LSU took a tumble in the USA TODAY Sports women’s college basketball poll after two losses to open SEC play. The Tigers dropped seven spots from No. 5 to No. 12 after falling at home to Kentucky and at Vanderbilt.
Before the start of SEC play, LSU was undefeated and the top-scoring offense in women’s college basketball, averaging 106 points a game. The Tigers were winning by an average of 55 points.
LSU wasn’t the only previously undefeated team to lose last week. Eight undefeated teams lost for the first time between Monday, Dec 29 and Sunday Jan. 4 — No. 5 LSU, No. 6 Maryland, No. 7 TCU, No. 10 Iowa State, No. 24 Alabama, No. 26 Nebraska, in addition to Arizona State and Georgia — the first time that many teams with a 10-0 or better record lost in that span in 27 years. Only four undefeated teams remain.
Maryland fell two spots to No. 8, TCU three spot to No. 10, Iowa State three spots to No. 13, Alabama stayed at No. 24 and Nebraska dropped out of the poll.
Oklahoma, Vanderbilt and Kentucky all moved up in the top 10, ranked No. 5, No. 6 and No. 7, respectively. UConn, Texas, South Carolina and UCLA remained in the top four spots in that order.
Washington, which is 12-0, made the biggest leap — eight spots — from unranked to No. 23. Texas Tech, which remains undefeated at 15-0, jumped to No. 20. And Notre Dame, which fell out of the Associate Press poll after two losses to start ACC play, is hanging on at No. 25.