By R.L. Bynum

North Carolina moved up one spot to No. 3 in the latest Top 25 men’s basketball poll, the Tar Heels’ highest January rank since the 2016 Final Four team was No. 2 in the last two polls that month.

This is the 36th season that Carolina has been ranked No. 3 or higher, with the Tar Heels winning their first seven ACC games for the first time since that 2015–16 team won its first eight. UNC has won six consecutive ACC games by double digits for the first time since the 1993 national championship team won 10 in a row.

The Tar Heels (15–3, 7–0 ACC) lead the league by two games over N.C. State (13–5), Wake Forest (13–5) and Florida State (11–7), who are each 5–2 in the league.

UNC, which got no first-place votes after getting one last week, hosts the Deacons at 7 p.m. Monday (ESPN).

Carolina is one of only four schools (and the only ACC school) ranked in both the men’s and women’s poll, with the second-best average rank (No. 3 men and No. 20 women) of 11.5, behind only UConn (No. 1 men and No. 9 women) at No. 5. Baylor (No. 15 men and No. 13 women) averages at No. 14 and Creighton (No. 17 men, No. 21 women) averages at 19.

UNC — 7th in KenPom, 8th in Team Rankings and 9th in Bart Torvik’s rankings — moved up after Kansas (15–3) lost 91–85 at West Virginia and fell four spots to No. 7.

Eight voters ranked the Tar Heels No. 2, including JB RIcks of Spectrum News and Rodd Boxley of the Fayetteville Observer, the latter in his second week as an AP voter, taking the place of Luke DeCock of The News & Observer. David Jablonski of the Dayton Daily News had UNC the lowest at No. 7. Kate Rogerson of WTVD voted UNC No. 3. Forty voters had the Tar Heels No. 3.

Duke (13–4, 4–2), the only other ranked ACC team, fell five spots to No. 12 after losing 80–76 at home to Pittsburgh (11–7, 2–5) on Saturday.

Carolina has played half of the top-six teams, losing to No. 1 UConn (17–2) and No. 6 Kentucky (14–3; up two spots) and beating No. 5 Tennessee (14–4; up one spot). The Tar Heels also have a win over No. 11 Oklahoma (15–3; up four spots).

Two other teams fell out of the top 10 after losing twice:
— Baylor (14–4) dropped from No. 9 to No. 15 after losing in overtime 68–64 to Kansas State and falling 75–73 against Texas.
— Memphis (15–4) slipped from No. 10 to No. 19 after losing to South Florida 74–73 and Tulane 81–79.

AP Top 25

Ranking	Team (1st-place votes_	Record	Poll points	Previous
1	UConn (44)	17–2	1,508	1
2	Purdue (17)	17–2	1,472	2
3	North Carolina	15–3	1,391	4
4	Houston	16–2	1,309	5
5	Tennessee	14–4	1,237	6
6	Kentucky	14–3	1,205	8
7	Kansas	15–3	1,157	3
8	Auburn	16–2	1,094	13
9	Arizona	14–4	1,060	12
10	Illinois	14–4	862	14
11	Oklahoma	15–3	849	15
12	Duke	13–4	832	7
13	Wisconsin	14–4	801	11
14	Marquette	13–5	747	17
15	Baylor	14–4	645	9
16	Dayton	15–2	546	21
17	Creighton	14–5	505	18
18	Utah State	17–2	381	16
19	Memphis	15–4	329	10
20	Texas Tech	15–3	304	25
21	BYU	14–4	294	20
22	Florida Atlantic	15–4	290	23
23	Iowa State	14–4	253	24
24	Colorado State	15–3	214	NR
25	New Mexico	16–3	177	NR

Others receiving votes: Seton Hall 84, San Diego State 64, Kansas State 39, Alabama 30, TCU 27, Ole Miss 25, Princeton 21, Utah 20, Texas 16, Boise State 9, Florida 6, Gonzaga 6, Grand Canyon 5, Michigan State 3, Saint Mary’s (CA) 2, N.C. State 1, San Francisco 1, Indiana State 1, Samford 1, McNeese State 1, Colorado 1.

UNC season statistics

Team	League	Overall	NET*
No. 3 Duke	0–0	11–1	2
California	0–0	11–1	63
No. 12 North Carolina	0–0	11–1	15
No. 23 Virginia	0–0	10–1	21
Virginia Tech	0–0	11–2	55
No. 11 Louisville	0–0	10–2	17
Miami	0–0	10–2	33
SMU	0–0	9–2	43
Stanford	0–0	9–2	97
Clemson	0–0	9–3	31
Notre Dame	0–0	9–3	64
Wake Forest	0–0	9–3	59
Georgia Tech	0–0	8–4	188
N.C. State	0–0	8–4	34
Syracuse	0–0	8–4	95
Florida State	0–0	6–6	149
Pittsburgh	0–0	6–6	152
Boston College	0–0	5–6	185

* — Through Thursday games
Friday’s results
Florida State 96, Mississippi Valley State 49
California 97, Morgan State 50
Saturday’s games
No. 12 North Carolina 71, Ohio State 70
No. 11 Louisville 94, Montana 54
Georgia Tech 95, Lafayette 81
Virginia Tech 82, Elon 81, OT
Syracuse 91, Northeastern 83
No. 23 Virginia 80, Maryland 72
No. 16 Texas Tech 82, No. 3 Duke 81
Stanford 77, Colorado 68
Sunday’s games
Penn State vs. Pittsburgh in Hershey, Pa., noon, Big Ten Network
Ole Miss vs. N.C. State in Greensboro, 1 p.m., ESPN
No. 13 Vanderbilt at Wake Forest, 1 p.m., The CW
Purdue Ft. Wayne at Notre Dame, 2 p.m., ACCN Extra
Central Arkansas at SMU, 2 p.m., ACCN Extra
Cincinnati vs. Clemson in Greenville, S.C., 3 p.m., ESPN
North Florida at Miami, 4 p.m., ACC Network
Columbia at California, 5 p.m., ACCN Extra
Monday’s games
American at Virginia, 6 p.m., ACCN Extra
Jacksonville at Florida State, 7 p.m., ACCN Extra
Stonehill at Syracuse, 7 p.m., ACCN Extra
Fairleigh Dickinson at Boston College, 7 p.m., ACCN Extra
East Carolina at No. 12 North Carolina, 8 p.m., ACC Network

Date	Month/day	Time	Opponent/event (current ranks)	TV/ record
	October
24	Friday	L, 78–76	vs. No. 10 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. 17 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. 9 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	8 p.m.	vs. East Carolina	ACCN
30	Tuesday	7 p.m.	vs. Florida State	ESPN2
	January
3	Saturday	2:15	at SMU	The CW
10	Saturday	6 p.m.	vs. Wake Forest	ACCN
14	Wednesday	9 p.m.	at Stanford	ACCN
17	Saturday	4 p.m.	at California	ACCN
21	Wednesday	7 p.m.	vs. Notre Dame	ESPN2
24	Saturday	2 or 2:30	at No. 23 Virginia	ESPN or ESPNU
31	Saturday	2 p.m.	at Georgia Tech	ACCN
	February
2	Monday	7 p.m.	vs. Syracuse	ESPN
7	Saturday	6:30	vs. No. 3 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. 11 Louisville	ESPN
28	Saturday	6:30 or 8:30	vs. Virginia Tech	ESPN or ESPN2
	March
3	Tuesday	7 p.m.	vs. Clemson	ESPN or ESPN2
7	Saturday	6:30	at No. 3 Duke	ESPN
10–14	Tues.-Sat.	ACC tournament	Spectrum Center, Charlotte