A loss to Florida wasn’t enough to dislodge Auburn from the No. 1 spot in the newest Associated Press Top 25 poll.

With a 21-2 overall record, the Tigers lead the way for the fifth straight week. The Gators’ upset did, however, move them up three spots to No. 3.

Alabama made it through the week unscathed, beating Arkansas 85-81 and improving to 20-3 overall in its only game, which was enough to earn a bump up to No. 2 thanks to Duke’s loss to Clemson.

If you’re the No. 1 team in the country, then it’s a good idea to avoid Florida moving forward. The Gators’ upset of Auburn was their second victory against the top-ranked program in the AP poll.

Senior guard Walter Clayton Jr. had a team-high 19 points, while sophomore forward Alex Condon dropped a double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds. The 16 points and nine boards from sophomore forward Thomas Haugh were instrumental in the win as well.

“I thought our guys were fantastic for 40 minutes tonight,” Gators head coach Todd Golden said after the game. “We were able to withstand a little rush early in the game, which we knew we were going to see. The last 36 minutes of the game, I thought we were just about as good as you could be in an environment like this.”

Auburn’s upset wasn’t a huge shock because the Tigers had had some close calls against SEC foes already.

There probably weren’t many fans who had Duke losing to Clemson on their radar. The Tigers were coming off a defeat to Georgia Tech in three overtimes, and they had played just four times against opponents in the top 50 of ESPN’s Basketball Power Index.

Clemson successfully out-muscled Duke inside. It nearly doubled the Blue Devils up on points in the paint with a 40-22 edge, and it grabbed 13 more rebounds.

The Tigers succeeded in limiting the impact of freshman phenom Cooper Flagg as well. The 6’9″ forward shot 6-of-17 from the floor for 18 points.

Now sitting with an 11-2 mark in the ACC, Clemson reinforced its status as a legitimate threat to claim a regular-season conference time.

Over in the Big East, St. John’s Rick Pitino is working his usual magic. The Red Storm ran their winning streak to 10 games by beating Marquette and UConn.

Against the Huskies, St. John’s rallied from a 14-point deficit early into the first half.

Junior guard RJ Luis Jr. put up 21 points and seven rebounds, and he was one of four St. John’s starters to score in double figure. The Red Storm did an excellent job defensively, holding UConn to 39.2 percent shooting overall, including 8-of-29 from the perimeter.

It’s not as though fans doubted Pitino’s résumé as a coach, but his age, 72, and St. John’s lack of recent success provided some reason to question whether this experiment would work.

Midway through his second season, the Hall of Famer is delivering more than the school’s administrators could’ve expected when they hired him.