{"id":12675,"date":"2025-12-23T11:01:46","date_gmt":"2025-12-23T11:01:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/conference-seasons-kick-into-gear-following-light-ap-top-25-holiday-week\/"},"modified":"2025-12-23T11:01:46","modified_gmt":"2025-12-23T11:01:46","slug":"conference-seasons-kick-into-gear-following-light-ap-top-25-holiday-week","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/conference-seasons-kick-into-gear-following-light-ap-top-25-holiday-week\/","title":{"rendered":"Conference seasons kick into gear following light AP Top 25 holiday week"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

The week of Christmas is typically a slow time on the college basketball, with a handful of games before and after the holiday.<\/p>\n

This week is no different with nine ranked teams playing, most against lower-tier programs.<\/p>\n

Once the weekend passes, the schedule heats up as conference seasons kick into full gear.<\/p>\n

The marquee game over the next two weeks will come on Jan. 2, when No. 2 Michigan hosts No. 24 Southern California.<\/p>\n

The Wolverines have been one of the nation’s most dominant teams so far, running up the score on one opponent after the next.<\/p>\n

Michigan (11-0) has won its last eight games by 15 or more points, a run that includes a 40-point win over No. 7 Gonzaga and a 30-point win over then-No. 21 Auburn.<\/p>\n

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The Wolverines have scored 100 points in five the past six games and are third nationally with 95.4 points per game. Michigan inched closer to top-ranked Arizona in this week’s AP Top 25, earning 19 first-place votes.<\/p>\n

The Wolverines play McNeese next Monday before facing USC.<\/p>\n

The Trojans moved into the AP Top 25 after starting the season with eight straight wins, but dropped out following a home loss to Washington on Dec. 6. USC moved back into the poll this week after blowout wins over UTSA and UC Santa Cruz.<\/p>\n

Rising Huskers<\/h2>\n

No. 13 Nebraska (12-0) is off to the best start in program history and earned its highest ranking in 35 years at No. 15 last week. The Cornhuskers can shoot it, averaging 10.8 made 3-pointers per game, and have an active big man in 6-foot-10 center Rienk Mast.<\/p>\n

After playing New Hampshire on Tuesday, Nebraska will face its biggest test of the season in its Big Ten opener against No. 9 Michigan State on Jan. 2.<\/p>\n

The Spartans (11-1) have wins over Arkansas, Kentucky, No. 12 North Carolina and No. 25 Iowa already this season, their lone loss coming to No. 6 Duke on Dec. 6.<\/p>\n

Vols and Hogs<\/h2>\n
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If you’re looking for an early powerhouse SEC matchup, the game between No. 19 Tennessee and No. 18 Arkansas will be worth watching.<\/p>\n

The Vols bounced back from three straight losses by blowing out No. 16 Louisville and held Gardner-Webb to 52 points in another lopsided win. Ja’Kobi Gillespie was superb for Tennessee last week, averaging 19.0 points, 7.0 assists and 3.0 rebounds per game.<\/p>\n

Arkansas has yet to earn a marquee win, losing to No. 9 Michigan State, No. 6 Duke, No. 15 Texas Tech and No. 8 Houston. The Razorbacks have been one of the few teams to put up big numbers against Houston’s swarming defense, scoring 85 points in a nine-point loss last Saturday.<\/p>\n

Busy slate<\/h2>\n

Jan. 3 could be a good day to park in front of the TV and watch ranked teams play tough conference opponents.<\/p>\n

Top-ranked Arizona returns from a long break to open Big 12 play at Utah. <\/p>\n

No. 6 Purdue, one the nation’s No. 1 team, blew out Kent State on Monday, but has a difficult return to Big Ten play at Wisconsin.<\/p>\n

Kentucky may no longer be ranked, but figures to be a tough test for No. 14 Alabama in the teams’ SEC opener.<\/p>\n

No. 6 Duke looks to bounce back from its first loss of the season against Georgia Tech on New Year’s Eve before playing at Florida State.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here and here (AP News mobile app). AP college basketball: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/college-basketball<\/p>\n

Source<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Conference seasons kick into gear following light AP Top 25 holiday week<\/sub><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The week of Christmas is typically a slow time on the college basketball, with a handful of games before and after the holiday. This week is no different with nine ranked teams playing, most against lower-tier programs. Once the weekend passes, the schedule heats up as conference seasons kick into full gear. The marquee game…<\/p>\n

Read More “Conference seasons kick into gear following light AP Top 25 holiday week”<\/span> »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12675","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12675","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12675"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12675\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12675"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12675"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12675"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}