College basketball rankings: Purdue gains steam in Coaches Poll Top 25

There is some major movement in the latest college basketball Coaches Poll

By Will Backus

Dec 22, 2025 at 12:22 pm ET • 1 min read

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Purdue, which opened the year at the top of the rankings, is back in the top five of this week's Coaches Poll following a statement win against Auburn. The Boilermakers landed at No. 5, behind No. 3 Iowa State and No. 4 UConn, to round out the three programs that ascended in the wake of Duke's first loss of the 2025-26 season.

The Boilermakers improved to 11-1 with their 88-60 triumph over Auburn. That marked their third consecutive 20-plus point victory since their Dec. 6 loss to Iowa State that saw them drop out of their preseason No. 1 spot.

Duke, meanwhile, fell to No. 6 after suffering an 82-81 upset loss at the hands of No. 16 Texas Tech. Red Raider guard Christian Anderson torched the Blue Devils with 27 points and Big 12 Preseason Player of the Year JT Toppin logged a double-double with 19 points and 10 rebounds to hand Texas Tech its biggest win of the year.

The Red Raiders are now 1-3 against currently ranked opponents. The Duke win, alone, was enough to help them jump three spots from No. 19.

Here is the full Dec. 22 Coaches Poll after the seventh week of the 2025-26 college basketball season.

First-place votes in parenthesis