By R.L. Bynum

North Carolina jumped two spots to No. 9 in the AP Top 25 men’s basketball poll after an impressive victory over Oklahoma.

The Tar Heels disrupted the Sooners with tough defense in an 81–69 victory Thursday at the Jumpman Invitational in Charlotte’s Spectrum Center and got 23 points, five assists, three steals and no turnovers from senior guard RJ Davis.

Carolina finishes non-conference play at 8 p.m. Friday at the Smith Center (ACC Network) against Charleston Southern (4–8), which beat NAIA Kentucky Christian 103–79 Thursday. The Bucs, who lost 87–53 at N.C. State on Nov. 17, are 339 in the NET rankings and 338 in the KenPom rankings.

After their first loss, the Sooners (10–1) fell five spots to No. 12. Also helping Carolina move up was Baylor’s 78–70 loss to Duke in New York, which dropped the Bears (10–2) seven spots to No. 17, and Marquette (10–3) falling four spots to No. 10 after a 72–57 loss to Providence.

The Blue Devils (8–3) slid up five spots to No. 16 after the victory.

Caleb Love’s Arizona team (9–2) stayed at No. 4 after a 96–95 double-overtime loss Saturday in Las Vegas to Florida Atlantic (10–2), which jumped seven spots to No. 7.

Other teams ranked last week that lost were:
— UConn (11–2), stayed at No. 5 after a 75–60 setback against Seton Hall.
— Creighton (9–3), which is down 10 spots to No. 22 after a 68–66 overtime loss to Villanova
— Virginia (9–2), previously No. 22, fell out of the poll after a 77–54 loss to Memphis.

The only other ACC team in the poll is Clemson (10–1), which stayed at No. 18 after a 109–79 home win over Queens.

Ranking UNC the highest at No. 5 were Jerry DiPaola of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Kyle Austin of MLive in East Lansing, Mich., and Lauren Walsh of WSMV-TV in Nashville.

Bob Holt of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette was the only voter who didn’t rank the Tar Heels.

Kate Rogerson of WTVD ranked UNC No. 10, with JB Ricks of Specrum Sports voting the Heels No. 11 and Luke DeCock of The News & Observer ranking Carolina No. 17.

AP Top 25

Rank	Team (1st-place vote)	Record	Poll points	Previous
1	Purdue (46)	11-1	1,486	1
2	Kansas (5)	11-1	1,424	2
3	Houston (9)	12-0	1,408	3
4	Arizona	9-2	1,191	4
5	UConn	11-2	1,150	5
6	Tennessee	9-3	1,124	8
7	Florida Atlantic	10-2	1,089	14
8	Kentucky	9-2	1,074	9
9	North Carolina	8-3	954	11
10	Marquette	10-3	928	6
11	Illinois	9-2	902	13
12	Oklahoma	10-1	778	7
13	Gonzaga	9-3	577	15
14	BYU	11-1	575	17
15	Colorado State	11-1	573	16
16	Duke	8-3	551	21
17	Baylor	10-2	532	10
18	Clemson	10-1	513	18
19	Memphis	10-2	493	23
20	James Madison	12-0	417	20
21	Texas	9-2	342	19
22	Creighton	9-3	340	12
23	Wisconsin	9-3	287	24
24	Ole Miss	12-0	243	25
25	Providence	11-2	128	NR

Others receiving votes: Auburn 121, Colorado 64, Miami 51, Utah 45, Virginia 40, Iowa St. 21, Nevada 13, Ohio St. 10, Texas A&M 9, San Diego St. 8, Michigan St. 8, Villanova 6, New Mexico 6, Northwestern 5, Dayton 4, Grand Canyon 3, South Carolina 2, Mississippi St. 2, Alabama 2, Princeton 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