UConn hosts No. 18 Creighton on Wednesday to headline the week's AP Top 25 national schedule, then visits Villanova — which has wins against current ranked teams North Carolina, Texas Tech and Creighton — on Saturday. UConn (15-2) has won five straight since falling at Seton Hall, a game that saw 7-foot-2 sophomore Donovan Clingan go down to a foot injury. Coach Dan Hurley said after Sunday's win against Georgetown that Clingan is getting close to a return, saying he's not battling symptoms from multiple days of workouts.
Creighton played one of its worst offensive games of the season against St. John's but still was tough enough to protect its home court against one of the Big East's surprise teams. Trey Alexander made the go-ahead free throws with 12.3 seconds left, and the No. 22 Bluejays ended St. John’s four-game win streak with a 66-65 win on Saturday. The Bluejays (13-4, 4-2 Big East) prevailed in a physical, back-and-forth game that St. John’s (12-5, 4-2) looked to have in hand in the middle of the second half.
Creighton coach Greg McDermott got what he was looking for from his team. Baylor Scheierman and Ryan Kalkbrenner each scored 20 points, and No. 22 Creighton pounded DePaul 84-58 on Tuesday night for its third consecutive win. “Nineteen assists on 30 made baskets is the kind of basketball we'd like to play,” McDermott said.
Purdue held its place atop the AP Top 25 on Monday following its win over Illinois in a top-10 showdown, while Houston jumped Kansas into second place as the last unbeaten team in Division I men's college basketball. The Cougars received seven first-place votes and were second, while the Jayhawks had the other two first-place votes but fell a spot to third after their down-to-the-wire win over TCU. Houston is 14-0 for the third time in school history after beginning its Big 12 tenure with a romp past West Virginia.