Kentucky no longer unanimous No. 1

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Monday, January 12, 2015

Kentucky survived two overtime games to stay unbeaten, though those tougher-than-expected wins loosened the Wildcats' hold a bit on the top spot in the AP Top 25.



The top-ranked Wildcats (15-0) were atop 63 of 65 votes cast Monday, ending a run of five weeks as the unanimous No. 1. Kentucky beat Mississippi at home in overtime in its Southeastern Conference opener, then won in double OT at Texas A&M.



"Every team right now has issues in the country. Every team," coach John Calipari said Monday. "Every team's working through something. All I'll tell you is I'm happy I'm coaching this team. I believe I have the best team in the country with the best players. So we got some things to figure out."



Virginia (15-0) earned the other two first-place votes and moved up a spot to No. 2 as the only other unbeaten team after Duke's loss at North Carolina State. The Cavaliers have their highest ranking since reaching No. 2 in Ralph Sampson's final season in March 1983.



Gonzaga was third, followed by the Blue Devils -- who fell from second and were among five top-10 losers -- and Villanova.



Louisville, Wisconsin, Utah, Kansas and Arizona rounded out the top 10.



No. 20 Texas had the biggest drop, falling 10 spots after losses to Oklahoma and Oklahoma State.



Northern Iowa, Oklahoma State and Wyoming were new to the poll, with 25th-ranked Wyoming in for the first time since 1988.



The Cowboys (15-2, 4-0 Mountain West) have won seven straight overall and 13 straight at home, the program's longest run there since the 2000-01 season.



Wyoming's last ranking came at No. 13 in March 1988.



"My initial reaction as a coach: We've only had 17 games. There's a long way to go," coach Larry Shyatt said. "And then my reaction on behalf of the people of the great state of Wyoming and the fans would be: At least it's a step in the right direction."



The Associated Press contributed to this report.



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