Arizona dropped its first game of the season last week, so a move down in the rankings was expected. Still, a four-point road loss to Tennessee didn't push the Wildcats out of the top 10 in the latest update to the Associated Press Top 25 poll Monday. Arizona (11-1) is now ranked ninth overall moving down from No. 6 after the 77-73 loss to the Volunteers in Knoxville.

Tennessee went into the matchup ranked 19th, and voters respected the effort from UA enough to leave Tommy Lloyd's team inside the top group. The home wire-to-wire victory for the Volunteers moved them up five spots to No. 14 in the latest poll.

COVID-19 issues have swept through college basketball in recent weeks, and for Arizona that means a delay in its next opportunities to move up the poll. The Wildcats had been set to face top-10 teams UCLA and USC this week, but health protocols will prevent both games from happening.

Both the Trojans and Bruins are on a pause right now because of COVID-19 issues forcing the postponement of Arizona's trip to play both teams in Los Angeles this week. Neither team took the floor last week but both teams are now ranked ahead of UA with UCLA still at No. 5 in the latest poll and USC jumping ahead of the Wildcats to No. 7 on the list after sitting at No. 8 last week.

Arizona's next game will take place next Monday when the Wildcats host Washington in a makeup game after their original meeting in December was pushed back because of COVID-related issues for the Huskies.

UA will then head to Tempe to face Arizona State Jan. 8. The makeup dates for Arizona's games against the Los Angeles schools have not yet been announced.

Lloyd allowed his players to take a few days off last week after the trip to Tennessee to spend Christmas with their families, but as the team gets back to work there will be plenty to work on coming off a loss. The UA head coach is not looking at the group's first hiccup of the season in a negative light.

"It's an experience, and we're gonna really learn from it," Lloyd said after last week's loss to Tennessee. "We came out really tentative against a really good, aggressive team, and they put us on our heels. You can't do that on the road. I was obviously really proud of our response, but you just can't dig that big of a hole against a really good team like that."

No other Pac-12 team was voted into the top 25 this week, but Colorado (9-3) received five votes in the latest poll.

Dec. 27 — No. 9

Dec. 20 — No. 6

Dec. 13 — No. 8

Dec. 6 — No. 11

Nov. 29 — No. 11

Nov. 22 — No. 17

Nov. 15 — RV

Preseason — RV

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