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The West Virginia men’s basketball team suffered its fourth loss in five games on Saturday, but it was the first time this season the team had lost twice in a voting week. Subsequently, WVU (16-5) dropped in both major polls released today.
Mountaineers check in at No. 15 in this week's AP poll. pic.twitter.com/cNkoBnO8hN
— WVU Basketball (@WVUhoops) January 29, 2018
WVU fell eight spots to No. 15 in the AP Top 25 Poll and four spots to No. 11 in the USA Today Coaches’ Poll. The saving grace for the Mountaineers is that Kentucky re-entered the top 25 and both Oklahoma and Virginia remained highly ranked this week.
WVU drops four spots to No. 11 in this week's USA Today Coaches' poll. pic.twitter.com/Iuogu9kqdZ
— WVU Basketball (@WVUhoops) January 29, 2018
The Big 12 Conference keeps four teams in the top 25: Kansas (7/7), Texas Tech (10/10) and Oklahoma (12/15) each kept pace in the rankings this week.
Of WVU’s 16 wins, only two are over teams that are currently ranked. Of the Mountaineers’ 5 losses, only three are against teams in this week’s top 25. The Mountaineers have to play all three ranked conference opponents again and could see another conference foe creep into the top 25 in the next weeks.
Bob Huggins has two days to prepare his team for the final 10 games of the regular season, as WVU travels to Ames, Iowa, for a matchup against Iowa State on Wednesday, Jan. 31. WVU hosts Kansas State on Saturday, Feb. 3 during this voting week.