By R.L. Bynum

North Carolina moved up three spots in the AP Top 25 men’s basketball poll to No. 14 after holding on to beat Wake Forest 87–84 on Saturday.

The Tar Heels (14–2, 2–1 ACC) regained some of the poll position they lost after falling five spots the previous week following the 97–83 setback at SMU on Jan. 3.

UNC is among five ACC teams in the poll, led by No. 6 Duke (4–0, 15–1).

Louisville (12–4, 2–2) stayed at No. 20 after its 84–73 loss to the Blue Devils and Virginia (14–2, 3–1), jumped seven spots to No. 16, but SMU (12–4, 1–2) fell from No. 24 to out of the poll after road losses to Clemson (74–70) and Duke (82–75).

The Tigers (14–3, 4–0) debuted in the poll at No. 22 after beating SMU 74–70 and winning 76–61 at Notre Dame.

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Four teams ahead of the Tar Heels in last week’s poll lost:
—Elliot Cadeau’s Michigan team (14–1), slipped two notches to No. 4 after its 91–88 home loss Saturday to Wisconsin.
—Alabama (11–5) plummeted five spots to No. 18 after losing to Vanderbilt 96–90 and Texas 92–88.
—Texas Tech (12–4) fell one spot to No. 15 after losing 69–65 to Houston.
—Arkansas (12–4) slipped two spots to No. 17 after getting blown out 95–73 by Auburn.

Vanderbilt (16–0), with former UNC players Tyler Nickel and Jalen Washington, moved up one spot to a season-high No. 10 after beating the Crimson Tide and also knocking off LSU 84–73.

Ranking UNC the highest at No. 12 is Zach Klein of WSB in Atlanta. Dylan Sinn of The Journal Gazette in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and Shane Mittlen of the Daily News-Record in Harrisonburg, Va., both left the Tar Heels off their ballots.

John Johnson of WXII voted UNC No. 13, Chris Lea of WRAL has the Heels No. 14 and Kate Rogerson of WTVD voted Carolina No. 16.

The most voters (28) had UNC No. 14.

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More on Tar Heels

— Two games, one long week: Tar Heels brace for the Bay Area grind
— Why did ball not go to Wilson late? ‘I don’t want to even speak to that’
— UNC’s NET ranking unchanged, but two games upgraded to give Heels 10 more Quad 1 chances
— Heels ‘take foot off pedal,’ survive rough final minutes to win
— Watch, read about best games, biggest individual efforts in Smith Center history

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AP Top 25

Rank	School (1st-place votes)	Record	Poll points	Previous
1	Arizona (60)	16–0	1,524	1
2	Iowa State (1)	16–0	1,448	3
3	UConn	16–1	1,358	4
4	Michigan	14–1	1,300	2
5	Purdue	15–1	1,253	5
6	Duke	15–1	1,237	6
7	Houston	15–1	1,130	7
8	Nebraska	16–0	1,056	10
9	Gonzaga	17–1	1,050	8
10	Vanderbilt	16–0	1,035	11
11	BYU	15–1	1,013	9
12	Michigan State	14–2	865	12
13	Illinois	13–3	778	16
14	North Carolina	14–2	659	17
15	Texas Tech	12–4	609	14
16	Virginia	14–2	515	23
17	Arkansas	12–4	492	15
18	Alabama	11–5	470	13
19	Florida	11–5	349	NR
20	Louisville	12–4	336	20
21	Georgia	14–2	227	18
22	Clemson	14–3	218	NR
23	Utah State	14–1	161	NR
24	Tennessee	11–5	140	21
25	Seton Hall	14–2	136	NR

Others receiving votes: Saint Louis 92, Kansas 60, Iowa 58, Miami (Ohio) 49, Villanova 40, Wisconsin 37, Miami 30, Texas A&M 23, UCF 18, Saint Mary’s 17, SMU 15, Auburn 14, George Mason 8, N.C. State 3, Southern Cal 1, St. John’s 1.

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Team	League	Overall	NET*	WAB*
No. 1 Duke	17–1	29–2	1	2
No. 10 Virginia	15–3	27–4	13	11
Miami	13–5	24–7	32	28
No. 19 North Carolina	12–6	24–7	23	19
Clemson	12–6	22–9	36	33
No. 24 Louisville	11–7	22–9	14	25
N.C. State	10–8	19–12	35	45
Florida State	10–8	17–14	69	74
California	9–9	21–10	65	49
Stanford	9–9	20–11	59	51
SMU	8–10	19–12	39	50
Virginia Tech	8–10	19–12	53	52
Wake Forest	7–11	16–15	64	81
Syracuse	6–12	15–16	83	92
Pittsburgh	5–13	12–19	109	146
Notre Dame	4–14	13–18	93	121
Boston College	4–14	11–20	159	217
Georgia Tech	2–16	11–20	167	210

* — Through Sunday games
Saturday’s results
No. 1 Duke 76, No. 19 North Carolina 61
Boston College 77, Notre Dame 69
Clemson 79, Georgia Tech 76
No. 24 Louisville 92, Miami 89
Florida State 92, SMU 78
Stanford 85, N.C. State 84
Wake Forest 80, California 73
Pittsburgh 71, Syracuse 69, OT
END OF REGULAR SEASON
ACC tournament
Spectrum Center | Charlotte
Tuesday through Saturday

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Date	Month/day	Scores	Opponent/event (current ranks)	Record
	October
24	Friday	L, 78–76	vs. BYU in SLC	Exhib.
29	Wednesday	W, 95–53	vs. Winston-Salem St.	Exhib.
	November
3	Monday	W, 94–54	vs. Central Arkansas	1–0
7	Friday	W, 87–74	vs. No. 17 Kansas	2–0
11	Tuesday	W, 89–74	vs. Radford	3–0
14	Friday	W, 97–53	vs. N.C. Central	4–0
18	Tuesday	W, 73–61	vs. Navy	5–0
			Fort Myers Tip-Off
25	Tuesday	W, 85–70	vs. St. Bonaventure	6–0
27	Thursday	L, 74–58	vs. No. 11 Michigan State	6–1
	December		ACC/SEC Men’s Challenge
2	Tuesday	W, 67–64	at Kentucky	7–1
			—————————
7	Sunday	W, 81–61	vs. Georgetown	8–1
13	Saturday	W, 80–62	vs. USC Upstate	9–1
16	Tuesday	W, 77–58	vs. ETSU	10–1
			CBS Sports Classic in Atlanta
20	Saturday	W, 71–70	vs. Ohio State	11–1
			—————————
22	Monday	W, 99–51	vs. East Carolina	12–1
30	Tuesday	W, 79–66	vs. Florida State	13–1, 1–0 ACC
	January
3	Saturday	L, 97–83	at SMU	13–2, 1–1
10	Saturday	W, 87–84	vs. Wake Forest	14–2, 2–1
14	Wednesday	L, 95–90	at Stanford	14–3, 2–2
17	Saturday	L, 84–78	at California	14–4, 2–3
21	Wednesday	W, 91–69	vs. Notre Dame	15–4, 3–3
24	Saturday	W, 85–80	at No. 9 Virginia	16–4, 4–3
31	Saturday	W, 91–75	at Georgia Tech	17–4, 5–3
	February
2	Monday	W, 87–77	vs. Syracuse	18–4, 6–3
7	Saturday	W, 71–68	vs. No. 1 Duke	19–4, 7–3
10	Tuesday	L, 75–66	at No. 25 Miami	19–5, 7–4
14	Saturday	W, 79–65	vs. Pittsburgh	20–5, 8–4
17	Tuesday	L, 82–58	at N.C. State	20–6, 8–5
21	Saturday	W, 77–64	at Syracuse	21–6, 9–5
23	Monday	W, 77–74	vs. Louisville	22–6, 10–5
28	Saturday	W, 89–82	vs. Virginia Tech	23–6, 11–5
	March
3	Tuesday	W, 67–63	vs. Clemson	24–6, 12–5
7	Saturday	L, 76–61	at No. 1 Duke	24–7, 12–6
10–14	Tues.-Sat.	ACC tournament	Spectrum Center, Charlotte
12	Thursday	L, 80–79	Quarterfinals: vs. Clemson	24–8
		NCAA tournament
19	Thursday	L, 82–78, OT	First round: vs. VCU in Greenville, S.C.	24–9

Photo courtesy of UNC Athletics Communications