Kansas guard Kevin McCullar Jr. (15) shoots while defended by West Virginia forward James Okonkwo (32) during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game in Morgantown, W.Va., Saturday, Jan. 7, 2023. (AP Photo/Kathleen Batten)

The Kansas men’s basketball team moved into the No. 2 spot and received 22 first-place votes in this week’s Associated Press Top 25 poll, released Monday.

Kansas (14-1 overall, 3-0 Big 12) trailed No. 1 Houston in the voting by just 17 points, and the Cougars (16-1) picked up 34 first-place votes.

Purdue, which had been the nation’s No. 1 team before a loss to Rutgers last week, came in third and received four first-place votes.

Alabama and Tennessee rounded out this weeks’ Top 5, with UConn, UCLA, Gonzaga, Arizona and Texas making up the Top 10.

That’s where things got wild.

Kansas State, which was unranked last week, came in at No. 11 in this week’s poll, thanks in large part to huge road wins at Texas and Baylor last week. Three voters had K-State as high as 4th in their polls this week.

The Wildcats have matched their best start since the 1958-59 season, while bringing the program back into the AP Top 25 for the first time since the end of the 2018-19 season.

K-State (14-1) is one of five Big 12 teams that are ranked this week, with all five landing in the top 17 and Baylor sitting at No. 26 in the others receiving votes category.

Like K-State, Iowa State also made a huge jump this week after knocking off TCU on the road, rising from No. 25 to No. 14. K-State and ISU were by far the biggest movers in this week’s poll.

“We’re not trying to prove doubters (wrong),” K-State coach Jerome Tang said after the Baylor win, according to the Associated Press. “We’re trying to just continue to believe in ourselves … That’s a great accomplishment for these young men. But none of that matters if we lay an egg the next game, right?”

Kansas coach Bill Self said Monday that he was thrilled to see so many Big 12 teams getting national recognition, particularly the Wildcats.

“They’re probably not a huge surprise to people that see them every day,” Self said of Kansas State. “But to people who haven’t seen them since last year, it just gives credence to the job that coach Tang and his staff are doing over there.”

He also said he liked seeing his team ranked high in polls even though the Jayhawks don’t worry or think much about that until the end of the season.

“No. 1 in recent weeks hasn’t held on to it very long,” Self noted. “So 2’s probably a good place to be. I’m happy that we’re ranked high and I’m happy for all the teams in the league. But it’s still too early in the season for that really to matter very much. But it does matter that we’re off to a really good start.”

In the latest women’s poll, Kansas dropped two spots from No. 21 to No. 23 after Saturday’s home loss to Baylor.

With the win against Kansas, Baylor jumped up from No. 23 to No. 18 in this week’s AP poll, which features four Big 12 teams in the Top 25.

Brandon Schneider’s Jayhawks are now 12-2 overall and 2-1 in Big 12 play, with a road game at Texas slated for 7 p.m. Tuesday night on the Longhorn Network.

The KU men will play host to Oklahoma at 8 p.m. Tuesday at Allen Fieldhouse.