Texas is No. 8 in latest AP Poll

Texas Longhorns men’s basketball (7-1, 1-0) jumped to No. 8 in the latest AP Poll.

That means head coach Shaka Smart’s surging Longhorns jumped two spots from their previous ranking early last week following their Big 12 Conference opener win over the Oklahoma State Cowboys. It’s also the highest ranking Texas has seen since 2014-2015, prior to Shaka Smart taking over for Rick Barnes. Notably prior to the most recent rankings, last weekend’s game against the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Islanders was cancelled.

Even so, tough sledding lies ahead for the Longhorns. On Saturday, Texas is set to take on the No. 3 Kansas Jayhawks (per the latest AP Poll rankings), with the Iowa State Cyclones and No. 9 West Virginia Mountaineers, who recently dropped two poll spots, the next week.

Elsewhere across Big 12 men’s basketball, the Baylor Bears were ranked No. 2 in the latest AP Pol; the Texas Tech Red Raiders, No. 13.