Iowa State men’s basketball: Cyclones jump to 11th in latest AP poll

Iowa State men’s basketball finally gets out of the 16th position and is just behind the top 10 in the latest Associated Press poll.

Feb 3, 2014; Stillwater, OK, USA; Iowa State Cyclones forward Melvin Ejim (3) drives against Oklahoma State Cowboys forward Kamari Murphy (21) at Gallagher-Iba Arena. Mandatory Credit: Nelson Chenault-USA TODAY Sports

The Cyclones jump five spots to 11th with 925 total points. They finished right ahead of St. Louis and behind Cincinnati, who just lost 76-55 against SMU over the weekend.

The only other team to jump up this high in the top 25 was Wisconsin, who climbed out of the fringe and back into the top 25 at 21st with a blowout win over Illinois and defeating Michigan State at home on Sunday.

Kansas jumped up a spot to seventh with wins over Baylor and West Virginia. Texas fell back to 19th, dropping four spots, after getting blown out by Kansas State. The Wildcats only received one vote in the AP poll.

The rest of the Big 12 is currently out of the top 25. Oklahoma is right on the fringe at 26th with 99 points, 76 points behind Pittsburgh who sits at the bottom of the pack. Oklahoma State also dropped out and received just 10 votes after suffering a road loss to Texas Tech and losing Marcus Smart for three games.

• Elsewhere, in-state rival Iowa sits where Iowa State used to be at 16th. They finished one spot behind and 16 points lower than Michigan, who they whooped up on 85-67 last Saturday.
• USA Today Coaches Poll: Iowa State ranks 14th in the poll, moving up three spots and are just one spot ahead of Iowa. Kansas and Texas are in the same positions as in the AP poll and Oklahoma hangs on at 25th.