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Josh Gray admitted he spent a few weeks wondering about whether his surging South Carolina team might pop in the next edition of The Associated Press men’s college basketball poll.
The 15th-ranked Gamecocks are there now, playing with confidence and a number by their name for the first time in nearly seven years.
South Carolina hosts Mississippi on Tuesday and then Vanderbilt on Saturday as part of the AP Top 25 national schedule. It comes with the Gamecocks (19-3, 7-2 Southeastern Conference) just a game out of first place in the league standings to start the week and owning the program’s first ranking since February 2017.
“Wherever they put us is where they put us,” freshman forward Collin Murray-Boyles said during the postgame news conference after a weekend win at Georgia. “We ain’t going to play no differently.”
That sounds just fine to second-year coach Lamont Paris, too.
South Carolina has won five straight, including a home win against then-No. 6 Kentucky on Jan. 23 and then last week’s win at then-No. 5 Tennessee — marking the program’s first road win against a top-5 opponent since March 1997.
The schedule still includes matchups with the now-No. 6 Volunteers and No. 12 Auburn, but the Gamecocks are within reach of the program’s first NCAA Tournament bid since that unexpected Final Four run of 2017 — which stands as the program’s lone NCAA bid in two decades.
That was also the last time South Carolina reached 20 wins.
“There’s all these other milestones and things we want to accomplish in terms of developing a program, establishing things,” Paris said after the Georgia win. “That’s my job. For these guys, it’s about this year only. They want to play in the NCAA Tournament and I want to play whatever role I can to help them experience that.”
RANKED RIVALS
Staying in the SEC, the Alabama-Auburn instate rivalry grabs part of the national spotlight this week with Wednesday’s matchup in Tuscaloosa.
The No. 16 Crimson Tide (16-6, 8-1), who made the biggest jump of eight spots in Monday’s latest poll, took the first matchup by winning on the road exactly two weeks earlier. Alabama has lost just once since Dec. 20.
As for the Tigers (18-4, 7-2), the Round 1 loss was part of a two-game blip that included falling at Mississippi State.
BIG 12 TUSSLES
No. 13 Baylor has a tough week ahead.
The Bears (16-5, 5-3 Big 12) start on Tuesday by hosting No. 23 Texas Tech, which took the biggest tumble in Monday’s poll by falling eight spots after losses to TCU and Cincinnati. Then comes Saturday’s trip to fourth-ranked Kansas, which is coming off a home win against Houston.
The Big 12 has a national-best six ranked teams.
THE TOP TIER
Reigning national champion Connecticut, Purdue and North Carolina have been sitting 1-2-3 atop the AP Top 25 for three straight weeks.
The top-ranked Huskies (20-2, 10-1 Big East) enter the week with 10 straight wins. They host Butler on Tuesday then visit Georgetown on Saturday.
The No. 2 Boilermakers (21-2, 10-2 Big Ten) bring KenPom’s No. 1-ranked offense (126.2 points per 100 possessions) into home games against Indiana and Minnesota.
Then there’s the No. 3 Tar Heels (18-4, 10-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) looking to follow their rivalry win against No. 9 Duke. They host Clemson on Tuesday before making Saturday’s trip to Miami, which peaked at No. 8 in the AP Top 25 in late November.
WATCH LIST
Saint Mary’s (18-6, 9-0 West Coast Conference) was the top vote-getter among unranked teams. The Gaels are coming off a win at Gonzaga to put them in firm control of the league lead, and have road trips to Pacific (Tuesday) and Portland (Saturday).
Also keep an eye on Indiana State, which is within reach of the program’s first ranking since Larry Bird’s final season in Terre Haute in 1979. The Sycamores (20-3, 11-1 Missouri Valley Conference) host Valparaiso on Wednesday then visit Missouri State on Saturday.
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