By R.L. Bynum
North Carolina fell seven spots to No. 13 in the AP Top 25 women’s poll after the Tar Heels’ 76–68 loss to Michigan in Charlotte on Tuesday.
The drop ended the Tar Heels’ streak of top-10 rankings at five weeks, the longest since the 2014–15 season when they had a six-week streak in the 2014–15 season (No. 6 Dec. 1–15, No. 9 Dec. 22, 29 and No. 8 Jan. 5). It matches UNC’s lowest ranking of the season on Nov. 14.
Michigan (11–1) moved up five spots to No. 14 with the win over Carolina (9–2).
Carolina fell five spots to No. 12 in the USA Today Coaches poll.
UNC tries to rebound at 8 p.m. Thursday (regional sports networks) in its ACC opener against Florida State (12–2) at Carmichael Arena. The Seminoles rebounded from an 85–77 loss to UConn with a 92–85 home win Wednesday over Miami in its ACC opener.
Dynamic 5–8 freshman guard Ta’Niya Latson leads the Seminoles in scoring (25.0 points per game) and steals (30), and has been the ACC rookie of the week every week this season.
Carolina is No. 16 in the Massey Ratings and No. 19 in the NET rankings.
Voting UNC the highest at No. 8 in the AP poll were Maggie Hendricks of Bally Sports and Mitchell Northam of WUNC, the only North Carolina-based voter.
Marisa Ingemi of the San Francisco Chronicle and Roger Cleaveland of the Waterbury Republican-American voted the Tar Heels No. 9. M.A.Voepel and Rebecca Lobo of ESPN had Carolina No. 10.
Lindsay Schnell of USA Today, who had UNC No. 5 the previous two weeks, voted UNC the lowest at No. 20.
Carolina has two wins over ranked teams, beating No. 15 Iowa State (10–3, up one spot) and No. 17 Oregon (10–2, down 1 slot) in Portland at the Phil Knight Invitational. The Tar Heels’ other loss came on the road against No. 4 Indiana (12–0).
The only other team to fall as far as UNC was Arkansas (13–2), which dropped seven spots to No. 24 after a 66-65 loss to South Florida.
Other ranked ACC teams are No. 5 Notre Dame (10–1), No. 6 N.C. State (11–2, up one spot) and No. 7 Virginia Tech (11–1, up one spot).
AP Top 25
| Rank | Team | Change | Poll points (1st-place votes) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | South Carolina (12-0) | — | 700 (28) |
| 2 | Stanford (13-1) | — | 672 |
| 3 | Ohio State (13-0) | — | 632 |
| 4 | Indiana (12-0) | — | 620 |
| 5 | Notre Dame (10-1) | — | 591 |
| 6 | N.C. State (11-1) | +1 | 531 |
| 7 | Virginia Tech (11-1) | +1 | 508 |
| 8 | UConn (9-2) | +1 | 499 |
| 9 | LSU (12-0) | +1 | 442 |
| 10 | UCLA (12-1) | +1 | 433 |
| 11 | Utah (12-0) | +1 | 398 |
| 12 | Iowa (10-3) | +1 | 374 |
| 13 | North Carolina (9-2) | -7 | 373 |
| 14 | Michigan (11-1) | +5 | 342 |
| 15 | Iowa State (8-2) | -1 | 337 |
| 16 | Maryland (10-3) | -1 | 304 |
| 17 | Oregon (10-2) | -1 | 260 |
| 18 | Arizona (10-1) | — | 238 |
| 19 | Gonzaga (12-2) | +3 | 155 |
| 20 | Oklahoma (10-1) | +3 | 139 |
| 21 | Creighton (8-3) | — | 108 |
| 22 | Kansas (10-1) | -2 | 94 |
| 23 | Baylor (9-3) | +1 | 93 |
| 24 | Arkansas (13-2) | -7 | 90 |
| 25 | St. John’s (12-0) | — | 75 |
Others receiving votes: Louisville 19, Duke 18, Villanova 13, Nebraska 10, South Florida 7, Columbia 6, Middle Tennessee 6, Texas 5, Marquette 4, Alabama 4.
UNC statistics
| Date | Month/day | Time/score | Opponent/event (current ranking) | Location | Record |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| November | |||||
| 9 | Wednesday | W, 91–59 | Jackson State | Home | 1–0 |
| 12 | Saturday | W, 75–48 | TCU | Home | 2–0 |
| 16 | Wednesday | W, 93–25 | South Carolina State | Home | 3–0 |
| 20 | Sunday | W, 76–65 | James Madison | Harrisonburg, Va. | 4–0 |
| Phil Knight Invitational | |||||
| 24 | Thursday | W, 85–79 | Oregon | Portland | 5–0 |
| 27 | Sunday | W, 73–64 | No. 17 Iowa State | Portland | 6–0 |
| December | ACC/Big Ten Challenge | ||||
| 1 | Thursday | L, 87–63 | No. 2 Indiana | Bloomington, Ind. | 6–1 |
| 7 | Wednesday | W, 64–42 | UNCW | Home | 7–1 |
| 11 | Sunday | W, 99–67 | Wofford | Home | 8–1 |
| 16 | Friday | W, 89–47 | USC Upstate | Home | 9–1 |
| Jumpman Invitational | |||||
| 20 | Tuesday | L, 76–68 | No. 18 Michigan | Charlotte | 9–2 |
| ACC season begins | |||||
| 29 | Thursday | L, 78–71 | Florida State | Home | 9–3, 0–1 ACC |
| January | |||||
| 1 | Sunday | L, 68–65 | No. 4 Virginia Tech | Blacksburg, Va. | 9–4, 0–2 ACC |
| 5 | Thursday | L, 62–58 | Miami | Coral Gables, Fla. | 9–5, 0–3 ACC |
| 8 | Sunday | W, 60–50 | No. 10 Notre Dame | Home | 10–5, 1–3 ACC |
| 12 | Thursday | W, 70–59 | Virginia | Charlottesville, Va. | 11–5, 2–3 ACC |
| 15 | Sunday | W, 56–47 | N.C. State | Home | 12–5, 3–3 ACC |
| 19 | Thursday | W, 61–56 | No. 13 Duke | Home | 13–5, 4–3 ACC |
| 22 | Sunday | W, 70–57 | Georgia Tech | Home | 14–5, 5–3 ACC |
| 26 | Thursday | W, 72–57 | Pittsburgh | Pittsburgh | 15–5, 6–3 ACC |
| 29 | Sunday | W, 69–58 | Clemson | Clemson | 16–5, 7–3 ACC |
| February | |||||
| 2 | Thursday | W, 73–62 | Virginia | Home | 17–5, 8–3 ACC |
| 5 | Sunday | L, 62–55 | Louisville | Louisville | 17–6, 8–4 ACC |
| 9 | Thursday | L, 75–67 | Syracuse | Syracuse | 17–7, 8–5 ACC |
| 12 | Sunday | W, 73–55 | Boston College | Home | 18–7, 9–5 ACC |
| 16 | Thursday | L, 77–66, OT | N.C. State | Raleigh | 18–8, 9–6 ACC |
| 19 | Sunday | W, 71–58 | Wake Forest | Home | 19–8, 10–6 ACC |
| 23 | Thursday | L, 61–59 | No. 4 Virginia Tech | Home | 19–9, 10–7 ACC |
| 26 | Sunday | W, 45–41 | No. 13 Duke | Durham | 20–9, 10–8 ACC |
| March | ACC Tournament | ||||
| 2 | Thursday | W, 68–58 | Clemson | Greensboro | 21–9 |
| 3 | Friday | L, 44–40 | No. 13 Duke | Greensboro | 21–10 |
| NCAA tournament | |||||
| 18 | Saturday | W, 61–59 | St. John’s | Columbus, Ohio | 22–10 |
| 20 | Monday | L, 71–69 | No. 12 Ohio State | Columbus, Ohio | 22–11 |
Photo of Alyssa Ustby courtesy of UNC Athletics Communications
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