Bob Child / AP file

Connecticut's Ben Gordon has helped the Huskies soar back to the No. 1 ranking.

updated 11:37 p.m. ET Dec. 22, 2003

For a change, there was no change at the top of The Associated Press men’s college basketball poll. After four straight weeks of new No. 1s, Connecticut held on to the top spot Monday after winning its only game last week by 50 points over Iona.

For the second straight week No. 2 Kentucky had more first-place votes than Connecticut, but the Huskies received more points from the national media panel. Duke remained third.

Georgia Tech moved up one spot to fourth, its highest ranking since February 1986, and Vanderbilt moved into the poll at No. 25, its first appearance in the Top 25 since February 2000.

The Huskies (8-1) received 21 first-place votes and 1,636 points, 22 more than the Wildcats (6-0), who were No. 1 on 25 ballots. Kentucky beat Indiana 80-41 on Saturday.

Duke (8-1), which beat then-No. 11 Texas 89-61 on Saturday, had two first-place votes and 1,539 points.

Georgia Tech (10-0) had 16 first-place votes. Arizona, which moved from seventh to fifth, and Stanford, which jumped from ninth to sixth, each had two first-place votes.

Oklahoma moved up one spot to seventh and Wake Forest, which received the other No. 1 vote, went from No. 14 to No. 8 after its 119-114 triple-overtime win at North Carolina, which dropped five places to ninth.

Saint Joseph’s and Missouri switched places at 10th and 11th and Kansas, which lost 75-61 at Nevada on Sunday night, fell from sixth to No. 12.

Florida was 13th and was followed by Cincinnati, Gonzaga, Pittsburgh, Syracuse, Texas, Wisconsin and Louisville.

The last five ranked teams were Illinois, Purdue, Dayton, Maryland and Vanderbilt.

The Commodores (8-0) are off to their best start since 1973-74 when they won their first 10 games. This season’s biggest wins have been over Michigan and Indiana.

Marquette (7-2) fell out of the rankings for the first time since January 2002 following its 63-59 loss to Wisconsin on Saturday. The Golden Eagles were 23rd last week.

Wake Forest’s jump of five spots was the biggest gain of the week, while Texas’ drop from a tie for 11th to No. 18 following the loss to Duke at Madison Square Garden, was the biggest drop.

There are three meetings between ranked teams this week. On Tuesday, No. 23 Dayton is at No. 14 Cincinnati, and No. 21 Illinois plays No. 11 Missouri at St. Louis. On Saturday, No. 20 Louisville is at No. 2 Kentucky.

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