Tennessee moves into the top five of the AP Poll

What a week it was for Tennessee basketball. The Volunteers are surging to open SEC play, absolutely dismantling Mississippi State and South Carolina to improve to 3-0 in league play. Josiah-Jordan James is back on the floor, Santiago Vescovi is heating up, and Olivier Nkamhoua is quickly becoming a legitimate force in the paint.

The AP voters took notice, too. Tennessee hopped up to No. 5 in this week’s poll, trailing only Houston, Kansas, Purdue and Alabama.

The Volunteers, now 13-2 overall, host Vanderbilt on Tuesday night. They’ll turn around and host Kentucky on Saturday. The Wildcats continue to disappoint, starting conference play with a 1-2 mark. They remain unranked, sitting at 10-5 overall. Alabama dismantled Kentucky over the weekend, powering their surge into the top five of this week’s poll.

Arkansas (15), Missouri (20) and Auburn (21) round out the SEC’s presence in the top 25 this week.

NEW AP TOP 25 POLL

1. Houston

2. Kansas

3. Purdue

4. Alabama

5. Tennessee

6. UConn

7. UCLA

8. Gonzaga

9. Arizona

10. Texas

11. Kansas State

12. Xavier

13. Virginia

14. Iowa State

15. Arkansas

16. Miami

17. TCU

18. Wisconsin

19. Providence

20. Missouri

21. Auburn

22. Charleston

23. San Diego State

24. Duke

25. Marquette