Illinois drops to No. 6 in latest AP Poll

After dropping a showdown against one of the best teams in the country last week, the Illini checked in at No. 6 in the latest Associated Press top-25 poll on Monday.

Gonzaga, Baylor, Iowa, Michigan State and Kansas make up the top five, and Houston, Creighton, Villanova and Duke round out the rest of the top 10.

Both Kansas and Michigan State barely survived scares on their home floors. Wisconsin fell out of the top 10 with a loss at Marquette.

WEEK IN REVIEW

The Illini squared off in a top-5 matchup for the first time in over 15 years last week but came out on the losing end. Illinois hung around for over 30 minutes against the Baylor Bears, which should be an encouraging sign, bu it just never got enough going offensively against arguably the best defensive team in the country.

COMING UP

The Illini travel to Durham, N.C., tomorrow evening for another top-10 clash against No. 10 Duke as part of the Big Ten/ACC Challenge. The Blue Devils sit at 2-1 with their only loss coming at the hands of Michigan State.

Illinois will then hit the road for this year’s annual Braggin’ Rights game against Missouri in Columbia on Saturday thanks to a questionable Andy Katz coin flip. The Tigers are 3-0 on the young season with an impressive top-25 victory over Oregon last week.