After two humbling losses, Gophers drop to No. 23 in AP top-25 poll

It was a rough week for head coach Richard Pitino and the Minnesota Gophers.

On Wednesday, Minnesota suffered a deflating 82-57 loss to Michigan. Four days later, the Gophers failed to follow up on their Christmas Day upset and lost 86-71 to Iowa. The pair of losses to top-10 teams dropped the Gophers seven spots in the Associated Press poll from No. 16 to No. 23.

Minnesota (10-4) will have a chance to get revenge against Michigan when it hosts the Wolverines at 1 p.m. Saturday.

Elsewhere in the poll, Gonzaga and Baylor remain atop for the seventh consecutive week in the regular season.

The Zags received 63 of 64 first-place votes from a national media panel, and the Bears had the other one. Villanova, Texas and Iowa rounded out a top 5 that remained the same from last week.

Gonzaga (12-0) had two games last week and turned both into routs, beating BYU 86-69 and Portland 116-88. The Zags have won 16 straight, dating to last season.

Baylor (11-0) beat Oklahoma and TCU last week to hold at No. 2.

No. 25 Connecticut moved into the poll for the first time since reaching No. 18 in 2016-17.

Ohio State returned to the rankings at No. 21, while Rutgers and Florida State tumbled out from Nos. 15 and 25.

AP TOP 25 POLL — WEEK 8 (released Jan. 11)