UW Moves Up in AP Basketball Poll

Huskies one of three Pac-12 teams recognized in Top 25 listing

Dan Raley | Dec 23, 2019

UW Moves Up in AP Basketball Poll /

Washington's young basketball team on Monday moved up one slot to 21 in the Associated Press basketball poll, an ironic number considering most of the Huskies, age-wise, are still in or barely out of their teens.

In Hawaii for the Diamond Head Classic through Christmas, the UW (9-2) sits behind Penn State (10-2) in the Top 25 listing and just ahead of West Virginia (10-1).

In their most recent outing, the Huskies defeated Ball State 85-64 on Sunday night in the holiday tourney's opening round in Honolulu. They face unranked Hawaii (8-3) on Monday night with tipoff scheduled for 8 p.m. PT. ESPN2 will televise the game nationally.

The UW is the only ranked team among the eight entered in the Diamond Head Classic.

Washington is one of three Pac-12 teams holding onto a national ranking, joining No. 6 Oregon (10-2) and No. 24 Arizona (10-3). The Huskies are No. 20 in the coaches poll. Check the rankings here.

Gonzaga (13-1) became the sixth team this season to claim the AP's No. 1 ranking, replacing Kansas. Two weeks ago in Seattle, the Zags won a close game from the Huskies, beating them 83-76.

The video shows pregame warmups from that game and the photo captures the Huskies and Zags standing for the national anthem.

Published Dec 23, 2019

DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.