Lady Vols basketball rose in the Associated Press poll again after another ranked win.
Tennessee (14-3, 6-0 SEC) was ranked No. 15 in the AP Top 25 on Jan. 26 after beating then-No. 12 Kentucky 60-58 at home on Jan. 22. The Lady Vols were ranked No. 17 in both the AP poll and the USA TODAY coaches poll last week.
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Tennessee stands alone at the top of the SEC as the final team unbeaten in conference play. South Carolina lost to Oklahoma last week before beating Vanderbilt, handing the Commodores their first loss of the season.
The Lady Vols were slated to have a third straight ranked matchup against Ole Miss on Jan. 26 before the game was postponed due to the inclement weather in the region. Tennessee returns to the court against Mississippi State (15-6, 2-5) at Food City Center on Jan. 29 (6:30 p.m. ET, SEC Network+).
Tennessee started the season as a consensus top-10 team, ranked No. 9 in the USA TODAY coaches preseason poll and No. 8 in the AP Top 25 preseason poll. It fell out of the top 10 after losing the season opener to NC State and dropped to No. 12 in both polls after starting 2-1.
UT had its biggest drop in the polls after its losses to UCLA and Louisville. It fell six spots in the USA TODAY coaches poll and five spots in the AP Top 25 after losing to the Bruins, and it fell six spots in the AP Top 25 after losing to Louisville.
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Tennessee ended the 2024-25 season ranked No. 16 in the USA TODAY coaches poll and No. 15 in the AP poll after starting Kim Caldwell’s first season at the helm unranked. UT was ranked as high as No. 11 last season, though it never cracked the top 10.
The Lady Vols have been ranked in the AP Top 25 the most of any program since the poll began in 1976. UT has been ranked in 806 of the 897 polls.
AP Top 25
Cora Hall is the University of Tennessee women’s athletics reporter for Knox News. Email: cora.hall@knoxnews.com; X: @corahalll; Bluesky: @corahall.bsky.social. Support strong local journalism and unlock premium perks:knoxnews.com/subscribe
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This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Updating Lady Vols’ ranking in college basketball polls after Kentucky win
