West Virginia jumped into the AP Top 25 poll Monday at No. 21 while guard Javon Small was named the Big 12's Player of the Week before the Mountaineers host Arizona on Tuesday.
West Virginia (11-2, 2-0) was ranked No. 21 after beating Kansas and Oklahoma last week , and Arizona (8-5, 2-0) picked up votes for the first time since after it lost to Oklahoma and West Virginia in the Battle 4 Atlantis. Arizona and West Virginia will meet on Tuesday at 5 p.m. in a rematch that will count for the Big 12 standings this time.
West Virginia outlasted Arizona in overtime of a Battle 4 Atlantis third-place game on Nov. 29, and entered the AP Top 25 rankings on Monday.
Small led West Virginia to a 62-61 upset win at Kansas, collecting 13 points, 11 rebounds and six assists while hitting a game-winning free throw with 1.8 seconds left. He also had 24 points and 11 rebounds on Saturday in West Virginia's 69-50 win over Oklahoma State.
Arizona guard Caleb Love was nominated for the Big 12's Player of the Week honors after scoring 33 points on UA's 90-81 win over TCU on Dec. 30 while adding another 12 points in the Wildcats' 72-67 win at Cincinnati on Saturday. The Wildcats have not yet had a Big 12 weekly honor of any sort.
Iowa State's Joshua Jefferson and TCU's Noah Reynolds were named co-Big 12 Newcomers of the week. Jefferson led the Cyclones to wins over Colorado and Baylor while Reynolds had 23 points at Arizona on Dec. 30 and hit a game-winning layup to cap an 18-point effort at Kansas State on Saturday.
In the AP poll, Iowa State (12-1, 2-0) remained at No. 3 while Kansas (10-3, 1-1) dropped from No. 7 to 11. Cincinnati (10-3, 0-2) and Baylor (9-4, 1-1) dropped out of the poll while the Mountaineers moved in for the first time this season.
Baylor received the 29th most points in voting while Cincinnati and Arizona also received votes.Β
