Prior to beating then No. 4 Virginia on January 19, the then No. 1 Duke Blue Devils fell to an unranked Syracuse team at home without Cam Reddish and Tre Jones leaving in the opening minutes due to a shoulder injury.
Jones was still not able to play against the Cavaliers and despite beating Virginia without one of its best players, the voters moved the Tennessee Volunteers to No. 1 in the AP Poll and dropped the Blue Devils to No. 2, while despite the loss to Duke, Virginia moved up to No.