AP Poll: Sun Devils fall out of the rankings after another conference split

For the first time in 11 weeks, the Arizona State Sun Devils (17-6, 5-6 Pac-12) are not in the AP Top 25 rankings after splitting their weekend series against the Washington schools.

ASU continued its streak of losing its first conference game of a weekend slate and then winning the second after falling to Washington 68-64 on Thursday and beating Washington State (9-13, 1-9) 88-78 on Sunday.

ASU didn’t have much wiggle room, though, checking into last week’s rankings at No. 25.

After the then-3rd-ranked Sun Devils strutted out of the McKale Center on December 30, their slide down the rankings was slow, screeching down a few slots each week.

After that loss against U of A, the Devils proceeded to drop, in consecutive weeks, to 4th, 11th, 16th, 21st, 25th and, after Monday’s rankings, unranked.

The Huskies (17-6, 7-3) managed to knock off Arizona on Saturday on a buzzer-beater, sweeping the Arizona schools. Despite their effort, UW was not able to crack the rankings

The loss caused the Wildcats (19-5, 9-2) to fall 4 slots to No. 13. Arizona is the only Pac-12 representative in the AP Poll.

Arizona State now begins its quest to get back in the rankings, and they have a tough challenge in front of them. USC (17-7, 8-3) and UCLA (16-7, 7-4) will travel to Tempe this week on Thursday and Saturday, respectively.