Kentucky Wildcats in the new college basketball rankings and analytics

The Cats saw a slight drop after their OT loss to Texas A&M.

• By
  
  Ethan DeWitt
  
• on January 15, 2024 2:41 pm
• @ethandewitt1

The Kentucky Wildcats are coming off a tough overtime loss, as they dropped their first SEC game of the season to Texas A&M in College Station.

After an unprecedented week of ranked teams losing to unranked teams, many in the Big Blue Nation were wondering just how far the Cats might slide with the polls being released this afternoon.

Luckily, it wasn’t too far of a slide in the AP Poll or the Coaches Poll for this young Kentucky team.

In the updated rankings, UK ended up still ranked inside the top 10 of both polls, landing at No. 8 in the AP and No. 10 in the Coaches Poll. The Cats entered last week ranked No. 6 in both.

In regard to the latest AP Poll, four SEC teams made the top 25 with Tennessee leading the way at No. 6. Auburn (No. 13) and Ole Miss (No. 22) help round out the teams alongside Kentucky. Mississippi State and South Carolina also received votes.

The Cats, who enter this week at 12-3 overall and 2-1 in SEC play, will have another big opportunity as the Mississippi State Bulldogs come to town on Wednesday. After knocking off Tennessee last week, the Dogs sit at 12-4 on the year and are looking for another marquee win to add to their tournament resume.

Going to be plenty of opportunities left for Kentucky to make some noise in the polls. They just gotta get back to winning, and that starts Wednesday against a Mississippi State team that’s easily a top-25-caliber opponent.

Now, here is where Kentucky stands in the rest of the latest college basketball ratings.

• The ESPN Power Rankings still have Kentucky at No. 6.
• The latest Andy Katz Power 36 dropped Kentucky to No. 10.
• The CBS Sports Top 25 And 1 has the Cats falling to No. 14.
• KenPom ranks Kentucky at No. 18, while Mississippi State is at 28, and Georgia is at 73.
• EvanMiya has the Cats at No. 18, MSU at 23, and Georgia at 95.
• Barttorvik has Kentucky at No. 23 and MSU actually higher at 20, while Georgia sits at 70.
• TeamRankings put the Cats at No. 19, Mississippi State at 31, and Georgia at 87.
• DRatings has the Cats at No. 22, MSU at 28, and the Dawgs at 64.
• The NET rankings have UK at No. 18, Mississippi State at 35, and Georgia at 84.

Go Cats!

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