AP Top 25 college basketball poll: Houston still in top 10 of national rankings

The Cougars don't lose much ground after losing to a tough Auburn team

Auburn Tigers center Dylan Cardwell (44) steals the ball away from Houston Cougars forward Ja'Vier Francis (5) during the first half at Toyota Center. / Troy Taormina-Imagn Images

The college basketball poll voters credited the Houston Cougars with a "good loss" vs. Auburn — just as Kelvin Sampson suggested.

Houston only dropped four spots in the latest AP Top 25 college basketball poll — from No. 4 to No. 8 — after losing to Auburn 74-69 on Saturday in a highly entertaining game. Auburn moved up from No. 11 to No. 5.

"Bruce [Pearl] has a really good team," Sampson said. "There is no shame on our side. Had we won the game, this was not going to be any kind of bad loss for Auburn. It's certainly not a bad loss for us. It's a loss that we hope we can learn from. We lost to a really good team. But this is why we scheduled this game. We could've went and played one of those other games and be 2-0 and people would be running around here slapping us on the back telling us how good we are, knowing damn well we're not."

The Cougars were bumped back to No. 10 in the Coaches Poll, which makes you wonder if the coaches are watching the games.

The Big 12 still has six ranked teams, with No. 1 Kansas leading the way. Five more Big 12 teams received poll votes, led by Texas Tech with 102.

Here's the updated Associated Press Top 25 men's college basketball poll after the first week of the 2024-25 season.

AP Top 25 College Basketball Poll

Nov. 11, 2024

1. Kansas (44)

2. Alabama (6)

3. UConn (7)

4. Gonzaga (3)

5. Auburn (2)

6. Duke

7. Iowa State

8. Houston

9. Arizona

10. North Carolina

11. Tennessee

12. Baylor

13. Purdue

14. Creighton

15. Marquette

16. Indiana

17. Cincinnati

18. Arkansas

19. Kentucky

20. Florida

21. Ohio State

22. St. John's

23. Texas A&M

24. Rutgers

25. Ole Miss

Others receiving votes: Illinois 144, Texas Tech 102, Wake Forest 84, Xavier 78, Texas 51, Michigan St. 41, BYU 26, Kansas St 24, UCF 20, Mississippi St. 15, New Mexico 15, Oregon 14, North Florida 14, Miami 14, Clemson 13, VCU 12, Memphis 8, Wisconsin 6, Grand Canyon 6, Providence 4, Maryland 3, Austin Peay 2, Arizona State 2, South Dakota St. 1, Michigan 1, Columbia 1, Dayton 1.