By R.L. Bynum

North Carolina fell four spots to No. 7 in the AP Top 25 men’s basketball poll as one of four teams in the top 10 of last week’s poll to lose.

The league-leading Tar Heels (19–5, 11–2 ACC) rebounded from Tuesday’s 80–76 home loss to Clemson with a 75–72 victory Saturday at Miami.

Carolina’s poll points total fell from 1,352 to 1,216, the fewest since garnering 1,213 when the Tar Heels were No. 7 on Jan. 8.

Seven consecutive weeks in the top 10 is the longest for UNC since doing it 13 straight weeks from Jan. 28, 2019, to Dec. 2, 2019. It’s the longest such streak in one season since UNC was in the top 10 for the final eight 2019 polls.

Seven voters ranked UNC the highest at No. 4 and eight voters voted the Tar Heels the lowest at No. 8. Kate Rogerson of WTVD voted UNC No. 5, Rodd Baxley of the Faytteville Observer had Carolina No. 6 and JB Ricks of Spectrum News voted UNC No. 7.

In other metrics, UNC is No. 4 in KPI, No. 8 in KenPom, No. 10 in the NET rankings, No. 10 in BPI and No. 12 in Bart Torvik’s T-Rank.

After easy wins over Notre Dame (71–53) and Boston College (80–65), Duke (18–5, 9–3) remained at No. 9.

Virginia (19–5, 10–3) gave the ACC a third ranked team, debuting in the poll at No. 21.

Kansas (19–5) fell two spots to No. 6 after losing 75–70 to Kansas State in overtime but beating Baylor 64–61. The Bears (17–6), who beat Kerwin Walton’s Texas Tech team 79–73, move dup one spot to No. 12. The Red Raiders (17–6), previously No. 23, fell out of the poll.

Tennessee (17–6) dropped two spots after am 85–69 loss at Texas A&M.

Illinois (17–6), which lost to Michigan State 88–80 in its only game last week, fell four spots to No. 14.

Marquette (18–8) leapfrogged Kansas, UNC and Tennessee, going up three spots to No. 4 after beating St. John’s 86–75.

Caleb Love’s Arizona team (19–5) jumped three spots to No. 5 after winning at Utah 105–99 in triple overtime and at Colorado 99–79.

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AP Top 25

Ranking	Team (1st-place votes)	Record	Poll points	Previous
1	UConn (45)	22–2	1,509	1
2	Purdue (16)	22–2	1,480	2
3	Houston	21–3	1,386	5
4	Marquette	18–5	1,273	7
5	Arizona	19–5	1,241	8
6	Kansas	19–5	1,227	4
7	North Carolina	19–5	1,216	3
8	Tennessee	17–6	1,033	6
9	Duke	18–5	1,025	9
10	Iowa State	18–5	969	14
11	South Carolina	21–3	921	15
12	Baylor	17–6	811	13
13	Auburn	19–5	799	12
14	Illinois	17–6	728	10
15	Alabama	17–7	618	16
16	Dayton	19–4	425	18
17	Creighton	17–7	410	19
18	Saint Mary’s	20–6	296	NR
19	BYU	17–6	294	21
20	Wisconsin	16–8	249	11
21	Virginia	19–5	218	NR
22	Kentucky	16–7	217	17
23	Indiana State	22–3	209	NR
24	Florida Atlantic	19–5	206	20
25	Oklahoma	18–6	178	NR

Others receiving votes: Utah St. 160, Colorado St. 145, Texas Tech 111, San Diego St. 84, Washington St 82, Clemson 57, Nevada 57, Gonzaga 50, New Mexico 27, Florida 19, Michigan St. 17, Texas A&M 16, Grand Canyon 13, Mississippi 12, TCU 10, Texas 9, Memphis 8, South Florida 7, Northwestern 2, UNC Wilmington 1.

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UNC season statistics

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

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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