Gonzaga drops out of AP men’s hoops poll after nightmare week

The Gonzaga Bulldogs have found themselves in an unfamiliar position: unranked.

After losing back-to-back games in West Coast Conference play, the Zags did not make the cut in Monday’s new Associated Press top 25 men’s basketball poll.

See this week’s full AP top 25 rankings

Gonzaga sits at 14-6 overall and 5-2 in the WCC this season following a 97-89 overtime loss at Oregon State last Thursday and a stunning 103-99 defeat in Spokane at the hands of Santa Clara on Saturday. It marked the first time since 2014 that the Zags lost two straight in conference play.

The Bulldogs received 34 points in the voting for Monday’s poll, making them the fourth team outside of the top 25. It’s a huge fall, as Gonzaga was No. 16 in the previous week’s rankings.

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Gonzaga entered the season as the No. 6 team in the nation and even had a two-week stay at No. 3 early on, boosted by a 101-63 blowout over then-No. 8 Baylor to open the campaign. But it’s been a struggle ever since the Zags were upset over the Thanksgiving holiday break in the Bahamas by West Virginia. Besides Baylor, the only win over a ranked opponent for Gonzaga this season came on Nov. 28 over then-No. 14 Indiana. Neither Baylor nor Indiana are currently ranked. The Zags also lost back-to-back games in December to Kentucky (currently No. 9) and UConn (No. 19), and then fell again to UCLA (No. 22 at the time, now unranked) on Dec. 28.

Gonzaga will look to bounce back at 5 p.m. Saturday on the road against Portland, then will welcome Oregon State to The Kennel for a rematch at 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 28.

The Zags have rarely been unranked since head coach Mark Few took over in 1999, though they did have a stretch outside of the AP poll during the 2023-24 season. Gonzaga was able to climb back into the rankings by the end of the regular season and ultimately reached its 25th consecutive  the Sweet 16 round of the NCAA Tournament for the ninth straight time.

For more on the new men’s basketball AP poll, click here.

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