By R.L. Bynum

After two impressive ACC victories and five teams at the top of last week’s men’s basketball poll losing, North Carolina jumped three spots to a season-high No. 4 in the latest AP Top 25 and got a first-place vote from Jon Wilner of the San Jose Mercury-News.

The ACC-leading Tar Heels (13–3, 5–0 ACC) earned their highest rank since they were No. 1 in the first three polls of last season and the highest January rank since they were No. 2 in the last two January 2016 polls. The 1,407 poll points are the most in January since garnering 1,586 on Jan. 25, 2016.

It’s the highest Carolina ranking after December since the Tar Heels were No. 3 for the last three polls of the 2018–19 season. UNC, No. 3 in ESPN’s power rankings, No. 5 in the KenPom rankings and No. 7 in the NET rankings, is in the top 10 for a fourth consecutive week for the first time since doing it 13 weeks in a row from Jan. 28, 2019, to Dec. 2, 2019.

Carolina and UConn (15–2) were the only teams ranked in the top 10 in the previous poll that went 2–0 last week, and two teams (Houston and Oklahoma) lost twice.

It was only the second time in poll history that at least eight top-10 teams lost. The other time was the week of Feb. 17, 1992. Carolina was one of those upset victims that week, falling six spots to No. 10 after losing 86–73 at Virginia on Feb. 19, 1992, and 99–94 at home to N.C. State on Feb. 22, 1992, to start a four-game losing streak.

The Huskies, who beat Carolina in New York 87–76 on Dec. 5, moved up three spots and are the new top-ranked team for the first time since 2009, earning 39 of 63 first-place votes.

JB Ricks of Spectrum News was one of six voters with UNC No. 2, and eight had the Tar Heels No. 3. The lowest UNC appeared on any ballot was No. 6 by two voters — Chris Murray of Nevada Sports Net and David Jablonski of the Dayton Daily News. WTVD’s Kate Rogerson had UNC No. 4.

UNC faces a pair of unranked teams, hosting Louisville (6–10, 1–4) at 9 p.m. Wednesday (ACC Network) and visiting Boston College (11–6, 2–4) at 2:15 Saturday (The CW). The Eagles beat Notre Dame at home Monday night 63–59.

Numerous upsets last week helped Carolina move up in the poll.

— Purdue (15–2) fell one spot to No. 2 after losing 88–62 to Nebraska.
— Houston (14–2) dropped three spots to No. 5 after losing to Iowa State 57–53 and TCU 68–67.
— Kansas (14–2) stayed at No. 3 after losing 65–60 to Central Florida but beating Oklahoma 78–66.
— Tennessee (12–4), which lost 100–92 at UNC on Nov. 29, fell one spot to No. 6 after a 77–72 loss to Mississippi State.
— Kentucky (12–3), which beat Carolina 87–83 in Atlanta on Dec. 16, slipped two spots to No. 8 after a 97–92 overtime loss to Texas A&M.
— Caleb Love’s Arizona team (12–4) fell four spots to No. 12 after losing 73–70 to Washington State.
— Oklahoma (13–3), in addition to losing to the Jayhawks, lost 80–71 to TCU and fell six spots to No. 15.
— Illinois (12–4) dropped four spots to No. 14 after a 76–67 loss to Maryland.

Duke (13–3, 4–1) moved up four spots to No. 7 after beating Pittsburgh 75–53 and Georgia Tech 84–79. Clemson (12–3, 2–3), previously No. 21, fell out of the poll after losing 87–72 at Virginia Tech but beating Boston College 89–78.

Wake Forest (12–4, 4–1) got the 32nd-most poll points, Miami (12–4, 3–2) the 36th-most and N.C. State (12–4, 4–1) the 40th-most.

Gonzaga (11–5), previously No. 23, dropped out after a 77–76 loss at unranked Santa Clara, ending a run of 143 consecutive weeks in the poll. Houston now has the longest active streak at 75 weeks.

AP Top 25

Ranking	Team (1st-place votes)	Record	Poll points	Previoius
1	UConn (39)	15–2	1,542	4
2	Purdue (20)	15–2	1,506	1
3	Kansas (3)	14–2	1,426	2
4	North Carolina (1)	13–3	1,407	7
5	Houston	14–2	1,236	2
6	Tennessee	12–4	1,147	5
7	Duke	13–3	1,130	11
8	Kentucky	12–3	1,123	6
9	Baylor	14–2	1,055	14
10	Memphis	15–2	987	13
11	Wisconsin	13–3	948	15
12	Arizona	12–4	918	8
13	Auburn	14–2	905	16
14	Illinois	12–4	660	10
15	Oklahoma	13–3	633	9
16	Utah State	16–1	538	20
17	Marquette	11–5	516	11
18	Creighton	13–4	433	22
19	TCU	13–3	293	NR
20	BYU	13–3	270	18
21	Dayton	13–2	261	NR
22	Ole Miss	15–1	236	NR
23	FAU	13–4	221	24
24	Iowa State	13–3	195	NR
25	Texas Tech	14–2	191	NR

Others receiving votes: Dayton 126, Mississippi 125, James Madison 98, Cincinnati 79, Nevada 77, Texas Tech 62, Wake Forest 38, Grand Canyon 35, Seton Hall 34, South Carolina 29, Miami 27, St. John’s 18, Iowa St. 16, Colorado 8, N.C. State 7, Michigan St. 7, Alabama 7, Providence 6, Oregon 4, TCU 3, Northwestern 3, Princeton 2, Utah 2.

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