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St. John's Keeps Rolling Along, Shoots Up To No. 20 In Latest AP Top 25 Poll

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- It was another positive week on the hardwood for St. John's.

Off to a tremendous start, the Red Storm (8-1) jumped up four spots in this week's AP Top 25 poll, coming in at No. 20.

St. John's picked up where it left off following its big win at Syracuse on Dec. 6, beating Fairleigh Dickinson 74-52 on Wednesday and then taking out city rival Fordham, 74-53 on Sunday at the MSG Holiday Festival on Sunday.

"This group has made steady, measurable progress from 13 wins as freshman, to 17 wins as sophomores, 20 wins as juniors and now 8-1 and in the Top 25 as seniors," St. John's head coach Steve Lavin told the school's official athletics website. "It's clear that this is a group that has matured and developed their game, both individually and collectively, during their time here."

In the win over Fordham, sophomore guard Rysheed Jordan came off the bench to score 24 points and senior guard D'Angelo Harrison added 22.

Harrison averaged 24 points per game last week and as a result earned his second straight Big East Player of the Week award. Jordan, who averaged 16 points and 3.5 assists in the two games, was named to the conference Weekly Honor Roll.

Harrison is now in sixth place on the school's all-time scoring list, with 1,778 points.

St. John's is next in action Friday against St. Mary's at Carnesecca Arena.

Kentucky remained the unanimous No. 1 team in the AP Top 25.

The Wildcats (11-0) got all 65 first-place votes in the new poll Monday. The top seven spots were unchanged from a week ago.

Duke, Arizona, Louisville and Wisconsin round out the top five, followed by Virginia and Villanova. Gonzaga and Texas swapped spots from last week and Kansas is 10th.

The only poll newcomer is No. 25 Michigan State, ranked again after a one-week absence.

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