By R.L. Bynum
North Carolina jumped up five spots to No. 17 in the latest AP Top 25 women’s poll after two ACC victories last week.
The Tar Heels (12–5, 3–3 ACC) rallied to win 70–59 at Virginia on Thursday with a game-ending 22–2 run and earned surged in the fourth quarter for a 56–47 victory Sunday at home against N.C. State.
The Wolfpack (13–5, 3–4), which also lost 91–72 at Florida State last week, fell nine spots to No. 20.
Carolina’s rise was the highest from last week’s poll and State’s drop was the largest.
ACC leader Duke (16–1, 6–0), which visits Carmichael Arena at 8 p.m. Thursday (ACC Network), moved up three spots to No. 13 after beating Clemson 66–56 and last-placed Georgia Tech 65–47.
Carolina is tied for the most games against ranked teams in the country and tied for the most wins against ranked teams with four, the most since the 2014–15 team won six.
The Tar Heels defeated Oregon 85–79 (No. 18 at the time of the game), Iowa State 73–64 (No. 5), Notre Dame 60–50 (No. 4) and N.C. State (No. 11). The first two and the last two were in consecutive games against ranked teams, marking the first time UNC has won back-to-back games against ranked teams multiple times since the 2013–14 season.
Duke has played only two ranked teams, losing to UConn (No. 3 at the time of the meeting) 78–50 and beating N.C. State (No. 6) 72–58. In addition to UNC, State has only played two other ranked teams, losing to UConn (No. 5 at the time of the meeting) 91–89 and beating Iowa (No. 10) 94–81.
UNC is No. 20 in the NET rankings, a metric the NCAA tournament committee uses, with wins against four teams ahead of them: Iowa State (NET ranking of 14), N.C. State (13), Oregon (12) and Notre Dame (6). Carolina is No. 16 in the Massey Rating.
Other ranked ACC teams are No. 7 Notre Dame (14–2, 5–1), unchanged, and No. 12 Virginia Tech (14–3, 4–3), up one spot.
Six other teams ahead of Carolina in last week’s poll lost: Stanford (fell from No. 2 to No. 4 after a 55–46 loss to Southern Cal), UCLA (went from No. 8 to No. 9 after a 72–59 loss to Stanford), Maryland (moved from No. 9 to No. 11 after a 68–61 loss to Indiana), Arizona (fell from No. 14 to No. 19 after losing to Colorado 72–65 and Utah 80–79), Baylor (which fell from No. 18 to unranked for the first time since 2004 after it lost to Oklahoma State 70–65 and West Virginia 74–65) and Oregon (which fell from No. 21 to No. 23 after losing 85–84 in overtime to Washington State).
Ranking UNC the highest at No. 8 was Mitchell Northam of WUNC, the only North Carolina-based voter. He had N.C. State No. 17 and Duke No. 19.
Four voters have UNC No. 15, five have it No. 16, four No. 17, five No. 18, five No. 19, with one No. 21 and one No. 23.
Ranking Carolina the lowest at No. 25 was Danny Davis of the Austin American Statesman, who curiously dropped the Tar Heels three spots from where he had them last week.
AP Top 25
| Rank | Team | Change | Poll points (first-place votes) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | South Carolina (18-0) | — | 700 (28) |
| 2 | Ohio State (18-0) | +1 | 670 |
| 3 | LSU (18-0) | +2 | 604 |
| 4 | Stanford (17-2) | -2 | 601 |
| 5 | UConn (15-2) | -1 | 600 |
| 6 | Indiana (16-1) | — | 586 |
| 7 | Notre Dame (14-2) | — | 546 |
| 8 | Utah (15-1) | +2 | 477 |
| 9 | UCLA (15-3) | -1 | 428 |
| 10 | Iowa (14-4) | +2 | 414 |
| 11 | Maryland (14-4) | -2 | 413 |
| 12 | Virginia Tech (14-3) | +1 | 391 |
| 13 | Duke (16-1) | +3 | 361 |
| 14 | Michigan (15-3) | 3 | 341 |
| 15 | Oklahoma (14-2) | +4 | 304 |
| 16 | Gonzaga (17-2) | +4 | 249 |
| 17 | North Carolina (12-5) | +5 | 237 |
| 18 | Iowa State (11-4) | -3 | 205 |
| 19 | Arizona (14-4) | -5 | 185 |
| 20 | N.C. State (13-5) | -9 | 139 |
| 21 | Illinois (15-3) | +3 | 120 |
| 22 | Villanova (16-3) | +3 | 94 |
| 23 | Oregon (13-5) | -2 | 75 |
| 24 | Colorado (14-3) | — | 65 |
| 25 | Texas (13-5) | — | 62 |
Others receiving votes: Baylor 51, Middle Tennessee 39, Arkansas 34, South Florida 24, Miami (FL) 23, Florida State 23, Tennessee 19, USC 7, Louisville 4, Creighton 4, Kansas 3, West Virginia 2.
| Team | League | Overall | NET* |
|---|---|---|---|
| No. 13 Louisville | 2–0 | 12–3 | 13 |
| N.C. State | 2–0 | 9–4 | 30 |
| Syracuse | 1–0 | 11–1 | 40 |
| Stanford | 1–0 | 11–2 | 31 |
| No. 18 Notre Dame | 1–0 | 9–2 | 16 |
| Virginia | 1–0 | 9–3 | 33 |
| Duke | 1–0 | 6–6 | 29 |
| Virginia Tech | 1–1 | 11–3 | 52 |
| Wake Forest | 1–1 | 11–3 | 119 |
| Clemson | 1–1 | 9–4 | 48 |
| Miami | 1–1 | 8–4 | 45 |
| No. 16 North Carolina | 0–1 | 11–3 | 20 |
| California | 0–1 | 8–5 | 63 |
| SMU | 0–1 | 7–6 | 137 |
| Pittsburgh | 0–1 | 7–7 | 234 |
| Boston College | 0–1 | 4–10 | 215 |
| Florida State | 0–2 | 5–9 | 113 |
| Georgia Tech | 0–2 | 4–9 | 122 |
* — Through Tuesday games
Saturday’s results
No. 13 Louisville 89, No. 23 Tennessee 65
Virginia 88, Winthrop 53
Florida State 77, South Carolina State 36
Duke 76, Belmont 46
Sunday’s results
No. 16 North Carolina 93, Charleston Southern 74
Virginia Tech 79, Radford 47
N.C. State 68, Davidson 49
Miami 85, Kennesaw State 55
Duquesne 84, Pittsburgh 69
Clemson 84, North Florida 62
SMU 74, Southern 62
Stanford 64, Oregon 53
No. 18 Notre Dame 110, Bellarmine 38
No. 17 USC 61, California 57
Monday’s result
Wake Forest 78, Gardner-Webb 66
Sunday’s games
Wofford at Georgia Tech, noon, ACC Network
Stetson at Miami, 2 p.m., ACC Network
Clemson at Chicago State, 3 p.m.
Duke at Syracuse, 4 p.m., ACC Network
Cornell at Stanford, 4 p.m., ACCN Extra
Cal Poly at California, 5 p.m., ACCN Extra
Monday, Dec. 29, games
Pittsburgh at No. 18 Notre Dame, 6 p.m., ACCN
SMU at Virginia, 7 p.m., ACCN Extra
No. 16 North Carolina at Boston College, 8 p.m., ACC Network
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 courtesy of UNC Athletics Communications
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