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.
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.
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.
ACC standings
Team | League | Overall |
---|---|---|
No. 4 North Carolina | 17–3 | 25–6 |
No. 11 Duke | 15–5 | 24–7 |
Virginia | 13–7 | 22–9 |
Pittsburgh | 12–8 | 21–10 |
Clemson | 11–9 | 21–10 |
Syracuse | 11–9 | 20–11 |
Wake Forest | 11–9 | 19–12 |
Virginia Tech | 10–10 | 18–13 |
Florida State | 10–10 | 16–15 |
N.C. State | 9–11 | 17–13 |
Boston College | 8–12 | 17–14 |
Georgia Tech | 7–12 | 14–17 |
Notre Dame | 7–13 | 12–19 |
Miami | 6–14 | 15–16 |
Louisville | 3–17 | 8–22 |
Saturday’s games
No. 4 North Carolina 84, No. 11 Duke 79
Virginia Tech 82, Notre Dame 76
Florida State 83, Miami 75
Boston College 67, Louisville 61
Wake Forest 81, Clemson 76
Pittsburgh 81, N.C. State 73
Virginia 72, Georgia Tech 57
ACC tournament
March 12–16, Capitol One Arena, Washington
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 |
Photo via @UNC_Basketball