By R.L. Bynum
After extending its win streak to five, North Carolina moved up two spots to No. 15 in the latest AP Top 25 women’s poll.
The Tar Heels (14–5, 5–3 ACC) earned a second consecutive win over a ranked team by knocking off then-No. 13 Duke 61–56 on Thursday, then coasted by Georgia Tech 70–57 on Sunday. They have three wins over teams ranked in the top 13 during the current streak.
Carolina is ranked 15th or higher for the eighth time this season, the most since doing it 16 times in the 2014–15 season when the Tar Heels finished 26–9. UNC’s streak of being ranked 17 consecutive weeks going back to last season is the longest since being ranked 58 straight weeks from Nov. 19 of the 2012–13 season until the 2015–16 preseason poll.
The Tar Heels peaked at No. 6 on Nov. 28 and Dec. 19 and have never been lower than No. 22, where they were ranked on Jan. 2 and Jan. 9.
UNC has earned an NCAA-high five wins over ranked teams, beating Oregon (Nov. 24, No. 18 at the time of the game, now unranked), Iowa State (Nov. 27, No. 5, currently No. 18), Notre Dame (Jan. 8, No. 4, currently No. 7), N.C. State (Jan. 15, No. 11, currently No. 20) and Duke (Thursday, No. 13, currently No. 16).
The Blue Devils (17–2, 7–1) fell three spots after rebounding Sunday with a 62–50 home win over Syracuse. N.C. State (15–5, 5–4) remained at No. 20 after beating Miami 71–61 and Louisville 63–51.
Other ranked ACC teams are No. 7 Notre Dame (16–2, 7–1), No. 12 Virginia Tech (16–3, 6–3) and No. 24 Florida State (18–4, 7–2). It was the first time in the poll for the Seminoles since 2021, and rankings for the Irish and Hokies didn’t change.
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The only team ahead of Carolina in last week’s Top 25 to lose other than Duke was Utah, which fell one spot to No. 9 after losing 74–62 to No. 4 Stanford but beating California 87–62. UNC’s impressive wins were enough to leapfrog Gonzaga, which fell one spot to No. 17 despite winning its two games last week (81–78 against Pacific and 82–57 over St. Mary’s).
The poll was the first in 47 years that didn’t include a team from Texas. Texas was No. 25 last week but fell out of the poll after a 68–64 loss to Texas Tech.
Oregon was No. 23 but fell out of the poll after losing to Oregon State 68–65.
Ranking Carolina the highest at No. 7 was WUNC’s Mitchell Northam, the only North Carolina-based voter. Voting the Heels the lowest for the second consecutive week, this time at No. 22, was Danny Davis of the Austin American-Statesman.
Other spots for UNC on ballots were No. 13 (3 voters), No. 14 (5), No. 15 (7), No. 16 (4), No. 17 (3) and No. 18 (4).
UNC is No. 19 in the NET rankings and No. 16 in the Massey Ratings.
The Tar Heels visit Pittsburgh (7–12, 0–8) at 6 p.m. Thursday (ESPN3) and are at Clemson (13–8, 4–5) at 4 p.m. Sunday (ACC Network).
AP Top 25
| Rank | Team | Change | Poll points (1st-place votes) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | South Carolina (20–0) | — | 700 (28) |
| 2 | Ohio State (19–0) | — | 669 |
| 3 | Stanford (19–2) | +1 | 615 |
| 4 | LSU (19–0) | -1 | 603 |
| 5 | UConn (17–2) | — | 596 |
| 6 | Indiana (17–1) | — | 584 |
| 7 | Notre Dame (16–2) | — | 541 |
| 8 | UCLA (17–3) | +1 | 448 |
| 9 | Utah (16–2) | -1 | 430 |
| 10 | Iowa (15–4) | — | 425 |
| 10 | Maryland (16–4) | +1 | 425 |
| 12 | Virginia Tech (16–3) | — | 403 |
| 13 | Michigan (16–3) | +1 | 352 |
| 14 | Oklahoma (16–2) | +1 | 304 |
| 15 | North Carolina (14–5) | +2 | 298 |
| 16 | Duke (17–2) | -3 | 281 |
| 17 | Gonzaga (19–2) | -1 | 259 |
| 18 | Iowa State (13–4) | — | 221 |
| 19 | Arizona (15–4) | — | 201 |
| 20 | North Carolina State (15–5) | — | 171 |
| 21 | Villanova (18–3) | +1 | 145 |
| 22 | Illinois (16–4) | -1 | 103 |
| 23 | Middle Tennessee (16–2) | — | 64 |
| 24 | Florida State (18–4) | — | 57 |
| 25 | Colorado (15–4) | -1 | 56 |
Others receiving votes: Tennessee 47, Texas 35, South Florida 31, USC 22, Oregon 10, Arkansas 2, UNLV 1, Alabama 1
| Team | League | Overall | NET* | WAB* |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. 13 Duke | 16–2 | 21–8 | 10 | 13 |
| No. 12 Louisville | 15–3 | 25–6 | 13 | 10 |
| No. 16 North Carolina | 14–4 | 25–6 | 19 | 14 |
| N.C. State | 13–5 | 20–9 | 23 | 27 |
| Syracuse | 12–6 | 22–7 | 40 | 31 |
| Virginia Tech | 12–6 | 22–8 | 41 | 34 |
| Notre Dame | 12–6 | 20–9 | 24 | 23 |
| Clemson | 11–7 | 20–10 | 44 | 40 |
| Virginia | 11–7 | 19–10 | 36 | 49 |
| California | 9–9 | 18–13 | 53 | 60 |
| Stanford | 8–10 | 19–12 | 42 | 56 |
| Miami | 8–10 | 16–13 | 58 | 65 |
| Georgia Tech | 7–10 | 12–17 | 76 | 109 |
| Florida State | 5–13 | 10–20 | 107 | 138 |
| Wake Forest | 4–14 | 14–16 | 121 | 134 |
| SMU | 2–16 | 9–21 | 220 | 209 |
| Pittsburgh | 1–17 | 8–23 | 262 | 238 |
| Boston College | 1–17 | 5–26 | 247 | 283 |
* — Through Sunday games
Thursday’s results
No. 16 North Carolina 82, Virginia 70
No. 12 Louisville 69, Georgia Tech 50
Notre Dame 72, Syracuse 62
Miami 79, Pittsburgh 58
N.C. State 65, Wake Forest 58
No. 13 Duke 80, Florida State 52
Stanford 87, SMU 57
Clemson 70, California 63
Sunday’s results
No. 16 North Carolina 74, No. 13 Duke 69
Virginia Tech 83, Virginia 82
Georgia Tech 79, Miami 49
N.C. State 93, Pittsburgh 43
Stanford 85, Clemson 50
Syracuse 90, Boston College 65
Notre Dame 65, No. 12 Louisville 62
Florida State 77, Wake Forest 74, OT
California 78, SMU 34
End of regular season
ACC tournament
Gas South Arena
Duluth, Ga.
March 4–8
Photo courtesy of UNC Athletics Communications
