By R.L. Bynum

Caleb Love’s unbeaten Arizona team ascended to No. 1, and North Carolina jumped eight slots to No. 9 in the latest AP Top 25 men’s basketball poll.

UNC, which had the biggest jump from last week’s poll, is in the top 10 for the first time since it was No. 1 in last season’s first three polls.

Arizona (7–0) moved up from No. 2 after an 82–55 victory over Colgate, thanks to Purdue’s 92–88 overtime loss at Northwestern in its Big Ten opener, which dropped the previously top-ranked Boilermakers (7–1) three slots to No. 4.

It’s Arizona’s first time at No. 1 since holding that spot for eight consecutive weeks during the 2013–14 season when the Wildcats went 33–5 and lost in the Elite Eight.

RJ Davis’ best three-game stretch of his career has led Carolina (7–1) to three consecutive victories. He is only the 10th Tar Heel, and first since Joseph Forte in 2001, to score at least 27 points in three consecutive games.

UConn (7–1), which faces the Tar Heels at 9 p.m. Tuesday at Madison Square Garden in the Jimmy V Classic (ESPN), slipped one spot to No. 5 after losing 69–65 at Kansas. The Jayhawks (7–1) moved up one spot to No. 3.

With a victory over the Huskies, UNC would exceed the number of wins over ranked teams in the first two seasons under Coach Hubert Davis. He had two wins in each of his first two seasons and had two already this season, with wins over Arkansas and Tennessee.

Duke (5–3) suffered the largest drop in the poll, falling 15 spots to No. 22 after losing 80–75 at Arkansas and 72–68 at Georgia Tech.

Miami (6–1), which beat Notre Dame in its ACC opener 62–59, plummeted seven spots to No. 15 after losing 95–73 at Kentucky, which dropped four spots to No. 16 after losing 80–73 at home to UNCW.

Tennessee (4–3) dropped seven spots to No. 17 after its 100–92 loss Wednesday at Carolina.

Other teams ranked in last week’s poll that lost were:
— Texas A&M (6–2), which fell seven spots to No. 21 after a 59–47 loss to Virginia.
— Villanova (6–3), which previously No. 18, fell out of the poll after losing 78–65 to Saint Joseph’s and 57–55 to Drexel.
— Mississippi State (6–2), previously No. 21, which dropped out of the poll after losing 67–59 at Georgia Tech and 60–59 to Southern.
— Alabama (5–2), previously No. 23, which fell out of the poll after an 85–77 loss to Clemson.

JB Ricks of Spectrum News and Kate Rogerson of WTVD each voted the Tar Heels No. 9 and Luke DeCock of The News & Observer ranked UNC No. 10.

Five voters had Carolina the highest at No. 7 and Brian Holland of WVLA-TV/WGMB-TV in Baton Rouge, La., had UNC the lowest at No. 17.

AP Top 25

Rank	Team	Record	Points	Previous
1	Arizona (59)	7-0	1,571	2
2	Kansas (1)	7-1	1,460	5
3	Houston (3)	8-0	1,432	4
4	Purdue	7-1	1,407	1
5	UConn	7-1	1,340	4
6	Baylor	8-0	1,234	9
7	Gonzaga	6-1	1,146	11
8	Marquette	6-2	1,134	3
9	North Carolina	7-1	1,004	17
10	Creighton	7-1	921	15
11	Florida Atlantic	7-1	901	19
12	Texas	6-1	763	16
13	Colorado State	8-0	755	20
14	BYU	7-0	732	19
15	Miami	6-1	638	8
16	Kentucky	6-2	544	12
17	Tennessee	4-3	509	10
18	James Madison	8-0	381	22
19	Oklahoma	7-0	355	25
20	Illinois	6-1	322	24
21	Texas A&M	6-2	306	14
22	Duke	5-3	296	7
23	Wisconsin	6-2	245	NR
24	Clemson	7-0	227	NR
25	San Diego State	7-1	168	NR

Others receiving votes: Virginia 148, Ohio St. 122, TCU 87, Northwestern 77, Alabama 50, Michigan St. 46, Princeton 35, UCLA 23, Cincinnati 21, Mississippi 15, Arkansas 14, Providence 13, South Carolina 9, Villanova 8, Colorado 5, Memphis 5, Nevada 4, Georgia Tech 2.

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	3 p.m.	vs. Ohio State	CBS
			—————————
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