NCAA: No. 4 Arizona falls to Oregon

Oregon’s E.J. Singler (25) reacts to a late turnover in the Arizona – Oregon game

And then there were two… No. 4 ranked Arizona, sporting a perfect 14-0 record, packed their bags and headed north to take on unranked Oregon (13-2) in a PAC-12 Conference contest, only to leave Eugene a little heavier on the “L” side of their record after a 70:66 defeat. The loss also drops the Wildcats from the ranks of the unbeatens, leaving only Duke and Michigan with unblemished records remaining.

The loss to an unranked club and the close game with unranked Utah last week will most likely have the pollsters looking hard at Arizona before casting their votes for the next round of the NCAA Top 25 polls. Thursday’s loss should cause a drop of at least six places in the AP and USA Today/Coaches’ Poll, but the drop could be much heavier, moving them out of the Top 10.

Oregon, now 13-2, has remained largely unnoticed by pollsters this season, but the Ducks are playing solid basketball and their 70:66 win over Arizona, along with an earlier win over UNLV, should be enough to move them into the Top 25. They currently sit in 34th on the AP poll with 11 votes and have received no votes from the 31 members of the voting committee that puts out the Coaches’ Poll.

Other than Arizona’s loss, no other Top 10 team was beaten this week.