Jayhawks thrilled to be back on top of AP poll

Kansas forward Carlton Bragg Jr. (15) and the Jayhawk bench react to a Jayhawk bucket late in the second half, Monday, Jan. 4, 2016 at Allen Fieldhouse.

Kansas University’s basketball team busted a bit of a drought on Monday, ascending to the top spot in the Associated Press poll for the first time since February of 2011.

“It’s a great feeling. It just makes you want to work harder,” said KU senior forward Perry Ellis, part of a No. 1 team for the first time in his KU career.

The Jayhawks received 44 first place votes from the 65-member AP media panel and totaled 1,598 points. No. 2 Oklahoma landed the other 21 first-place votes and totaled 1,574 points.

This marks the 58th time KU has had at least a share of the top spot in the AP poll, which ranks fifth all-time behind UCLA (134), Duke (127), Kentucky (115) and North Carolina (113).

Oklahoma, meanwhile, took over the top spot in the USA Today Coaches poll Monday, totaling 781 points and 20 first-place votes. No. 2 KU notched 769 points and 11 firsts.

Maryland was ranked third in Monday’s AP poll, followed by Virginia, Michigan State (last week’s No. 1), North Carolina, Arizona, Providence, Kentucky, Xavier, Villanova, Miami, Iowa State, Duke, SMU, Louisville, West Virginia, Butler, Iowa, Purdue, Texas A&M, South Carolina, UConn, Pitt and Dayton.

“We don’t really stray away from anything (or) try to do anything different. We can do stuff better, but not much different,” junior Wayne Selden, Jr., said.

— See what people were saying about No. 1 versus No. 2 during KUsports.com’s live coverage