By R.L. Bynum

Carolina held the top spot in the latest AP Top 25 men’s basketball poll, but its lead in first-place votes over No. 2 Gonzaga fell from 35 votes to 30.

The Tar Heels (2–0) won home games against UNC Wilmington 69–56 and College of Charleston 102–86, with preseason ACC player of the year Armando Bacot scoring 28 points. The Zags (2–0) beat North Florida 104–63 but barely knocked off unranked Michigan State 64–63.

UNC’s first-place votes went from 47 in the preseason poll to 44 and Gonzaga went from 12 to 14. The Tar Heels play host to Garner-Webb at 8 o’clock Tuesday night (ACC Network).

In the USA Today Coaches Poll, Carolina went from leading Gonzaga by 18 first-place votes in the preseason poll to a 15-vote edge.

Houston (2–0) held at No. 3 in the AP poll after wins over Northern Colorado (83–36) and Saint Joseph’s (81–55) and went from one first-place vote to two. Kentucky (2–0), after wins over Howard (95–63) and Duquesne (77–52), held at No. 4 and went from two first-place votes to none.

Duke (2–0), which stayed at No. 7 after home wins over Jacksonville (71–44) and South Carolina Upstate (84–38), plays in the Champions Classic in Indianapolis at 9:30 p.m. Tuesday night against reigning NCAA champion Kansas (2–0), which fell one spot to No. 6 after beating Omaha 89–64 and North Dakota State 82–59.

Virginia (2–0) moved up two spots to No. 16 after home wins over N.C. Central (73–61) and Monmouth (89–42). The school canceled the Cavaliers’ scheduled home game Monday night against Northern Iowa after the shooting deaths of three Virginia football players.

Ranking UNC the lowest at No. 9 was Brian Holland of the WVLA-TV and WGMB-TV in Baton Rouge, La. David Jones of Penn Live in Dowington, Pa., has Carolina No. 5 and three voters have the Heels No. 3. All other voters have Carolina No. 1 or No. 2.

All three North Carolina-based voters have Carolina No. 1. C.L. Brown, the UNC beat writer for The News & Observer, has Duke No. 7 and Virginia No. 13. David Thompson of the Fayetteville Observer has Duke No. 6 and Virginia No. 17. Jordan Crammer of WNCN has Duke No. 5 and Virginia No. 15.

Tennessee had the biggest slide, going from No. 11 to No. 22 after losing 78–66 in Nashville to unranked Colorado.

Villanova fell from No. 16 to unranked after a 68–64 loss at Temple.

New to the poll are Texas A&M at No. 24 and Connecticut at No. 25.

AP Top 25

Rank	Team	Change	Poll points (first-place votes_
1	North Carolina (2–0)	—	1,543 (44)
2	Gonzaga (2–0)	—	1,497 (14)
3	Houston (2–0)	—	1,439 (2)
4	Kentucky (2–0)	—	1,394 (3)
5	Baylor (2–0)	—	1,253
6	Kansas (2–0)	-1	1,218
7	Duke (2–0)	—	1,216
8	UCLA (2–0)	—	1,138
9	Arkansas (2–0)	+1	1,059
10	Creighton (2–0)	-1	1,036
11	Texas (2–0)	+1	932
12	Indiana (2–0)	+1	867
13	Auburn (2–0)	+2	724
14	Arizona (2–0)	+3	694
15	TCU (2–0)	-1	630
16	Virginia (2–0)	+2	590
17	San Diego State (2–0)	+2	524
18	Alabama (2–0)	+2	436
19	Illinois (2–0)	+4	316
20	Michigan (2–0)	+2	308
21	Dayton (2–0)	+3	280
22	Tennessee (1–1)	-11	264
23	Texas Tech (2–0)	+2	190
24	Texas A&M (2–0)	—	131
25	UConn (2–0)	—	124

Others receiving votes: Michigan State 119, Purdue 104, Villanova 96, Miami (FL) 61, Saint Louis 47, Xavier 44, Ohio State 36, Oregon 36, Iowa 36, Memphis 20, Virginia Tech 13, Colorado 11, Arizona State 9, Toledo 8, Rutgers 8, Saint Mary’s 7, Florida 5, UC Irvine 4, Grambling State 4, Seton Hall 3, Penn State 1. Point values in parentheses indicate the number of first-place votes.

Date	Month/day	Time/score	Opponent/event (current ranking)	Location	Record
	October
28	Friday	W, 101–40	Johnson C. Smith	Home	Exhibition
	November
7	Monday	W, 69–56	UNCW	Home	1–0
11	Friday	W, 102–86	College of Charleston	Home	2–0
15	Tuesday	W, 72–66	Gardner-Webb	Home	3–0
20	Sunday	W, 80–64	James Madison	Home	4–0
			Phil Knight Invitational
24	Thursday	W, 89–81	First round: Portland	Portland	5–0
25	Friday	L, 70–65	Semifinals: Iowa State	Portland	5–1
27	Sunday	L, 103–101, 4 OTs	Consolation: No. 1 Alabama	Portland	5–2
			ACC/Big Ten Challenge
30	Wednesday	L, 77–65	No. 21 Indiana	Bloomington, Ind.	5–3
	December
4	Sunday	L, 80–72	Virginia Tech	Blacksburg, Va.	5–4, 0–1 ACC
10	Saturday	W, 75–59	Georgia Tech	Home	6–4, 1–1 ACC
13	Tuesday	W, 100–67	The Citadel	Home	7–4
			*CBS Sports Classic*
17	Saturday	W, 89–84, OT	Ohio State	New York	8–4
			*Jumpman Invitational*
21	Wednesday	W, 80–76	Michigan	Charlotte	9–4
30	Friday	L, 76–74	Pittsburgh	Pittsburgh	9–5, 1–2 ACC
	January
4	Wednesday	W, 88–79	Wake Forest	Home	10–5, 2–2 ACC
7	Saturday	W, 81–64	Notre Dame	Home	11–5, 3–2 ACC
10	Tuesday	L, 65–58	No. 14 Virginia	Charlottesville	11–6, 3–3 ACC
14	Saturday	W, 80–59	Louisville	Louisville, Ky.	12–6, 4–3 ACC
17	Tuesday	W, 72–64	Boston College	Home	13–6, 5–3 ACC
21	Saturday	W, 80–69	N.C. State	Home	14–6, 6–3 ACC
24	Tuesday	W, 72–68	Syracuse	Syracuse, N.Y.	15–6, 7–3 ACC
	February
1	Wednesday	L, 65–64	Pittsburgh	Home	15–7, 7–4 ACC
4	Saturday	L, 63–57	No. 12 Duke	Durham	15–8, 7–5 ACC
7	Tuesday	L, 92–85	Wake Forest	Winston-Salem	15–9, 7–6 ACC
11	Saturday	W, 91–71	Clemson	Home	16–9, 8–6 ACC
13	Monday	L, 80–72	No. 16 Miami	Home	16–10, 8–7 ACC
19	Sunday	L, 77–69	N.C. State	Raleigh	16–11, 8–8 ACC
22	Wednesday	W, 63–59	Notre Dame	South Bend, Ind.	17–11, 9–8 ACC
25	Saturday	W, 71–63	No. 14 Virginia	Home	18–11, 10–8 ACC
27	Monday	W, 77–66	Florida State	Tallahassee, Fla.	19–11, 11–8 ACC
	March
4	Saturday	L, 62–57	No. 12 Duke	Home	19–12, 11–9 ACC
			*ACC tournament*
8	Wednesday	W, 85–61	Boston College	Greensboro	20–12
9	Thursday	L, 68–59	No. 14 Virginia	Greensboro	20–13