By R.L. Bynum
North Carolina held the No. 24 spot in the AP Top 25 women’s poll Monday after giving top-ranked South Carolina a scare.
The Tar Heels (5–3) lost 65–58 Thursday in the ACC/SEC Women’s Challenge to the unbeaten Gamecocks (7–0), who won at Duke 77–61 on Sunday and are still the unanimous top-ranked team.
Carolina, which has lost three straight games, is No. 55 in the first NET rankings, which were released Monday. Notre Dame is the highest ACC team in the NET rankings at No. 5, followed by N.C. State (9), Louisville (18), Duke (24), Miami (30), Virginia Tech (32), Syracuse (36), Florida State (51), Georgia Tech (53), Virginia (54), UNC (55), Boston College (118), Clemson (130), Wake Forest (149) and Pittsburgh (180).
UNC hosts UNC Greensboro (6–2) at 7 p.m. Wednesday (ESPN3) before facing UConn at 5 p.m. Sunday at the Hall of Fame Women’s Showcase in Uncasville, Conn. (ESPN). The Huskies, who host Ball State on Wednesday, fell to 4–3 Sunday after a 68–60 loss at Texas.
UConn, who has three losses the earliest in a season in program history, slipped six spots to No.17 in the poll, while Texas (9–0) moved up five spots to No. 5.
Other teams in last week’s poll to lose were:
— Stanford (8–1), which fell from six spots to No. 9 after a 96–78 loss to unranked Gonzaga.
— Virginia Tech (5–2), which dropped six positions to No. 15 after an 82–64 loss to LSU (8–1, which remained at No. 7).
— Florida State (6–2), which fell five slots to No. 20 after it lost 71–58 to unranked Arkansas.
— Kennedy Todd-Williams’ Ole Miss team (8–2), previously No. 19, which lost 64–58 to Louisville (8–1, moved up four spots to No. 18) and Southern Mississippi 61–59, fell out of the poll.
— Tennessee (4–4), previously No. 20, is out of the poll after losing 74–59 to Notre Dame (6–1, moved up four spots to No. 14) and 78–58 to Ohio State (which went up four spots to No. 12)
— Mississippi State (8–2), previously No. 21, which fell out of the poll after losing 74–68 to Miami and 59–53 to Chattanooga.
— Princeton (5–3), previously No. 25, which is out of the poll after a 60–58 loss to Rhode Island.
The fifth ACC team in the poll is N.C. State (9–0), which moved up two spot to No. 3.
Ranking UNC the highest at No. 18 was P.J. Brown of the Arizona Daily Star. Eleven voters left the Tar Heels of their ballots.
Mitchell Northam of WUNC, the only North Carolina-based voter, had UNC No. 25.
AP Top 25
| Rank | Team (1st-place votes) | Record | Poll points | Previous |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | South Carolina (35) | 7-0 | 875 | 1 |
| 2 | UCLA | 7-0 | 836 | 2 |
| 3 | N.C. State | 9-0 | 769 | 4 |
| 4 | Iowa | 8-1 | 740 | 5 |
| 5 | Texas | 9-0 | 689 | 10 |
| 6 | Southern Cal | 7-0 | 682 | 6 |
| 7 | LSU | 8-1 | 670 | T-7 |
| 8 | Colorado | 8-1 | 639 | T-7 |
| 9 | Stanford | 8-1 | 584 | 3 |
| 10 | Baylor | 7-0 | 546 | 13 |
| 11 | Utah | 7-1 | 513 | 12 |
| 12 | Ohio State | 6-1 | 463 | 16 |
| 13 | Kansas State | 7-1 | 453 | 14 |
| 14 | Notre Dame | 6-1 | 439 | 18 |
| 15 | Virginia Tech | 5-2 | 409 | 9 |
| 16 | Indiana | 7-1 | 380 | 17 |
| 17 | UConn | 4-3 | 326 | 11 |
| 18 | Louisville | 8-1 | 288 | 22 |
| 19 | Marquette | 8-0 | 232 | 23 |
| 20 | Florida State | 6-2 | 203 | 15 |
| 21 | Washington State | 9-1 | 119 | NR |
| 22 | Creighton | 6-1 | 112 | NR |
| 23 | Gonzaga | 8-2 | 104 | NR |
| 24 | North Carolina | 5-3 | 79 | NR |
| 25 | Penn State | 7-1 | 44 | NR |
Others receiving votes: Miami 40, UNLV 25, Oklahoma 21, Tennessee 20, Arkansas 18, Mississippi St. 12, Mississippi 8, TCU 7, Michigan St. 7, Texas A&M 4, Texas Tech 4, Green Bay 4, Florida Gulf Coast 4, Syracuse 2, Southern Miss 2, Davidson 2, West Virginia 1.
How voters ranked UNC
Alex Simon, SF Gate — 24
Alexis Cubit, Louisville Courier-Journal — left off ballot
Andy Yamashita, Las Vegas Review-Journal — 21
Brenda VanLengen, ESPN — 21
Carl Adamec, Hearst CT Media — 21
Cassandra Negley, Yahoo — 23
Christy Winters Scott NBC — 19
Cora Hall, Knoxville News Sentinel — left off ballot
Danny Davis, Austin American-Statesman — left off ballot
Emily Adams, The Greenville News — left off ballot
Jeff Linder, Cedar Rapids Gazette — left off ballot
Joe Vozzelli, The News-Gazette in Champaign, Ill. — left off ballot
Kelly Gramlich, ACC Network — 25
Kent Youngblood, Minneapolis Star-Tribune — 24
Kevin Tresolini, Delawareonline.com — 24
Kim Adams, Fox Sports — 23
Lindsay Schnell, USA Today — 23
Michael Voepel, ESPN — left off ballot
Marisa Ingemi, San Francisco Chronicle — 21
Mark Story, Lexington Herald-Leader — 21
Meghan McKeown, Big Ten Network — left off ballot
Michael Katz, Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal — 25
Michelle Smith, The Next — 25
Mitchell Northam, WUNC — 25
P.J. Brown, Arizona Daily Star — 18
Payton Titus, The State — 23
Percy Allen, Seattle Times — 23
Rebecca Lobo, ESPN — 22
Reed Darcey, The Advocate in Baton Rouge, La. — left off ballot
Roger Cleaveland, Waterbury Republican-American — 21
Sabreena Merchant, The Athletic — 21
Sam McKewon, Omaha World-Herald — left off ballot
Stefan Krajisnik, Clarion-Leader in Jackson, Miss. — 23
Stu Durando, St. Louis Post-Dispatch — 23
Zack Smith, Waco Tribune — left off ballot
UNC season statistics
| Date | Day/month | Score | Opponent/event (current rank) | Record |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| November | ||||
| 8 | Wednesday | W, 102–49 | vs. Gardner-Webb | 1–0 |
| 12 | Sunday | W, 74–70 | vs. Davidson | 2–0 |
| 15 | Wednesday | W, 62–32 | vs. Hampton | 3–0 |
| 18 | Saturday | W, 68–39 | vs. Elon | 4–0 |
| Gulf Coast Showcase in Estero, Fla. | ||||
| 24 | Friday | W, 54–51 | Vermont | 5–0 |
| 25 | Saturday | L, 63–56 | No. 15 Kansas State | 5–1 |
| 26 | Sunday | L, 65–64 | Florida Gulf Coast | 5–2 |
| ACC/SEC Women’s Challenge | ||||
| 30 | Thursday | L, 65–58 | vs. No. 1 South Carolina | 5–3 |
| December | ||||
| 6 | Wednesday | W, 81–66 | vs. UNC Greensboro | 6–3 |
| Hall of Fame Women’s Showcase in Uncasville, Conn. | ||||
| 10 | Sunday | L, 76–64 | No. 10 Connecticut | 6–4 |
| ——————— | ||||
| 15 | Friday | W, 96–36 | vs. Western Carolina | 7–4 |
| Jumpman Invitational in Charlotte | ||||
| 19 | Tuesday | W, 61–52 | No. 18 Oklahoma | 8–4 |
| ACC season | ||||
| 31 | Sunday | W, 82–76 | vs. Clemson | 9–4, 1–0 ACC |
| January | ||||
| 4 | Thursday | W, 75–51 | vs. No. 22 Syracuse | 10–4, 2–0 ACC |
| 7 | Sunday | W, 61–57 | at No. 9 Notre Dame | 11–4, 3–0 ACC |
| 11 | Thursday | L, 70–62 | at Florida State | 11–5, 3–1 ACC |
| 14 | Sunday | W, 81–68 | vs. Virginia | 12–5, 4–1 ACC |
| 18 | Thursday | W, 73–68 | at Georgia Tech | 13–5, 5–1 ACC |
| 21 | Sunday | W, 79–68 | vs. No. 23 Louisville | 14–5, 6–1 ACC |
| 25 | Thursday | W, 66–61 | vs. Miami | 15–5, 7–1 ACC |
| 28 | Sunday | L, 81–66 | at Virginia | 15–6, 7–2 ACC |
| February | ||||
| 1 | Thursday | L, 63–59 | at No. 11 N.C. State | 15–7, 7–3 ACC |
| 4 | Sunday | L, 70–61, OT | vs. No. 13 Virginia Tech | 15–8, 7–4 ACC |
| 11 | Sunday | L, 68–60, OT | at Duke | 15–9, 7–5 ACC |
| 15 | Thursday | W, 75–62 | vs. Pittsburgh | 16–9, 8–5 ACC |
| 18 | Sunday | W, 58–50 | at Wake Forest | 17–9, 9–5 ACC |
| 22 | Thursday | W, 80–70 | vs. No. 11 N.C. State | 18–9, 10–5 ACC |
| 25 | Sunday | L, 74–62 | at No. 13 Virginia Tech | 18–10, 10–6 ACC |
| 29 | Thursday | L, 78–74 | at Boston College | 18–11, 10–7 ACC |
| March | ||||
| 3 | Sunday | W, 63–59 | vs. Duke | 19–11, 11–7 ACC |
| ACC tournament Greensboro Coliseum | ||||
| 7 | Thursday | L, 60–59 | Second round: vs. Miami | 19–12 |
| NCAA tournament Columbia, S.C. | ||||
| 22 | Friday | W, 59–56 | First round: Michigan State | 20–12 |
| 24 | Sunday | L, 88–41 | Second round: No. 1 South Carolina | 20–13 |
Photo courtesy of UNC Athletics
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