NCAA Basketball: Illinois, Ohio State rises in latest top-25 power rankings

15. Tennessee Volunteers (13-4, 6-4)

While Saturday’s result will get more attention, it has to be noted of the Vols disastrous offensive display earlier in the week against Ole Miss on the road. They scored just 50 points total and ended up losing by two points at the very end. But they did complete the notable season sweep of Kentucky, coming back from a 10-point deficit in the second half to win, 82-71. Freshmen Keon Johnson (27) and Jaden Springer (23) had impressive outings to lead the way.

With Florida on a pause, Tennessee will instead face Georgia this upcoming week, before taking on the LSU Tigers on the weekend. They’re a near-lock to make the NCAA Tournament but can’t afford to lose any more games in SEC play or else the regular-season title is guaranteed for Alabama.

14. West Virginia Mountaineers (13-5, 6-3)

The Mountaineers may have been looking ahead to the Saturday matchup against Kansas State because they allowed Iowa State to make a second-half comeback to nearly pull off the upset. However, Miles McBride had 18 points to give West Virginia the 78-72 road win. McBride then had another massive outing against the Jayhawks, scoring 29 points to lead them to a 91-7 victory.

Kansas was the first of six straight games against ranked opponents for the Mountaineers. Two more are coming up, with Texas Tech on the road on Tuesday before facing Oklahoma on Saturday. Jared Butler of Baylor may be the favorite to win Big 12 Player of the Year but McBride of West Virginia is making a case of his own.

13. Alabama Crimson Tide (15-5, 10-1)

The Tide had one of their best defensive performances of the week in a 78-60 home win over LSU, led by 19 points from Jaden Shackelford. But he and the rest of the team had big struggles on the road at Missouri, down by as much as 20 points at one point. Alabama did make an impressive comeback all the way to being down by one point but a last-second shot attempt failed to give them their first loss in SEC play.

The good news for the Crimson Tide is that the rest of the conference keeps losing to each other, so they still have a comfortable lead in the conference standings. They’ll look to build upon that this week with winnable games against South Carolina and Georgia.