ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - The Illini, Tigers and Billikens men's basketball teams are in The Associated Press' Top-25 rankings for the first time since February 1994. Illinois, Missouri and Saint Louis are ranked Nos. 12, 13 and 23 respectively in the latest poll released Monday afternoon.
SLU, who hasn't played a game since Dec. 23, is currently on pause due to positive COVID-19 tests as announced on Dec. 30. The Billikens finished the nonconference season at 7-1 with highlight victories against LSU and N.C. State. And the Billikens’ lone defeat was a nine-point loss at No. 16 Minnesota.
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Missouri dropped one spot on the ranking from last week after losing to No. 9 Tennessee and beating unranked Arkansas. And Illinois moved up two three spots after beating Purdue and Indiana.
This is the Billikens’ first time ranked in the AP Top 25 since the 2013-14 season, when SLU was ranked in 10 different weeks. Saint Louis reached No. 10 in weeks 15 and 16 that year, and was ranked No. 25 in the 2013-14 final ranking.
In all, this is the 19th season that the Billikens have been ranked in the AP Top 25. SLU best ranking was at No. 1 in 1949 in the inaugural AP Top 25 poll.
In that Feb. 7, 1994 AP Top-25 ranking, Mizzou was No. 15, the Billikens were No. 17 and Illinois was No. 24.
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