Gonzaga rises two spots to No. 13 in AP college basketball poll

Gonzaga regained some of the ground it lost in the last two polls, climbing two spots to No. 13 in Monday’s Associated Press college basketball rankings.

The Zags (9-3) thumped Jackson State 100-76 in their last game before the holiday break. They moved past Baylor, which fell to Duke, and Creighton, which lost to Villanova in overtime.

The Zags reached No. 7 after a 6-1 start, but setbacks to Washington and UConn dropped them to No. 15. Gonzaga had 577 points in the latest top 25, two ahead of former West Coast Conference member BYU and 201 behind No. 12 Oklahoma.

Gonzaga returns from the Christmas break to face San Diego State on Friday before entering WCC play against Pepperdine at the Spokane Arena on Jan. 4. The Aztecs (10-2) received eight votes.

The top five remained the same: Purdue, Kansas, Houston, Arizona and UConn. The Wildcats, led by former Gonzaga assistant coach Tommy Lloyd, stayed at four after falling to Florida Atlantic 96-95 in Las Vegas.

Tennessee, FAU, Kentucky, North Carolina and Marquette rounded out the top 10.

The Zags’ last nonconference game is against Kentucky on Feb. 10th at Rupp Arena in Lexington.

The Big 12 has six ranked teams, followed by the Big East with four. The WCC, Pac-12, Mountain West and Sun Belt each have one.

Gonzaga is No. 45 in the NET rankings, one behind No. 44 Washington State. The Zags are 0-3 in Quad 1 games, but has an opportunity to get into the win column against No. 29 San Diego State.

San Francisco is No. 48 and Saint Mary’s is No. 59. The top five: Houston, Arizona, BYU, Purdue and Iowa State.

The latest bracket matrix, based on 35 bracket projections, has Gonzaga as a six seed with the highest listing as a three seed and the lowest as a 12 seed.

Purdue, which downed GU 73-63 in the opener of the Maui Invitational, Arizona, Houston and Kansas are on the No. 1 seed line.