By R.L. Bynum

Oklahoma will be ranked higher than North Carolina when the teams meet on Wednesday after the Sooners moved up four spots to No. 7 and the Tar Heels fell two spots to No. 11 in the AP Top 25 men’s basketball poll released Monday afternoon.

The Sooners (10–0) and Tar Heels (7–3) meet at Charlotte’s Spectrum Center at 9 p.m. Wednesday (ESPN) in the final game of the four-game, two-day Jumpman Invitational.

UNC dropped after their second consecutive loss, an 87–83 defeat in Atlanta on Saturday in the CBS Sports Classic to Kentucky, which jumped five spots to No. 9.

Oklahoma (10–0), No. 19 two weeks ago and No. 11 last week, moved into the top 10 for the first time since it was No. 7 on Feb. 22, 2021, after rolling to an 81–47 victory over Green Bay in the Sooners’ only game last week.

Carolina was one of five teams ranked in the top 10 of last week’s poll to lose, leading to shuffling at the top, with Purdue (10–1) moving up two spots to No. 1 after beating Caleb Love’s Arizona team (8–1) 92–84 Saturday in Indianapolis. The Wildcats slipped three notches to No. 4.

Other teams in the top 10 a week ago that lost last week were:
—Baylor (9–1), which fell four spots to No. 10 after an 88–64 loss to Michigan State.
—Creighton (9–2), which slid four spots to No. 12 after a 79–64 loss to UNLV
—Gonzaga (8–3), which dropped five spots to No. 15 after a 76–63 loss in Seattle to UConn, which stayed at No. 5.

Other ACC teams in the poll are Clemson (9–1; which dropped five spots to No. 18 after a 79–77 loss to Memphis), Duke (7–3; which stayed at No. 21 after an 89–68 win over Hofstra) and Virginia (9–1; which stayed at No. 22 after a 56–54 win over Northeastern).

Miami (8–2), previously No. 24, fell out of the poll after an 84–77 win over La Salle.

The only other team ranked last week to lose was Northwestern, previously No. 25, which fell out of the poll after a 75–73 loss to Chicago State.

Ranking UNC the highest at No. 8 is Seth Davis of CBS. Three voters had Carolina No. 9 and five voted the Heels No. 10. Chris Murray of Nevada Sports Net didn’t rank the Tar Heels.

Kate Rogerson of WTVD ranked UNC No. 16, while Luke DeCock of The News & Observer and JB Ricks of Spectrum News ranked voted the Heels No. 17.

AP Top 25

Rank	Team (1st-place votes)	Record	Poll points	Previous
1	Purdue (48)	10-1	1,534	3
2	Kansas (6)	10-1	1,457	2
3	Houston (8)	11-0	1,394	4
4	Arizona	8-1	1,372	1
5	UConn	10-1	1,367	5
6	Marquette	9-2	1,235	7
7	Oklahoma	10-0	1,062	11
8	Tennessee	8-3	983	12
9	Kentucky	8-2	981	14
10	Baylor	9-1	896	6
11	North Carolina	7-3	773	9
12	Creighton	9-2	734	8
13	Illinois	8-2	727	16
14	Florida Atlantic	9-2	716	15
15	Gonzaga	8-3	642	10
16	Colorado State	10-1	588	17
17	BYU	10-1	569	18
18	Clemson	9-1	501	13
19	Texas	8-2	449	19
20	James Madison	10-0	442	20
21	Duke	7-3	311	21
22	Virginia	9-1	287	22
23	Memphis	8-2	274	NR
24	Wisconsin	8-3	269	23
25	Ole Miss	10-0	180	NR

Others receiving votes: Miami 97, Auburn 87, Colorado 84, Utah 37, Iowa St. 24, Ohio St. 12, Michigan St. 10, TCU 10, Texas A&M 9, San Diego St. 8, Northwestern 5, Providence 5, Alabama 3, Dayton 3, Nevada 3, New Mexico 2, Grand Canyon 2, Washington 2, St. Joseph’s 2, South Carolina 1, Mississippi St. 1.

UNC season statistics

Date	Month/day	Score	Opponent/event (current ranks)	Record
	October
27	Friday	W, 117–53	vs. St. Augustine’s	Exhibition
	November
6	Monday	W, 86–70	vs. Radford	1–0
12	Sunday	W, 90–68	vs. Lehigh	2–0
17	Friday	W, 77–52	vs. UC Riverside	3–0
			Battle 4 Atlantis in the Bahamas
22	Wednesday	W, 91–69	Northern Iowa	4–0
23	Thursday	L, 83–81, OT	Villanova	4–1
24	Friday	W, 87–72	Arkansas	5–1
			ACC/SEC Men’s Challenge
29	Wednesday	W, 100–92	vs. No. 6 Tennessee	6–1
	December
2	Saturday	W, 78–70	vs. Florida State	7–1, 1–0 ACC
			Jimmy V Classic in New York
5	Tuesday	L, 87–67	No. `1` Connecticut	7–2
			CBS Sports Classic in Atlanta
16	Saturday	L, 87–83	No. 12 Kentucky	7–3
			Jumpman Invitational in Charlotte
20	Wednesday	W, 81–69	Oklahoma	8–3
			—————————
29	Friday	W, 105–60	vs. Charleston Southern	9–3
	January
2	Tuesday	W, 70–57	at Pittsburgh	10–3, 2–0 ACC
6	Saturday	W, 65–55	at Clemson	11–3, 3–0 ACC
10	Wednesday	W, 67–54	at N.C. State	12–3, 4–0 ACC
13	Saturday	W, 103–67	vs. Syracuse	13–3, 5–0 ACC
17	Wednesday	W, 86–70	vs. Louisville	14–3, 6–0 ACC
20	Saturday	W, 76–66	vs. Boston College	15–3, 7–0 ACC
22	Monday	W, 85–64	vs. Wake Forest	16–3, 8–0 ACC
27	Saturday	W, 75–68	at Florida State	17–3, 9–0 ACC
30	Tuesday	L, 74–73	at Georgia Tech	17–4, 9–1 ACC
	February
3	Saturday	W, 93–84	vs. No. 13 Duke	18–4, 10–1 ACC
6	Tuesday	L, 80–76	vs. Clemson	18–5, 10–2 ACC
10	Saturday	W, 75–72	at Miami	19–5, 11–2 ACC
13	Tuesday	L, 86–79	at Syracuse	19–6, 11–3 ACC
17	Saturday	W, 96–81	vs. Virginia Tech	20–6, 12–3 ACC
24	Saturday	W, 54–44	at Virginia	21–6, 13–3 ACC
26	Monday	W, 75–71	vs. Miami	22–6, 14–3 ACC
	March
2	Saturday	W, 79–70	vs. N.C. State	23–6, 15–3 ACC
5	Tuesday	W, 84–51	vs. Notre Dame	24–6, 16–3 ACC
9	Saturday	W, 84–79	at No. 13 Duke	25–6, 17–3 ACC
			ACC tournament Washington
14	Thursday	W, 92–67	Quarterfinals: Florida State	26–6
15	Friday	W, 72–65	Semifinals: Pittsburgh	27–6
16	Saturday	L, 84–76	Final: N.C. State	27–7
			NCAA tournament
21	Thursday	W, 90–62	First round in Charlotte: Wagner	28–7
23	Saturday	W, 85–69	Second round in Charlotte: Michigan State	29–7
28	Thursday	L, 89–87	Sweet 16 in Los Angeles: No. 19 Alabama	29–8