BYU Basketball Enters AP Top-25

PROVO, Utah — BYU men’s basketball entered the AP Top 25 this morning, at No. 23. The Cougars are a No. 6 seed in the NCAA Tournament and will have their first game on Saturday, Mar. 20, at Hinkle Fieldhouse.

BYU received one vote in the preseason poll and continued to receive votes in 10 of the next 16 weeks. The Cougars were one spot shy of entering the Top 25 each of the last two weeks.

BYU is 3-1 under Mark Pope when it is ranked, with wins over Santa Clara, No. 2 Gonzaga and Pepperdine. The lone loss came to Saint Mary’s in the semifinals of the 2020 WCC Tournament.

The Cougars will have the opportunity to collect their first win as a ranked team this season when they face the winner of the Michigan State–UCLA game on Saturday night in the First Round of the NCAA Tournament.

Michigan State played 13 ranked team this season and won five of the matchups. In the last three weeks, the Spartans have gone 3-1 against teams ranked in the Top 5, boasting wins over No. 2 Michigan, No. 4 Ohio State and No. 5 Illinois. The only win over a ranked team away from their home court came in an early-December matchup against No. 6 Duke.

UCLA played just one ranked opponent, falling to No. 20 Ohio State at a neutral site.    

The game on Saturday is slated to tip-off at 7:40 p.m. MDT on CBS.