University of Miami men’s basketball climbs to No. 8 in AP poll

The University of Miami men’s basketball team, coming off a convincing win over Florida State, climbed four spots to No. 8 in the Associated Press Top 25 poll released Monday afternoon.

The Hurricanes are 13-1 heading into Tuesday’s road game at Virginia, which dropped from No. 4 to No. 13 after back-to-back losses to Virginia Tech and Georgia Tech. Despite the slide in ranking, UM coach Jim Larrañaga expects a very difficult game from the Cavaliers (12-3).

“We have a very, very tough opponent on their home court,’’ he said of Virginia. “I don’t know what their home court winning streak is, but Virginia has been very, very hard to beat in Charlottesville. We have to go there and play a great game.”

Kansas (14-1) and Oklahoma (13-1) remained 1-2 in the poll after the Jayhawks’ 109-106 triple-overtime win over the Sooners. Maryland and Michigan State (both 16-1) are No. 3 and No. 4, followed by North Carolina, Villanova, Xavier, Miami, Duke and SMU (15-0). The other undefeated team is No. 19 South Carolina (15-0).

This story was originally published January 11, 2016 at 3:03 PM with the headline "University of Miami men’s basketball climbs to No. 8 in AP poll."