By R.L. Bynum
Carolina slipped three spots to No. 14 in the latest AP Top 25 women’s poll after the Tar Heels — without two starters — lost 62–55 at Louisville on Sunday. It’s their 11th week ranked in the top 15 this season, the most since 16 weeks in the 2014–15 season.
The Tar Heels (17–6, 8–4 ACC) won their eighth consecutive game with Thursday’s 73–62 home win over Virginia before the Cardinals ended the streak. Fifth-year guard Eva Hodgson (upper-body injury) missed both games, and junior wing Alyssa Ustby (lower-body injury) was out for the game against Louisville.
UNC tries to rebound this week against teams in the bottom half of the ACC standings. The Heels play at Syracuse (15–9, 6–7) at 7 p.m. Thursday (ESPN3) before returning home at noon Sunday (ACC Network) to face Boston College (14–12, 4–9).
In the NET rankings, Carolina fell from 19 to 22, but the Tar Heels have beaten five teams ahead of them in that ranking, with four losses.
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Carolina was one of 11 teams in last week’s Top 25, including five ranked ahead of the Tar Heels, that lost at least one game.
Two were ACC teams: Notre Dame (18–4, 9–3), which fell from one spot to No. 10 after Sunday’s 57–52 home loss to Duke, and N.C. State (16–6, 6–5), which dropped seven spots to No. 22 after a 68–62 road loss to unranked Georgia Tech.
On the strength of that win over the Irish, Duke (20–3, 10–2) — which also beat Pittsburgh 53–44 — jumped seven spots to No. 9 after taking sole possession of first place in the ACC.
Virginia Tech (18–4, 8–4) moved from two spots to No. 11 after a 78–64 win over Syracuse. Florida State (20–5, 9–3) jumped four spots to No. 19 after a 72–44 rout against Wake Forest.
Teams ranked last week that lost twice were Iowa State (which sank nine spots to No. 21 after losing 78–77 to Kansas State and 76–70 to Baylor) and Middle Tennessee (which fell from No. 21 to unranked after falling 65–62 to UTEP and 58–53 to UTSA).
Ranking UNC the highest at No. 8 was Roger Cleaveland of the Waterbury Republican-American in Connecticut. Two others ranked the Tar Heels in the top 10: Mitchell Northam of WUNC, the only North Carolina-based voter, who had UNC No. 9 and Duke No. 13, and Kelly Gramlich of ACC Network, who had the Tar Heels No. 10 and the Blue Devils No. 8.
Brice Cherry of the Waco Tribune-Herald ranked UNC the lowest at No. 20.
Carolina’s placement varied quite a bit for the other voters, with the Tar Heels showing up on ballots as No. 11 (1 time), No. 12 (5 times), No. 13 (6), No. 14 (1), No. 15 (1), No. 16 (1) No. 17 (4), No. 18 (4) and No. 19 (1).
AP Top 25
| Rank | Team | Change | Poll points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | South Carolina (23–0) | — | 700 (28 first-place votes) |
| 2 | Indiana (22–1) | +2 | 649 |
| 3 | LSU (23–0) | — | 643 |
| 4 | UConn (21–3) | +1 | 611 |
| 5 | Iowa (19–4) | +1 | 569 |
| 6 | Stanford (22–3) | -4 | 568 |
| 7 | Utah (20–2) | — | 543 |
| 8 | Maryland (19–5) | — | 509 |
| 9 | Duke (20–3) | +7 | 448 |
| 10 | Notre Dame (18–4) | -1 | 429 |
| 11 | Virginia Tech (18–4) | +2 | 394 |
| 12 | Michigan (19–5) | +6 | 359 |
| 13 | Ohio State (20–4) | -3 | 337 |
| 14 | North Carolina (17–6) | -3 | 328 |
| 15 | Villanova (20–4) | +4 | 245 |
| 16 | Oklahoma (18–4) | +4 | 241 |
| 17 | Arizona (18–5) | +5 | 233 |
| 18 | UCLA (18–6) | -4 | 201 |
| 19 | Florida State (20–5) | +4 | 187 |
| 20 | Texas (18–6) | +4 | 182 |
| 21 | Iowa State (15–6) | -9 | 168 |
| 22 | N.C. State (16–6) | -7 | 164 |
| 23 | Gonzaga (22–3) | -6 | 118 |
| 24 | South Florida (22–4) | +1 | 98 |
| 25 | Colorado (18–5) | — | 81 |
Others receiving votes: Baylor 29, Illinois 18, UNLV 14, Tennessee 13, USC 8, Middle Tennessee 8, Florida Gulf Coast 2, Louisville 2, Cleveland State 1.
UNC statistics
ACC standings
| 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
