Bruins drop in rankings

UCLA fell to eighth in the Associated Press media poll and seventh in the USA Today/ESPN coaches poll Monday after the Bruins’ 72-63 loss at home Saturday to unranked USC.

The AP ranking is UCLA’s lowest of the season. The Bruins were fourth last week after defeating previously unbeaten Washington State.

Formerly top-ranked North Carolina dropped to fourth in both polls after its 82-80 home loss to unranked Maryland, a team UCLA beat, 71-59, in November. Memphis took over the top spot in both polls with Kansas at No. 2. Tennessee moved up to No. 3 in the AP poll and Duke held the third spot in the coaches’ poll.

Holding a top-four spot will be helpful when it comes time for the NCAA committee to seed tournament teams. UCLA is aiming for a No. 1 West Regional seeding and first-round games at the Honda Center in Anaheim and regional semifinals and finals in Phoenix.

The Bruins (16-2, 4-1) were passed in both polls by Washington State, a team they defeated, 81-74, earlier this month after leading comfortably through most of the second half.

In the AP poll, Stanford was ranked No. 20 after sweeping Arizona and Arizona State. Arizona State was No. 24 after getting a road split in the Bay Area. In the coaches’ poll, Stanford, at No. 21, was the only other Pacific 10 Conference team that was ranked.

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The Bruins dropped to fifth in the Pac-10 in field-goal percentage defense after allowing USC to shoot 60%.

USC now leads the conference, with its opponents shooting only 38.2%. UCLA’s opponents shoot 40.4%.

Oregon, UCLA’s next opponent, leads the conference in scoring, averaging 81.6 points a game.

UCLA Coach Ben Howland considers assist/turnover ratio as an important indicator and in that, the Bruins aren’t faring well. They rank sixth in the conference behind Washington State, Arizona State, Arizona, Oregon and California.

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Even before the USC game, Bruins players were asked how difficult it would be to go undefeated in the conference season.

To a man the answer was: difficult if not impossible. And the Trojans proved them right.

Luc Richard Mbah a Moute said he expected the Pac-10 winner to have at least four losses. --

diane.pucin@latimes.com