By R.L. Bynum

Once a team rises to No. 3 in the AP Top 25 men’s basketball poll, all it can do is win to maintain that spot and potentially move up if the top two teams lose.

North Carolina has taken care of the winning part, but No. 1 UConn and No. 2 Purdue did as well to keep the Tar Heels at No. 3.

While the ACC-leading Tar Heels (17–3, 9–0 ACC) rolled by Wake Forest 85–64 at home Monday and won Saturday 74–68 at Florida State, the Huskies (18–2) beat Xavier 99–56 in their only game and the Boilermakers earned wins over Michigan (99–67) and Rutgers (68–60).

Eight voters had UNC No. 2, including two of the three North Carolina-based voters — Spectrum News’ JB Ricks and the Fayetteville Observer‘s Rodd Baxley — as well as Brice Cherry of the Waco Tribune-Herald, Calum McAndrew of the Columbia Daily Tribune in Missouri, Dave Reardon of the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, Jon Wilner of the San Jose Mercury News, Lauren Walsh of WSMV-TV in Nashville, Tenn., and Pat Rooney of the Boulder Daily Camera.

Kate Rogerson of WTVD was one of 39 voters with the Tar Heels No. 3, and 16 voted UNC the lowest at No. 4.

Five consecutive weeks in the top 10 is the longest since a 13-week streak from Jan. 28, 2019, to Dec. 2, 2019. It’s the longest streak in one season since the 2018–19 team was in the top 10 for the final eight polls, ranked No. 3 in the final three.

UNC is in the top five for three consecutive weeks for the first time since the Tar Heels were No. 1 for the first three polls last season. It’s the first time they’ve done it after December since the 2018–19 team did it for the final four polls.

Ahead of Saturday’s 6:30 meeting (ESPN) at the Smith Center, Duke (15–4, 6–2) moved up five spots to No. 7 after beating Louisville 83–69 and slipping past Clemson 72–71 at home. UNC first visits Georgia Tech (9–11, 2–7) at 7 p.m. Tuesday (ESPN).

UNC’s poll points total went from 1,391 last week to a season-high 1,441 this week with no first-place votes. The Tar Heels’ most previous poll points were 1,407 on Jan. 15 when Wilner voted them No. 1.

Five consecutive weeks in the top 10 is the longest since a 13-week streak from Jan. 28, 2019, to Dec. 2, 2020. It’s the longest streak in one season since the 2018–19 team was in the top 10 for the final eight polls, ranked No. 3 in the final three.

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This is the 36th season that Carolina has been ranked at least No. 3.

A win over Georgia Tech will give UNC its first undefeated January since the 2015–16 Final Four team went 7–0 (with games at Florida State, Syracuse and Virginia Tech and home games against Georgia Tech, N.C. State, Wake Forest and Boston College) before losing its first two February games (at Louisville and at Notre Dame). This season’s Tar Heels are 8–0 in January with only three home games.

While none of the top five teams in last week’s poll lost, Nos. 6 through 11 all lost:
— Kansas (16–4) fell one spot to No. 8 after a 79–75 loss to Iowa State.
— Auburn (16–4) plummeted eight spots to No. 16 after losing 79–75 to Alabama and 64–58 to Mississippi State.
— Caleb Love’s Arizona team (15–5) dropped two spots to No. 11 after splitting a pair of road games, losing 83–80 to Oregon State before Love scored a career-high 36 points in the Wildcats’ 87–78 win over Oregon.
— Illinois (15–5) fell four spots to No. 14 after losing 96–91 in overtime to Northwestern.
— Oklahoma (15–5), which UNC beat 81–69 in Charlotte on Dec. 20, dropped 12 spots to No. 23 after losing 75–60 to Texas and 85–84 to Kerwin Walton’s Texas Tech team. The Red Raiders (16–3) moved up five spots to No. 15.

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AP Top 25

Ranking	Team (1st-place votes)	Record	Poll points	Previous
1	UConn (48)	18–2	1,559	1
2	Purdue (14)	19–2	1,517	2
3	North Carolina	17–3	1,441	3
4	Houston (1)	18–2	1,396	4
5	Tennessee	15–4	1,328	5
6	Wisconsin	16–4	1,135	13
7	Duke	15–4	1,066	12
8	Kansas	16–4	1,051	7
9	Marquette	15–5	1,025	14
10	Kentucky	15–4	1,018	6
11	Arizona	15–5	915	9
12	Iowa State	16–4	869	23
13	Creighton	16–5	741	17
14	Illinois	15–5	717	10
15	Texas Tech	16–3	713	20
16	Auburn	16–4	631	8
17	Utah State	18–2	596	18
18	Baylor	14–5	404	15
19	New Mexico	18–3	387	25
20	Florida Atlantic	17–4	321	22
21	Dayton	16–3	294	16
22	BYU	15–5	283	21
23	Oklahoma	15–5	247	11
24	Alabama	14-–6	240	NR
25	TCU	15–5	215	NR

Others receiving votes: South Carolina 108, San Diego St. 95, Memphis 48, Northwestern 32, Mississippi 30, Texas 10, Colorado St. 10, Saint Mary’s 9, Indiana St 5, Boise St. 5, Richmond 4, Gonzaga 4, Virginia 3, McNeese St. 2, Appalachian St 1.

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Team	League	Overall	NET*
No. 4 Duke	9–0	20–1	2
No. 20 Clemson	8–1	18–4	31
No. 18 Virginia	7–2	18–3	18
N.C. State	7–2	16–6	26
No. 14 North Carolina	6–3	18–4	25
Miami	6–3	17–5	39
No. 24 Louisville	5–4	15–6	17
Virginia Tech	5–5	16–7	56
SMU	4–4	15–6	34
California	4–5	16–6	51
Syracuse	4–6	13–10	78
Stanford	3–6	14–8	77
Florida State	3–6	10–12	102
Boston College	2–6	9–12	152
Georgia Tech	2–7	11–11	143
Notre Dame	2–7	11–11	85
Wake Forest	2–7	11–11	70
Pittsburgh	2–7	9–13	114

* — Through Saturday games
Saturday’s games
No. 14 North Carolina 91, Georgia Tech 75
No. 4 Duke 72, Virginia Tech 58
N.C. State 96, Wake Forest 78
No. 20 Clemson 63, Pittsburgh 52
No. 18 Virginia 73, Boston College 66
No. 24 Louisville 88, SMU 74
California 86, Miami 81
Florida State 88, Stanford 80
Syracuse 86, Notre Dame 72
Monday’s game
No. 14 North Carolina 87, Syracuse 77
Tuesday’s games
Boston College at No. 4 Duke, 7 p.m., ACC Network
Pittsburgh at No. 18 Virginia, 9 p.m., ACC Network
N.C. State at SMU, 9 p.m, ESPN2
Wednesday’s games
Notre Dame at No. 24 Louisville, 7 p.m., ESPN2
Georgia Tech at California, 8 p.m., ACC Network
No. 20 Clemson at Stanford, 10 p.m., ACC Network
Saturday’s games
Virginia Tech at N.C. State, noon, The CW
Syracuse at No. 18 Virginia, noon, ESPN
No. 24 Louisville at Wake Forest, noon, ACC Network
Miami at Boston College, 2 p.m., ACC Network
SMU at Pittsburgh, 2 p.m., The CW
Florida State at Notre Dame, 4 p.m., The CW
No. 4 Duke at No. 14 North Carolina, 6:30, ESPN
No. 20 Clemson at California, 8 p.m., ACC Network
Georgia Tech at Stanford, 8 p.m., ESPNU

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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