Texas is No. 1 in The Associated Press Top 25 women’s basketball poll for the first time in 21 years and the third different team to hold the top spot in the past three weeks.

The Longhorns moved atop the poll Monday after previous No. 1 Notre Dame lost in double overtime to North Carolina State. UCLA had been No. 1 the 12 prior weeks to the Irish.

Add in South Carolina being No. 1 to start the season and there have been four teams atop the rankings this season.

Texas, which last held the top spot in the poll on Feb. 16, 2004, received 19 first-place votes from a 31-member national media panel. The Longhorns have spent 48 weeks atop the poll in their illustrious history dating to their first appearance at No. 1 in 1980.

Notre Dame fell to third after its 19-game winning streak was snapped while UCLA moved up a spot to second. The Bruins garnered 11 top votes. USC was fourth, receiving one first-place ballot. UConn was fifth.

South Carolina, LSU and North Carolina were next. North Carolina State jumped up four places to ninth. TCU was 10th.

Texas, buoyed by its No. 1 ranking, leaned on its defense and beat Georgia 57-26 on Monday night.

Taylor Jones had 17 points and 16 rebounds as the Longhorns (27-2, 13-1 SEC) extended their winning streak to 11 games.

Texas led only 20-16 at halftime and 20-18 early in the second half against Georgia (10-18, 2-12).

AUBURN STILL ON TOP

Auburn remained atop the AP Top 25 for the seventh straight week, while preseason No. 1 Kansas dropped out of the men’s basketball poll for the first time in nearly four years, ending the Jayhawks’ ranked run at 80 consecutive weeks.

The Tigers earned all 60 first-place votes after beating Arkansas and Georgia last week. They were followed by Duke, Florida, Houston and Tennessee.

The Jayhawks were dropped from the poll for the first time since Feb. 8, 2021.

Kansas fell this week after a 74-67 loss at Utah and a 91-57 blowout loss at BYU, the biggest margin of defeat in school history for a ranked Jayhawks team against an unranked opponent.

Kansas took out its frustration on Oklahoma State on Saturday, rolling to a 96-64 victory in Allen Fieldhouse.

Alabama fell two spots to No. 6 and was followed by St. John’s and Michigan State, which jumped six spots after back-to-back ranked wins over Purdue and Michigan. Iowa State and Texas Tech rounded out the top 10.

Kansas isn’t the only team ranked highly in the preseason poll to drop out altogether this season.

Two-time defending national champion UConn was No. 3 with 11 first-place votes in October but did not appear on any ballots this week. Gonzaga was sixth, Baylor eighth and North Carolina ninth in the preseason poll — and all are unranked.

Milos Uzan scored a career-high 22 points and visiting No. 4 Houston clinched at least a share of the Big 12 regular-season title with a 69-61 victory over 10th-ranked Texas Tech on Monday night.

J’Wan Roberts had 16 points and seven rebounds as the Cougars (24-4, 16-1 Big 12) avenged their only conference loss.

Toppin and Elijah Hawkins scored 14 points apiece for the short-handed Red Raiders (21-7, 12-5), who were without two of their top three scorers in Chance McMillian and Darrion Williams, who have lower-body injuries.

NO. 15 MICHIGAN 49, NEBRASKA 46: Roddy Gayle Jr. scored 12 points and Tre Donaldson made two free throws with four seconds left to give the Wolverines a road win as they scored their fewest points in a victory in 17 years.

Michigan (21-6, 13-3 Big Ten) shot a season-low 30%, and the Cornhuskers’ 26% shooting was their worst mark since it made 21.1% in a loss to Maryland in 2019.

Nebraska (17-11, 7-10) was 1 of 7 on layups, Michigan was 3 of 12.

Michigan’s previous low point total in a win came in a 49-43 victory against Illinois on Feb. 23, 2008.

Danny Wolf added 10 points and 10 rebounds for the Wolverines.

Brice Williams led Nebraska with 26 points. Nine teammates combined for 20.

UTAH DISMISSES COACH

The University of Utah fired men’s basketball coach Craig Smith a day after a 76-72 loss at Central Florida that dropped the Utes to 15-12 this season.

Smith was in his fourth season in charge of the program. He was 65-62.

Smith will be replaced by assistant coach Josh Eilert on an interim basis as the school conducts a national search.

The Utes are 7-9 in the Big 12 Conference this season. The team advanced to the semifinals of the National Invitation Tournament a season ago while in the Pac-12.