LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The University of Kentucky men's basketball team is inching closer to the top of the polls.
The Wildcats (14-3, 4-1 SEC) moved up two spots and were ranked No. 6 in Monday's latest AP Top 25 Poll. UK bounced back from an overtime loss to Texas A&M Jan. 13 with back-to-back wins over Mississippi State and Georgia.
Kentucky is hovering around the 2 and 3 seed range in most experts' NCAA Tournament projections.
UConn remained No. 1 and received 44 of a possible 61 first place votes. Purdue was second, North Carolina was third, Houston was fourth and Tennessee rounded out the top five.
You can see the full rankings here.
Tre Mitchell scored 23 points, Antonio Reeves added 21 as Kentucky shot 62% to beat Georgia 105-96 on Saturday night. Zvonimir Ivišić added 13 points off the bench in his long-awaited debut, including 11 during a highlight-heavy 13-2 first-half run that broke the game open.
The NCAA declared the 7-foot-2 Croatian forward eligible earlier in the day after a prolonged screening process that frustrated coach John Calipari and the Wildcats fan base.
"He was ecstatic," Calipari said. "He was all smiles. He's got a ways to go, but I told them, you know why he was wide open? They didn't know he could shoot threes because they've never seen him play. It took a long, long time, but I appreciate the work everybody did to make it happen."
Kentucky visits South Carolina (15-3, 3-2) on Tuesday night at 7 p.m.