By R.L. Bynum
After winning two of three games in the Bahamas at the Battle 4 Atlantis, North Carolina fell three spots to No. 17 in the latest AP Top 25 men’s basketball poll.
The Tar Heels (5–1) beat Northern Iowa 91–69 and Arkansas (which was No. 20 but fell out of the poll) 87–72 but lost an 83–81 overtime game to Villanova, which debuted in the poll at No. 18. The Wildcats’ loss to Penn may have factored into UNC falling.
Next up for Carolina is a home matchup at 7:15 Wednesday (ESPN) against No. 10 Tennessee (down three spots) in the inaugural ACC/SEC Challenge.
The Vols (4–2) went 1–2 at the Maui Invitational, beating Syracuse 73–56 and losing 71–67 to No. 2 Purdue and 69–60 to No. 1 Kansas.
Purdue (6–0) took over the No. 1 spot after three wins on its way to the Maui Invitational title. Kansas (5–1) fell to No. 5 after a 73–59 loss to Marquette, which moved up one spot to No. 3 after losing to Purdue (78–75) but also beating UCLA 71–69.
Other teams in last week’s poll to lose were:
— Creighton (5–1), which went from No. 8 to No. 15 after a 69–48 loss to Colorado State.
— Gonzaga (4–1), stayed at No. 11 after going 1–2 in Maui, losing to Purdue 73–63 but beating Syracuse 76–57 and UCLA 69–65.
— Texas A&M (6–1), fell two spots to No. 14 after a 96–89 loss to Florida Atlantic (which moved up six spots to No. 13).
— Texas (5–1), dropped one position to No. 16 after an 81–71 loss to UConn.
— Alabama (5–1), which slipped from No. 17 to No. 23 after a 92–81 loss to Ohio State.
— Colorado (5–1), previously No. 18, fell out of the poll after a 77–71 overtime loss to Florida State.
— Michigan St. (3–3), previously No. 21, is out of the poll after a 74–68 loss to Arizona, which moved up from No. 3 to No. 2.
— Southern Cal (4–2), previously No. 23, which fell out of the poll after a 72–70 loss to Oklahoma.
— Virginia (5–1), previously No. 24, which fell out of the poll after a 65–41 loss to Wisconsin.
Duke (5–1) is up from No. 9 to No. 7 after wins over La Salle (95–66) and Southern Indiana (80–62) and Miami (5–1), which didn’t play last week, is up from No. 10 to No. 8.
Ranking UNC the highest at No. 12 was Bret Bloomquist of the El Paso Times, Jon Wilner of the San Jose Mercury News, Lauren Walsh of WSMV-TV and Luke DeCock of The News & Observer. Leaving the Tar Heels off their ballots were Kellis Robinett of the Wichita Eagle and Dylan Sinn of the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette.
JB Ricks of Spectrum News voted UNC No. 13 and Kate Rogerson of WTVD has the Heels No. 17.
AP Top 25
| Rank | Team (1st-place votes) | Record | Poll points | Previous |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Purdue (60) | 6-0 | 1,572 | 2 |
| 2 | Arizona (1) | 6-0 | 1,467 | 3 |
| 3 | Marquette | 5-1 | 1,418 | 4 |
| 4 | UConn (2) | 6-0 | 1,411 | 5 |
| 5 | Kansas | 5-1 | 1,312 | 1 |
| 6 | Houston | 7-0 | 1,289 | 6 |
| 7 | Duke | 5-1 | 1,194 | 9 |
| 8 | Miami (FL) | 5-0 | 1,031 | 10 |
| 9 | Baylor | 6-0 | 1,030 | 13 |
| 10 | Tennessee | 4-2 | 937 | 7 |
| 11 | Gonzaga | 4-1 | 964 | 11 |
| 12 | Kentucky | 5-1 | 727 | 16 |
| 13 | Florida Atlantic | 5-1 | 664 | 19 |
| 14 | Texas A&M | 6-1 | 646 | 12 |
| 15 | Creighton | 5-1 | 613 | 8 |
| 16 | Texas A&M | 5-1 | 571 | 15 |
| 17 | North Carolina | 5-1 | 567 | 14 |
| 18 | Villanova | 6-1 | 534 | NR |
| 19 | BYU | 6-0 | 416 | NR |
| 20 | Colorado State | 6-0 | 330 | NR |
| 21 | Mississippi State | 6-0 | 309 | 25 |
| 22 | James Madison | 6-0 | 303 | 22 |
| 23 | Alabama | 5-1 | 259 | 17 |
| 24 | Illinois | 5-1 | 134 | NR |
| 25 | Oklahoma | 6-0 | 120 | NR |
Others receiving votes: Memphis 108, San Diego State 102, Colorado 70, Ohio State 67, TCU 66, Michigan State 57, Auburn 46, UCLA 24, Princeton 14, Arkansas 10, Florida State 8, Iowa State 8, Southern California 7, Liberty 7, Nevada 6, Clemson 6, Virginia 6, Mississippi 5, Nebraska 4, South Carolina 2, Cincinnati 2, Kansas State 1, Bradley 1.
UNC season statistics
| Date | Month/day | Time | Opponent/event (current ranks) | TV/ record |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| October | ||||
| 24 | Friday | L, 78–76 | vs. No. 10 BYU in SLC | Exhib. |
| 29 | Wednesday | W, 95–53 | vs. Winston-Salem St. | Exhib. |
| November | ||||
| 3 | Monday | W, 94–54 | vs. Central Arkansas | 1–0 |
| 7 | Friday | W, 87–74 | vs. No. 17 Kansas | 2–0 |
| 11 | Tuesday | W, 89–74 | vs. Radford | 3–0 |
| 14 | Friday | W, 97–53 | vs. N.C. Central | 4–0 |
| 18 | Tuesday | W, 73–61 | vs. Navy | 5–0 |
| Fort Myers Tip-Off | ||||
| 25 | Tuesday | W, 85–70 | vs. St. Bonaventure | 6–0 |
| 27 | Thursday | L, 74–58 | vs. No. 9 Michigan State | 6–1 |
| December | ACC/SEC Men’s Challenge | |||
| 2 | Tuesday | W, 67–64 | at Kentucky | 7–1 |
| ————————— | ||||
| 7 | Sunday | W, 81–61 | vs. Georgetown | 8–1 |
| 13 | Saturday | W, 80–62 | vs. USC Upstate | 9–1 |
| 16 | Tuesday | W, 77–58 | vs. ETSU | 10–1 |
| CBS Sports Classic in Atlanta | ||||
| 20 | Saturday | W, 71–70 | vs. Ohio State | 11–1 |
| ————————— | ||||
| 22 | Monday | 8 p.m. | vs. East Carolina | ACCN |
| 30 | Tuesday | 7 p.m. | vs. Florida State | ESPN2 |
| January | ||||
| 3 | Saturday | 2:15 | at SMU | The CW |
| 10 | Saturday | 6 p.m. | vs. Wake Forest | ACCN |
| 14 | Wednesday | 9 p.m. | at Stanford | ACCN |
| 17 | Saturday | 4 p.m. | at California | ACCN |
| 21 | Wednesday | 7 p.m. | vs. Notre Dame | ESPN2 |
| 24 | Saturday | 2 or 2:30 | at No. 23 Virginia | ESPN or ESPNU |
| 31 | Saturday | 2 p.m. | at Georgia Tech | ACCN |
| February | ||||
| 2 | Monday | 7 p.m. | vs. Syracuse | ESPN |
| 7 | Saturday | 6:30 | vs. No. 3 Duke | ESPN |
| 10 | Tuesday | 7 p.m. | at Miami | ESPN or ESPN2 |
| 14 | Saturday | 2 p.m. | vs. Pittsburgh | ESPN |
| 17 | Tuesday | 7 p.m. | at N.C. State | ESPN or ESPN2 |
| 21 | Saturday | 1 p.m. | at Syracuse | ABC |
| 23 | Monday | 7 p.m. | vs. No. 11 Louisville | ESPN |
| 28 | Saturday | 6:30 or 8:30 | vs. Virginia Tech | ESPN or ESPN2 |
| March | ||||
| 3 | Tuesday | 7 p.m. | vs. Clemson | ESPN or ESPN2 |
| 7 | Saturday | 6:30 | at No. 3 Duke | ESPN |
| 10–14 | Tues.-Sat. | ACC tournament | Spectrum Center, Charlotte |
Photo via @UNC_Basketball
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