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The Other Top 25: Florida Atlantic races out to program’s best start

With minimal shuffling, the top 15 teams remain the same

NCAA Basketball: Florida Atlantic at Illinois
Dusty May became Florida Atlantic’s winningest coach with the Owls’ 67-52 victory over Northern Kentucky. They have won 10 straight games.
Mike Granse-USA TODAY Sports

The Florida Atlantic Owls are 11-1 on the season and have won their last 10 games. They are off to their best start in program history.

Ranked 41st in KenPom, FAU has wins over Florida, Bryant, Florida Gulf Coast and FIU on its resume. Its lone loss came at Ole Miss by 13.

With Florida Atlantic’s most recent victory, a 67-52 triumph over Northern Kentucky, Dusty May became FAU’s winningest coach.

Alijah Martin paces the team with 14.0 points per game. He has scored in double figures in all but two of the nine games he has played. The sophomore guard is shooting 40% from 3-point land and has pulled down 5.2 rebounds per contest.

Slated to finish fifth in Conference USA, the Owls have the best scoring margin in the league at 18.5 points per game. They are averaging 80.9 points per game and yield 62.4 points per contest.

They head into conference play with just the one blemish on their resume. They have tough matchups in their next two games: at North Texas this Thursday and at home against UAB next Thursday.

Sam Houston State made its first appearance of the season in the Other Top 25. The Bearkats, who are No. 16 this week, are 10-2 this season. They have won games at Oklahoma and at Utah.

Qua Grant leads the team with 12.7 points per contest. He is also dishing out 4.5 assists per game. Donte Powers is the other Kat in double figures with 10.9 points.

Santa Clara, Marshall and UCF also joined the ranking.

Houston remained the unanimous No. 1 team, followed by Gonzaga, San Diego State and undefeated New Mexico.

Saint Louis, UC Santa Barbara, Louisiana and Western Kentucky were dropped from the ranking.

The Other Top 25: Dec. 26, 2022

Rank Team (First-Place Votes) Points Record Previous
Rank Team (First-Place Votes) Points Record Previous
1 Houston (3) 75 12-1 1
2 Gonzaga 72 10-3 2
3 San Diego State 65 9-3 3
4 New Mexico 64 12-0 4
T-5 Memphis 60 10-3 5
T-5 Saint Mary's 60 10-4 6
7 UNLV 48 11-1 T-7
8 UAB 46 10-2 10
9 Charleston 45 12-1 T-7
10 North Texas 43 10-2 T-12
11 Kent State 43 10-3 15
12 Florida Atlantic 40 11-1 T-12
13 Boise State 39 10-3 11
14 Utah State 37 11-2 9
15 San Francisco 30 11-4 14
16 Sam Houston State 23 10-2 NR
17 Toledo 19 8-4 16
18 Dayton 18 8-5 22
19 Drake 17 10-3 21
20 Iona 15 9-4 18
21 Santa Clara 13 12-3 NR
22 Marshall 12 11-2 NR
T-23 Davidson 11 7-5 17
T-23 UCF 11 9-3 NR
25 Richmond 10 6-6 T-24

Others Receiving Votes:

BYU 9; Saint Louis 9; UC Santa Barbara 8; Towson 5; Yale 5; UMass 4; Hawaii 4; Fordham 4; James Madison 4; Loyola Marymount 3; Grand Canyon 2; UNC Wilmington 2; Oral Roberts 1

Dropped from Ranking:

Saint Louis; UC Santa Barbara; Louisiana; Western Kentucky