Tennessee sticks at No. 1, despite Duke’s big win over Virginia

There were some nerves among Tennessee fans after Duke’s big road win over Virginia. The Blue Devils passed a huge ACC test on Saturday, picking up their second win over the Cavaliers this season. Duke shot 62 percent from three-point range on Saturday night, handling third ranked Virginia with relative ease.

That wasn’t enough to jump the Vols in the AP Poll, however. Tennessee earned 40 first place votes over Duke’s 24. Both teams have big road games this week with Duke traveling to Louisville and Tennessee traveling to Kentucky.

Virginia dropped to the four spot with their loss. Gonzaga, Tennessee’s best win of the year to date, rose to third in the poll. Kentucky stuck at No. 5 for the second straight week.

The polls are due for a shakeup this week with Tennessee and Kentucky finally squaring off. As mentioned above, Duke gets Louisville this week, but they’ll face rival North Carolina for the first time this season next week.

LSU is the only other team inside the top 25 this week, rising to 19th. Tennessee will pay visit to Will Wade’s squad on February 23rd.

Full AP Poll

1. Tennessee
2. Duke
3. Gonzaga
4. Virginia
5. Kentucky
6. Michigan
7. Nevada
8. North Carolina
9. Houston
10. Marquette
11. Michigan State
12. Purdue
13. Villanova
14. Kansas
15. Texas Tech
16. Louisville
17. Florida State
18. Kansas State
19. LSU
20. Wisconsin
21. Iowa
22. Virginia Tech
23. Iowa State
24. Maryland
25. Buffalo