Mizzou Tigers tumble in AP Top 25 but have defeated all other ranked SEC teams

Missouri followed one of its best weeks of the season with one of its worst, and dropped 10 spots in The Associated Press men’s basketball poll.

After an 0-2 week, the Tigers checked in at No. 20 on Monday, dropping 10 spots from their season-best ranking of the previous week. It’s the 10th straight week Mizzou has been ranked.

Mizzou unraveled in the second half of a loss at Mississippi, and dropped an overtime heartbreaker at home to Arkansas on Saturday.

Earlier that day, the Tigers were projected as a No. 4 NCAA Tournament seed by the Division I Men’s Basketball Committee.

The previous week, Missouri was ranked 10th after collecting victories over Kentucky and Alabama. It marked the first time Mizzou had cracked the top 10 in coach Cuonzo Martin’s four seasons and the first time for the program since the 2012-13 season.

Missouri (13-5, 6-5 SEC) plays two road games this week, at Georgia on Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. Central and at South Carolina on Saturday with a 1 p.m. tip. Jeremiah Tilmon, who didn’t play Saturday because of a death in his family, won’t make the trip to Georgia.

The Tigers are one of four SEC teams in this week’s top 25 along with No. 8 Alabama, No. 19 Tennessee and No. 24 Arkansas. Mizzou has defeated each of those teams this season and has more victories against the AP top 25 (four) at the time they played than any other SEC team.

No team remaining on Missouri’s schedule is ranked in the top 25.

The AP top 10: Gonzaga, Baylor, Michigan, Ohio State, Illinois, Houston, Virginia, Alabama, Oklahoma, Villanova.

This story was originally published February 15, 2021 at 12:07 PM.