The Big Ten has eight teams that should be locks to reach the NCAA Tournament.

For the league to hit double figures, teams on the bubble will have to have a strong finish to the season.

Indiana (18-11, 9-9 Big Ten) appeared to be on the outside looking in less than a month ago, but has reeled off four wins in five games to move onto the bubble.

Ohio State (16-14, 8-10) has moved in the opposite direction. In good shape a couple of weeks ago, the Buckeyes lost three straight before knocking off USC 87-82 last Wednesday.

Nebraska’s hopes have taken a hit with three straight losses, including 67-65 to Minnesota on Brennan Rigsby’s late 3-pointer. Northwestern (16-13, 7-11) moved back into the bubble conversation with double-digit wins over Ohio State, Minnesota and Iowa.

Auburn remains No. 1 in men’s Top 25 rankings

Auburn and Duke remain atop the AP Top 25. The rest of the poll was a big jumble.

Auburn was the unanimous pick at No. 1 for the second straight week, receiving all 61 votes from a media panel in the poll released on Monday. The Tigers held the top spot for the eighth straight week following lopsided wins over Ole Miss and then-No. 17 Kentucky.

Duke was No. 2 for the second straight week after blowing out Miami and Florida State despite playing without guard Tyrese Proctor due to a bone bruise in his left knee.

No. 3 Houston moved up a spot after beating Texas Tech and Cincinnati, while Tennessee climbed to No. 4 following Jahmai Mashack’s last-second 3-pointer from well beyond halfcourt to beat Alabama 79-76.

Florida rounded out the top five, dropping two places after losing to Georgia and beating Texas A&M.

No. 8 Michigan State joined Auburn and Duke as the only teams to have the same ranking as last week.

Duke 93, Wake Forest 60 >> Freshman Cooper Flagg had 28 points, eight rebounds and seven assists in possibly his final home game, helping No. 2 Duke beat Wake Forest on Monday night to clinch at least a share of the Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season title.

Fellow rookie Kon Knueppel added 17 points for the Blue Devils (27-3, 18-1), who led by 13 at halftime and then blew the game open midway through the second half.

Efton Reid III and Ty-Laur Johnson each scored 14 points to lead the Demon Deacons (20-10, 12-7).

Houston 65, Kansas 59 >> L.J. Cryer scored 22 points and No. 3 Houston won its ninth straight game with a victory over Kansas.

Emanuel Sharp added 12 points off the bench, including two free throws that pushed Houston’s lead to 63-59 with 20 seconds left. The Cougars (26-4, 18-1 Big 12) went 4 of 4 from the foul line down the stretch.

Hunter Dickinson had 17 points and 12 rebounds for the Jayhawks (19-11, 10-9), who shot 45%. KJ Adams Jr. added 15 points and David Coit had 14 off the bench.

UCLA 73, Northwestern 69 >> Tyler Bilodeau scored 19 points to lead UCLA to a victory over Northwestern after the Bruins nearly blew a 14-point lead in the final three minutes.

Back-to-back dunks by Bilodeau gave UCLA a 68-54 lead with 3:07 remaining. UCLA had three turnovers and a failed one-and-one in the next five possessions. The Wildcats chipped away at their deficit and got within 68-65 on Ty Berry’s 3-pointer with 33 seconds left. After another turnover by the Bruins, Berry’s driving layup made it 68-67.

Skyy Clark made one free throw for the Bruins with 21 seconds left, then William Kyle III’s steal helped the Bruins ice the win as Northwestern was forced to foul and the Bruins finished it off with four made free throws.

Eric Dailey Jr. scored 12 points and Aday Mara had 11 off the bench for UCLA (21-9, 12-7 Big Ten). Mara added 10 rebounds for his second career double-double.

Berry had 22 points, Martinelli 20 and K.J. Windham 10 for Northwestern (16-14, 7-12).

Southern Cal reaches No. 2 in women’s T25

Southern California has its best ranking in 39 years after moving up to No. 2 in The Associated Press Top 25 women’s basketball poll on Monday.

The Trojans won the Big Ten regular-season title Saturday, beating then-No. 2 UCLA for the second time this year. That victory vaulted USC up two spots for its highest appearance in the poll since the team was second on Jan. 5, 1986. USC garnered six first-place votes from a 31-member national media panel.

“A goal was to come here and bring USC back to what it was at one point,” coach Lindsay Gottlieb said in a phone interview. “Recognition of our history and admiration of the history and its a neat feeling in the present moment.”

Texas remained the top choice after receiving the other 25 first-place ballots. The Longhorns beat Georgia, Mississippi State and Florida last week to wrap up a share of the SEC title with South Carolina.

The Bruins fell to fourth with UConn right in front of them. South Carolina, which won a coin flip to get the top seed in the SEC Tournament, was fifth. Notre Dame dropped three places to six after losing to Florida State last week.

North Carolina State and TCU were seventh and eighth. The Wolfpack shared the ACC regular season crown with Notre Dame while the Horned Frogs won their first Big 12 title after beating Baylor on Sunday.

LSU fell to ninth after the Tigers dropped both their games, losing to then-No. 20 Alabama in overtime and to Ole Miss. The Tigers also will be without star Flau’Jae Johnson for the SEC Tournament as she recovers from shin inflammation.