AUSTIN (KXAN) — Stuck in the middle of a grueling Big 12 Conference, the Texas Longhorns went unranked for another week in the Associated Press men’s top 25 poll released Monday.
The Longhorns gained more votes in the latest poll, moving from 10 to 22 following an overtime loss to No. 4 Houston and a win over No. 25 TCU, but are still on the outside of the top 25 teams. Texas received five more votes than Oklahoma in the latest poll.
Texas is 3-2 during its 6-game stretch of consecutively playing ranked conference opponents and will cap it Tuesday against No. 14 Iowa State at Moody Center. The Cyclones dropped two spots in the latest rankings.
The Big 12 has six teams in this week’s rankings led by No. 4 Kansas, who moved up four spots after beating Houston 78-65 at home. The Cougars dropped a spot to No. 5 following the loss. Baylor moved up five spots to No. 13 after beating Iowa State 70-68 while BYU moved up to No. 21 and Texas Tech fell eight places to No. 23 following a 75-72 loss to Cincinnati.
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Following Texas’ 77-66 win over TCU in Fort Worth, the Longhorns moved to 4-5 in Big 12 play — tied with four other teams for eighth in the 14-team conference — head coach Rodney Terry said the team’s defense is improving game by game.
“Our one-on-one defense, sitting down and staying in front of guys, and pick-and-roll defense. We work on it every day,” he said. “We’re not giving guys possessions where they get air space at the rim. We’re getting better. We still have work to do, but I’m proud of the effort.”
The Big 12 is so competitive that teams beat each other up. Houston and Kansas are tied atop the conference with 6-3 marks, meaning only two games separate the conference leaders and the group Texas is tied with. The regular season race for conference tournament seeding will come down to the final game in early March, and if the Longhorns play well enough, the NCAA tournament awaits.