By R.L. Bynum
North Carolina held the No. 9 spot in the latest AP Top 25 men’s basketball poll after the Tar Heels (7–2) gave No. 5 UConn a good game on Tuesday in the Jimmy V Classic at Madison Square Garden before losing 87–76.
They face another ranked team when they play Kentucky at 5:30 p.m. Saturday in Atlanta (CBS) at the CBS Sports Classic. The Wildcats (7–2) moved up two spots to No. 14 after an 81–66 victory over Penn.
Carolina is No. 11 in ESPN’s power rankings, No. 15 in the Bart Torvik rankings, No. 16 in the KenPom rankings and No. 36 in the NET rankings.
Caleb Love’s Arizona team (8–0) remained at No. 1 after an 89–73 home victory over No. 23 Wisconsin, and the top 6 remained unchanged.
Clemson (9–0) was the biggest riser, going up 11 spots to No. 13 after beating South Carolina 72–67 and TCU 74–66.
Oklahoma (9–0), which plays UNC in Charlotte at the Jumpman Invitational on Dec. 20, moved up eight slots to No. 11 after beating Providence 72–51 and Arkansas 79–70.
Other ranked teams losing last week were:
—Gonzaga (7–2), which fell three spots to No. 10 after a 78–73 loss to Washington.
—Florida Atlantic (7–2), which lost 98–89 to Illinois in the first Jimmy V Classic game Tuesday and fell four spots to No. 15.
—Texas (7–2), which dropped seven spots to No. 19 after losing 86–76 to Marquette (which moved up one spot to No. 7).
—Colorado State (9–1), which fell four spots to No. 17 after a 64–61 loss to Saint Mary’s.
—BYU (8–1), which dropped four spots to No. 18 after a 73–69 setback against Utah.
—Miami (7–2), which fell nine spots to No. 24 after a 90–63 loss to Colorado.
—Illinois (7–2), which moved up four spots to No.. 16 despite following up the FAU win with an 86–79 loss to Tennessee.
—Texas A&M (7–3), previously No. 21, which fell out of the poll after an 81–75 loss to Memphis.
—Wisconsin (7–3), which stayed at No. 23 after a 98–73 loss to No. 1 Arizona.
—San Diego State (8–2), previously No. 25, which fell out of the poll after a 79–73 loss to Grand Canyon.
The only ACC team in the poll besides Clemson, Miami and UNC is Duke, which moved up one spot to No. 21 after an 80–56 home win over Charlotte.
JB Ricks of Spectrum News and Kate Rogerson of WTVD had UNC No. 11 and Luke DeCock of The News & Observer voted UNC No. 12.
Ranking Carolina the highest at No. 8 were Bob Holt of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Brenna Greene of KOIN TV, ESPN’s Dick Vitale, Jon Wilner of the San Jose Mercury News, Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports and Kevin McNamara of The Providence Journal.
Ranking UNC the lowest at No. 15 was Bruce Pascoe of the Arizona Daily Star.
AP Top 25
| Rank | Team | Record | Poll points | Previous |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arizona (62 1st-place votes) | 8-0 | 1,574 | 1 |
| 2 | Kansas | 9-1 | 1,461 | 2 |
| 3 | Purdue | 9-1 | 1,424 | 4 |
| 4 | Houston (1) | 10-0 | 1,416 | 3 |
| 5 | UConn | 9-1 | 1,344 | 5 |
| 6 | Baylor | 9-0 | 1,239 | 6 |
| 7 | Marquette | 8-2 | 1,221 | 8 |
| 8 | Creighton | 8-1 | 1,073 | 10 |
| 9 | North Carolina | 7-2 | 992 | 9 |
| 10 | Gonzaga | 7-2 | 860 | 7 |
| 11 | Oklahoma | 9-0 | 848 | 19 |
| 12 | Tennessee | 6-3 | 835 | 17 |
| 13 | Clemson | 9-0 | 746 | 24 |
| 14 | Kentucky | 7-2 | 677 | 16 |
| 15 | Florida Atlantic | 7-2 | 622 | 11 |
| 16 | Illinois | 7-2 | 589 | 20 |
| 17 | Colorado State | 9-1 | 522 | 13 |
| 18 | BYU | 8-1 | 503 | 14 |
| 19 | Texas | 7-2 | 451 | 12 |
| 20 | James Madison | 9-0 | 441 | 18 |
| 21 | Duke | 6-3 | 315 | 22 |
| 22 | Virginia | 8-1 | 300 | NR |
| 23 | Wisconsin | 7-3 | 213 | 23 |
| 24 | Miami | 7-2 | 156 | 15 |
| 25 | Northwestern | 7-1 | 147 | NR |
Others receiving votes: Colorado 116, Mississippi 86, Texas A&M 58, Auburn 57, Memphis 56, Alabama 43, Utah 25, Iowa St. 20, Ohio St. 9, Providence 7, San Diego St. 7, TCU 6, Nevada 5, South Carolina 3, New Mexico 2, Washington 2, Kansas St 1, Grand Canyon 1, Dayton 1, Saint Joseph’s 1.
UNC season statistics
| Date | Month/day | Time | Opponent/event (current ranks) | TV/ record |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| October | ||||
| 24 | Friday | L, 78–76 | vs. No. 16 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. 11 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. 10 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 | W, 99–51 | vs. East Carolina | 12–1 |
| 30 | Tuesday | W, 79–66 | vs. Florida State | 13–1, 1–0 ACC |
| January | ||||
| 3 | Saturday | L, 97–83 | at SMU | 13–2, 1–1 |
| 10 | Saturday | W, 87–84 | vs. Wake Forest | 14–2, 2–1 |
| 14 | Wednesday | L, 95–90 | at Stanford | 14–3, 2–2 |
| 17 | Saturday | L, 84–78 | at California | 14–4, 2–3 |
| 21 | Wednesday | W, 91–69 | vs. Notre Dame | 15–4, 3–3 |
| 24 | Saturday | W, 85–80 | at No. 18 Virginia | 16–4, 4–3 |
| 31 | Saturday | W, 91–75 | at Georgia Tech | 17–4, 5–3 |
| February | ||||
| 2 | Monday | W, 87–77 | vs. Syracuse | 18–4, 6–3 |
| 7 | Saturday | 6:30 | vs. No. 4 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. 24 Louisville | ESPN |
| 28 | Saturday | 6:30 or 8:30 | vs. Virginia Tech | ESPN or ESPN2 |
| March | ||||
| 3 | Tuesday | 7 p.m. | vs. No. 20 Clemson | ESPN or ESPN2 |
| 7 | Saturday | 6:30 | at No. 4 Duke | ESPN |
| 10–14 | Tues.-Sat. | ACC tournament | Spectrum Center, Charlotte |
Photo via @UNC_Basketball
tarheeltribune.com 