Johni Broome 's injury makes Auburn's spot more tenuous, but the Tigers beat Mississippi State by 22 even without him. Duke is barely breaking a sweat while blowing out inferior ACC competition. And then there's Iowa State, which has only a two-point loss to Auburn blemishing its résumé and just dispatched Kansas by 17.

Earlier in the week, while discussing Auburn, I explained why I think the Tigers deserve their No. 1 ranking but acknowledged I also find it hard to believe they're actually the best team in the country without the injured Johni Broome.

This week's AP top 25 men's basketball poll has Illinois at #19 in the country. That's down from #13 last week. Illinois stands at 13-and-4 on the season. Six Big Ten Conference teams are in the top 25 this week led by Michigan State (#12) and Oregon (#13). Purdue is 17th - Illinois 19th - Michigan 20th - and Wisconsin enters the poll at #24.

The Illini had the week's biggest slide by falling six spots after a weekend home loss to Southern California.

No. 7 Marquette (15-3) beat DePaul 85-83, OT; lost to Xavier 59-57. No. 8 Kentucky (14-4) beat No. 11 Texas A&M 81-69; lost to No. 4 Alabama 102-97. No. 9 Kansas (13-4) lost to No. 2 Iowa St. 74-57; beat Kansas St. 84-74.

Illinois was the week's biggest riser, jumping nine spots from No. 22 to No. 13 after sweeping a West Coast swing.

The new AP poll is out, and the Auburn Tigers are No. 1 on the list for the second time in program history. The first time was for three weeks in January and February of 2022. Auburn jumped Tennessee for the No. 1 spot after the Volunteers lost 73-43 to Florida on Tuesday in Gainesville. Tennessee had be No. 1 for five weeks.

AUBURN, Ala. (AP) — Chad Baker-Mazara scored 20 points, and No. 1 Auburn beat No. 15 Mississippi State 88-66 on Tuesday night in its first game without star center Johni Broome.

In the absence of Broome, Auburn front-liner Chaney Johnson stepped up and delivered. Not only did Johnson tie his season high in minutes (34), but he had 17 points, eight rebounds and four blocks.

Six-loss Arizona sits at No. 8 in the latest BPI rankings, as ESPN is taking into account the Wildcats’ strength of record and expected point margin moving forward as 12 of the 16 teams in the Big 12 Conference are considered Quad 1 competition.

No. 25 Baylor (11-5) did not play. Next: vs. TCU, Sunday.

Colgate at Lafayette, 1 p.m. Maine at UMBC, 1 p.m. Mercyhurst at Wagner, 1 p.m. Albany (NY) at Binghamton, 2 p.m. Canisius at Fairfield, 2 p.m. Cornell at Penn, 2 p.m.