top 25 rankings after loss to Michigan State

Ben Roberts, Lexington Herald-Leader on Nov 24, 2025

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LEXINGTON, Ky. — As expected, the Kentucky Wildcats took a tumble in the latest men’s college basketball Top 25 rankings.

The new Associated Press poll was released Monday afternoon, and the Cats dropped seven spots to the No. 19 position in the rankings. The latest fall came six days after Mark Pope’s team was embarrassed in Madison Square Garden — an 83-66 loss to a Michigan State squad that came into that game at No. 17 in the AP poll.

UK’s drop was the biggest in Monday’s Top 25 update.

The Spartans (5-0), who defeated John Calipari’s Arkansas Razorbacks earlier in the season, moved up six spots to No. 11 in Monday’s rankings.

Kentucky (4-2) is still searching for its first victory over a marquee opponent this season. The Cats also suffered a 96-88 loss at Louisville two weeks ago. UK was ranked No. 9 in the country — also its position in the preseason AP Top 25 poll — going into that game and fell three spots last week as a result of the rivalry loss.

Pat Kelsey’s Cardinals played just one game last week — a 74-64 victory in Cincinnati over the Bearcats — and stayed put at No. 6 in the rankings update. U of L’s next big game will come at Arkansas on Dec. 3.

Kentucky followed up its loss to Michigan State with an 88-46 rout of Loyola (Maryland) in Rupp Arena on Friday night — winning by 42 points without Mouhamed Dioubate (ankle) and Jaland Lowe (shoulder), who were both out with injuries — but that win against a heavy underdog didn’t move the needle for AP voters.

UK also won’t get much of a chance to make a better impression this week. The Cats’ only game will be a date with coach John Pelphrey’s Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles on Wednesday night in Rupp Arena. Tennessee Tech started the week at No. 319 nationally in the KenPom ratings.

The Cats will have a shot to send a message next week, however. They’re set to host the No. 16-ranked North Carolina Tar Heels in Rupp on Dec. 2 and will then play No. 12 Gonzaga in Nashville, Tenn., on Dec. 5.

In the meantime, the last team to beat UK will play the Cats’ next big opponent. Michigan State and North Carolina will square off Thursday in the Fort Myers Tip-Off, with a 4:30 p.m. EST tip on Fox.

New college basketball Top 25 rankings

The Purdue Boilermakers held on to the No. 1 spot in the AP Top 25 poll for the second consecutive week Monday after beating Memphis 80-71 and rocking then-No. 15 Texas Tech 86-56 in the Bahamas.

Kentucky defeated Purdue 78-65 in an exhibition game in Rupp Arena last month.

Following the Boilermakers in the top five were No. 2 Arizona, No. 3 Houston, No. 4 Duke and No. 5 UConn, with No. 6 Louisville, No. 7 Michigan, No. 8 Alabama, No. 9 BYU and No. 10 Florida rounding out the top 10.

The only two teams in last week’s top 10 to lose were UConn and Illinois. Arizona went on the road to defeat the then-No. 3 Huskies 71-67, while Alabama beat then-No. 8 Illinois 90-86 in Chicago.

Arizona now has victories over Florida and UConn — both ranked No. 3 in the country at the time of those games — and UCLA, which was 15th in the rankings for its matchup against the Wildcats.

The rest of the new AP Top 25 poll looked like this Monday afternoon: No. 11 Michigan State, No. 12 Gonzaga, No. 13 Illinois, No. 14 St. John’s, No. 15 Iowa State, No. 16 North Carolina, No. 17 Tennessee, No. 18 UCLA, No. 19 Kentucky, No. 20 Texas Tech, No. 21 Auburn, No. 22 Arkansas, No. 23 N.C. State, No. 24 Vanderbilt and No. 25 Indiana.

With the Hoosiers entering the Top 25 Monday, all four of UK’s marquee opponents for December are now ranked. The Cats will play No. 16 North Carolina on Dec. 2, No. 12 Gonzaga on Dec. 5, No. 25 Indiana on Dec. 13 and No. 14 St. John’s on Dec. 20.

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