By R.L. Bynum
North Carolina moved up three spots to No. 4 in the AP Top 25 men’s basketball poll after the Tar Heels finished a season sweep of Duke for their sixth consecutive victory.
The Tar Heels (25–6, 17–3 ACC), the outright ACC regular-season champion, moved up thanks to their wins last week over Notre Dame on senior night (84–51) and the Blue Devils (84–79) and losses by teams ahead of UNC in last week’s poll.
All but three voters had UNC No. 4. Kate Rogerson of WTVD was one of the three who voted UNC the lowest at No. 5, along with Bret Bloomquist of the El Paso Times and Nick Alvarez of the Alabama Media Group.
It’s UNC’s highest rank since it was No. 3 for three consecutive weeks from Jan. 22 to Feb. 5. It marked the Tar Heels’ fifth week in the top five, the most since the 2015–16 Final Four team did it in nine polls.
Eleven consecutive weeks in the top 10 is Carolina’s longest streak in one season since the 2016 Final Four team was No. 9 or better — peaking at No. 2 — in the last 13 polls. The Tar Heels were in the top 10 for 13 straight weeks over two seasons from Jan. 28, 2019, to Dec. 2, 2019.
UNC’s 1,361 poll points are its most since garnering 1,441 when the Heels were No. 3 on Jan. 29.
No. 1-seed UNC opens play in the ACC tournament at Washington’s Capital One Arena on Thursday at noon with a quarterfinal game against the winner of Wednesday’s second-round game between No. 8-seed Virginia Tech (18–13, 10–10) and No. 9-seed Florida State (16–15, 10–10).
Losing last week and falling to 24–7 were:
— Tennessee, which fell one spot to No. 5 after an 85–81 home loss to Kentucky (which moved up six spots to No. 9).
— Caleb Love’s Arizona team, which dropped one spot to No. 6 after a 78–65 loss at unranked USC.
— Iowa State, which slipped one spot to No. 7 after a 65–58 loss to unranked Kansas State.
Duke (24–7, 15–5) fell two spots to No. 11.
Kentucky moving to No. 9 means that UNC has faced three top 10 non-conference teams, losing to the Wildcats and No. 2 UConn but beating No. 5 Tennessee.
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AP Top 25
| Ranking | Team (1st-place votes) | Record | Poll points | Previous |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Houston (52) | 28–3 | 1,540 | 1 |
| 2 | UConn (6) | 28–3 | 1,471 | 2 |
| 3 | Purdue (4) | 28–3 | 1,453 | 3 |
| 4 | North Carolina | 25-–6 | 1,361 | 7 |
| 5 | Tennessee | 24–7 | 1,291 | 4 |
| 6 | Arizona | 24–7 | 1,125 | 5 |
| 7 | Iowa State | 24–7 | 1,120 | 6 |
| 8 | Creighton | 23–8 | 1,094 | 10 |
| 9 | Kentucky | 23–8 | 1,018 | 15 |
| 10 | Marquette | 23–8 | 1,011 | 8 |
| 11 | Duke | 24–7 | 976 | 9 |
| 12 | Auburn | 24–7 | 914 | 13 |
| 13 | Illinois | 23–8 | 802 | 12 |
| 14 | Baylor | 22–9 | 786 | 11 |
| 15 | South Carolina | 25–6 | 567 | 17 |
| 16 | Kansas | 22–9 | 558 | 14 |
| 17 | Gonzaga | 24–6 | 511 | 19 |
| 18 | Utah State | 26–5 | 486 | 22 |
| 19 | Alabama | 21–10 | 432 | 16 |
| 20 | BYU | 22–9 | 381 | 20 |
| 21 | Saint Mary’s | 24–7 | 306 | 23 |
| 22 | Washington State | 23–8 | 223 | 18 |
| 23 | Nevada | 26–6 | 223 | NR |
| 24 | Dayton | 24–6 | 155 | 25 |
| 25 | Texas Tech | 22–9 | 149 | NR |
Others receiving votes: Boise St. 46, South Florida 27, San Diego St. 21, Drake 16, Texas 14, James Madison 14, FAU 11, Florida 8, Princeton 7, Nebraska 6, New Mexico 4, Colorado 2, McNeese St. 2, Colorado St. 1, Wake Forest 1, Indiana St 1.
ACC tournament
Spectrum Center | Charlotte
Tuesday’s first round
No. 15 Pittsburgh 64, No. 10 Stanford 63
No. 11 SMU 86, No. 14 Syracuse 69
No. 13 Wake Forest 95, No. 12 Virginia Tech 89, OT
Wednesday’s second round
No. 7 N.C. State 98, Pittsburgh 88
No. 6 (No. 24 ranked) Louisville 62, SMU 58
No. 8 Florida State 95, No. 9 California 89
No. 5 Clemson 71, Wake Forest 62
Thursday’s quarterfinals
No. 2 (No. 10 ranked) Virginia 81, N.C. State 74
No. 3 Miami 78, Louisville 73
No. 1 (No. 1 ranked) Duke 80, Florida State 79
Clemson 80, No. 4 (No. 19 ranked) North Carolina 79
Friday’s semifinals
Virginia 84, Miami 62
Duke 73, Clemson 61
Saturday’s championship
Duke 74, Virginia 70
| Team | League | Overall | NET* | WAB* |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. 1 Duke | 17–1 | 29–2 | 1 | 2 |
| No. 10 Virginia | 15–3 | 27–4 | 13 | 11 |
| Miami | 13–5 | 24–7 | 32 | 28 |
| No. 19 North Carolina | 12–6 | 24–7 | 23 | 19 |
| Clemson | 12–6 | 22–9 | 36 | 33 |
| No. 24 Louisville | 11–7 | 22–9 | 14 | 25 |
| N.C. State | 10–8 | 19–12 | 35 | 45 |
| Florida State | 10–8 | 17–14 | 69 | 74 |
| California | 9–9 | 21–10 | 65 | 49 |
| Stanford | 9–9 | 20–11 | 59 | 51 |
| SMU | 8–10 | 19–12 | 39 | 50 |
| Virginia Tech | 8–10 | 19–12 | 53 | 52 |
| Wake Forest | 7–11 | 16–15 | 64 | 81 |
| Syracuse | 6–12 | 15–16 | 83 | 92 |
| Pittsburgh | 5–13 | 12–19 | 109 | 146 |
| Notre Dame | 4–14 | 13–18 | 93 | 121 |
| Boston College | 4–14 | 11–20 | 159 | 217 |
| Georgia Tech | 2–16 | 11–20 | 167 | 210 |
* — Through Sunday games
Saturday’s results
No. 1 Duke 76, No. 19 North Carolina 61
Boston College 77, Notre Dame 69
Clemson 79, Georgia Tech 76
No. 24 Louisville 92, Miami 89
Florida State 92, SMU 78
Stanford 85, N.C. State 84
Wake Forest 80, California 73
Pittsburgh 71, Syracuse 69, OT
END OF REGULAR SEASON
ACC tournament
Spectrum Center | Charlotte
Tuesday through Saturday
| Date | Month/day | Scores | Opponent/event (current ranks) | Record |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| October | ||||
| 24 | Friday | L, 78–76 | vs. 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. 11 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. 9 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 | W, 71–68 | vs. No. 1 Duke | 19–4, 7–3 |
| 10 | Tuesday | L, 75–66 | at No. 25 Miami | 19–5, 7–4 |
| 14 | Saturday | W, 79–65 | vs. Pittsburgh | 20–5, 8–4 |
| 17 | Tuesday | L, 82–58 | at N.C. State | 20–6, 8–5 |
| 21 | Saturday | W, 77–64 | at Syracuse | 21–6, 9–5 |
| 23 | Monday | W, 77–74 | vs. Louisville | 22–6, 10–5 |
| 28 | Saturday | W, 89–82 | vs. Virginia Tech | 23–6, 11–5 |
| March | ||||
| 3 | Tuesday | W, 67–63 | vs. Clemson | 24–6, 12–5 |
| 7 | Saturday | L, 76–61 | at No. 1 Duke | 24–7, 12–6 |
| 10–14 | Tues.-Sat. | ACC tournament | Spectrum Center, Charlotte | |
| 12 | Thursday | L, 80–79 | Quarterfinals: vs. Clemson | 24–8 |
| NCAA tournament | ||||
| 19 | Thursday | L, 82–78, OT | First round: vs. VCU in Greenville, S.C. | 24–9 |
Photo via @UNC_Basketball
