College Basketball AP Poll Week 15: Winners and losers
Winner: UCLA Bruins (No. 10 up to No. 6)
You can’t keep the UCLA Bruins down for long. After losing a couple straight games two weeks ago, the Bruins have now won four in a row, including a big victory against No. 5 Oregon in Week 14 to move up the rankings. They closed the week out by beating Oregon State as well, 78-60.
For a team that has struggled defensively, UCLA has held two of its last three opponents under 70 points, a sparkling trend for this squad. Before that, the Bruins hadn’t held a team under 70 since their second Pac-12 game of the year, at Oregon State.
After trailing by as many as 19 points in the first half and 15 in the second, UCLA stormed back to take the lead against Oregon at home, avenging the earlier loss to the Ducks in Pac-12 play. That win was not only impressive given that it was a major comeback, but also that it was against one of the top-five teams in college basketball.
Lonzo Ball had a big 15 points and 11 rebounds in the come-from-behind victory and that confidence seemed to boil over into the Oregon State matchup as the Bruins had no issue dismantling the Beavers.
Not only did the Bruins move up in the rankings, but they also pulled within one game of second-place Oregon in the Pac-12 and two games out of first.