COLLEGE BASKETBALL : UCLA Moves to No. 2 in Poll; USC at No. 15

UCLA moved into the No. 2 spot in the Associated Press’ college basketball poll Monday after a week in which Top 25-ranked teams lost 16 times.

Duke (20-1) remained No. 1, as it has in every poll since the preseason. UCLA (19-1) moved up from No. 3 when the previous No. 2 team, Oklahoma State, lost twice last week.

Duke and UCLA will meet March 1 at Pauley Pavilion, and there will be one more poll before that game is played. The Blue Devils play three more games, and the Bruins four--including a game against California tonight at Pauley Pavilion.

Duke received 63 of 65 first-place votes and 1,623 points from the nationwide panel of sportswriters and broadcasters. UCLA received two first-place votes and had 1,554 points.

USC dropped two positions from 13th to 15th after a loss to Oregon State at Corvallis Saturday.

Following Duke and UCLA in the Top 10 were Kansas, North Carolina, Arizona, Ohio State, Indiana, Oklahoma State, Missouri and Arkansas.

In the Second 10 were Michigan State, Nevada Las Vegas, Kentucky, Alabama, USC, Florida State, Syracuse, Tulane, Cincinnati and Michigan.

Rounding out the Top 25 were Connecticut, Seton Hall, Iowa State, St. John’s and Georgetown.

Only Duke and No. 9 Missouri have the same position as in last week’s poll, while Iowa State, St. John’s and Georgetown moved back into the Top 25. Louisiana State, Texas El Paso and North Carolina Charlotte fell out of the rankings after two losses each.

Oklahoma State (21-3), which lost Big Eight road games to Colorado and Iowa State, fell from second to eighth, but the Cowboys’ fall wasn’t the longest among teams staying in the poll. Syracuse (16-5) dropped from 10th to 17th following losses to Seton Hall and Notre Dame, the latter at home.

Florida State (18-6) went from 23rd to 16th and Kentucky (18-5) from 19th to 13th in the biggest improvements of the week.

MONDAY’S TOP 25 GAMES

No. 9 Missouri 87, Nebraska 61--Anthony Peeler hit six three-point shots and finished with 34 points at Columbia, Mo., as the Tigers moved within one game of the Big Eight Conference lead.

Missouri (18-3, 6-2) scored the first nine points of the game and built a 22-point lead at 53-31 by halftime. Peeler scored 24 points in the first half, making all four of his three-point shots.

Missouri scored the first six points of the second half and never allowed its lead to slip under 20 points.

Nebraska (15-6, 3-5) will try to bounce back Wednesday against No. 3 Kansas (19-2 and a Big Eight-leading 7-1) at Lincoln.

No. 22 Seton Hall 82, Pittsburgh 63--The Panthers missed 22 shots in a row in one first-half stretch at East Rutherford, N.J., allowing the Pirates to coast to their fifth victory in a row.

Pittsburgh went 11:07 without a basket until Darren Morningstar scored on a layup which also ended a run of 15 consecutive points by Seton Hall (16-6, 8-5). The Pirates finished the half with five-of-32 shooting and trailed, 35-16. They were 22 of 66 for the game.

Pittsburgh (15-11, 7-6) played most of the game without ailing senior guard Sean Miller.