UNC makes jump in AP Top 25 women’s poll after two impressive wins

R.L. Bynum

By R.L. Bynum

After two decisive victories and extending its win streak to six, North Carolina jumped two spots in the AP Top 25 women’s basketball poll to No. 14.

That matches the first regular-season poll on Nov. 11 as the Tar Heels’ best season ranking. Carolina (9–1) is 16th in the NET rankings and 18th in the Massey Ratings.

UNC walloped Kentucky 72–53 to give first-year Coach Kenny Brooks his first loss with the Wildcats (7–1), who swapped spots with UNC and fell two positions to No. 16. The Tar Heels rolled to a 72–46 victory Sunday over Coppin State.

The Tar Heels have held five of their last six opponents to 46 points or fewer and are second in the country in scoring defense at 49.1 points per game. UNC has held four of its last five opponents to under 30% shooting. UNC is 11th in the country (and first in the ACC) in field-goal percentage defense (32.9%).

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After the Tar Heels host UNCG at 7 p.m. Wednesday (ESPN3/ACCNX), they open the ACC season at Carmichael Arena at 2 p.m. Sunday against unbeaten Georgia Tech (9–0), which debuted in the poll at No. 25.

The Jackets, off to their best start since the 1977–78 season, returned to the poll for the first time since Feb. 28, 2022.

Other ACC teams in the poll are:

— Notre Dame (7–2, 1–0 ACC), which jumped two spots to No. 8 after beating Texas 80–70 in overtime and routing Syracuse 93–62 in its ACC opener. The Longhorns (8–1) fell two spots to No. 6. The Irish hosts No. 2 UConn on Thursday.
— Duke (9–2, 1–0), which slid one spot to No. 9 after losing to No. 3 South Carolina 81–70 but thumping Virginia Tech 81–59 in its ACC opener.
— N.C. State (6–3), which returned to the poll at No. 23 after beating Old Dominion 86–55.

Louisville (5–3) fell out of the poll after losing to No. 11 Oklahoma 78–72 and No. 2 UConn 85–52.

Tennesee returned to the poll at No. 19, ending a school-record stretch of being left off of 22 consecutive polls.

AP Top 25

RankTeam (1st-place
votes)		RecordPoll
points		Previous
1UCLA (24)9–07911
2UConn (8)8–07692
3South Carolina9–17423
4LSU11–06525
5Southern Cal8–16286
6Texas8–16214
7Maryland10–06087
8Notre Dame7–260710
9Duke9–25338
10Oklahoma8–151711
11Ohio State8–045912
12TCU9–14479
13Kansas State10–142713
14North Carolina9–141916
15West Virginia9–137615
16Kentucky7–129614
17Michigan State9–019324
18Iowa State8–219020
19Tennessee7–017919
20Michigan8–116623
21Iowa8–112517
22Ole Miss6–310418
22N.C. State6–3104NR
24Nebraska8–19925
25Georgia Tech9–092NR

OTHERS RECEIVING VOTES: Alabama 73, Illinois 69, California 23, Stanford 18, Vanderbilt 15, Utah 14, Louisville 9, Richmond 8, South Dakota St. 8, Creighton 5, Oklahoma St. 4, Harvard 3, Florida St. 3, Texas Tech 3 and Baylor 1.

TeamLeagueOverallNET*
No. 11 Duke13–018–69
No. 9 Louisville12–122–47
N.C. State10–317–724
No. 21 North Carolina9–320–519
Syracuse9–419–537
Virginia9–417–736
Virginia Tech8–518–744
Clemson8–517–839
Notre Dame7–615–930
California6–615–1051
Georgia Tech6–711–1490
Stanford5–716–942
Miami4–912–1255
Florida State3–98–16104
Wake Forest3–1013–12131
SMU1–118–16191
Pittsburgh1–118–17256
Boston College0–134–22252

* — Through Sunday games
Sunday’s results
No. 21 North Carolina 84, Wake Forest 56
No. 9 Louisville 84, Syracuse 65
N.C. State 82, Virginia Tech 62
California 95, Pittsburgh 80
No. 11 Duke 95, SMU 36
Virginia 81, Notre Dame 70
Florida State 87, Miami 70
Georgia Tech 74, Stanford 52
Clemson 83, Boston College 59
Thursday’s games
SMU at No. 21 North Carolina, 6 p.m., ACC Network
Syracuse at Pittsburgh, 6 p.m., ACCN Extra
Boston College at Florida State, 6 p.m., ACCN Extra
Wake Forest at No. 9 Louisville, 7 p.m., ACCN Extra
Georgia Tech at Clemson, 8 p.m., ACC Network
Virginia at California, 10 p.m., ACCN Extra
Virginia Tech at Stanford, 10 p.m., ACCN Extra
Sunday’s games
Pittsburgh at SMU, noon, ACC Network
Miami at Boston College, noon, ACCN Extra
No. 21 North Carolina at No. 11 Duke, 1 p.m., ABC
Virginia at Stanford, 2 p.m., The CW
Clemson at Syracuse, 2 p.m., ACCN Extra
N.C. State at Notre Dame, 4 p.m., ESPN
Virginia Tech at California, 5 p.m., ACCN Extra
Florida State at No. 6 Louisville, 6 p.m., ACC Network

DateDay/monthTimeOpponent/event
(current ranks)		TV/
record
October
30ThursdayL, 91–82No. 3 South Carolina
in Atlanta		Exhib.
November
3MondayW, 90–42vs. N.C. Central1–0
6ThursdayW, 71–37vs. Elon2–0
WBCA Challenge
Las Vegas
13ThursdayL, 78–60vs. No. 2 UCLA2–1
15SaturdayW, 82–68vs. Fairfield3–1
———————————
20ThursdayW, 85–50at N.C. A&T4–1
23SundayW, 94–48vs. UNCG5–1
Cancun Challenge
Cancun, Mexico
27ThursdayW, 83–48vs. South Dakota St.6–1
28FridayW, 85–73vs. Kansas State7–1
29SaturdayW, 80–63vs. Columbia8–1
DecemberACC/SEC
Women’s Challenge
4ThursdayW, 79–64at No. 4 Texas8–2
———————————
7SundayW, 82–40vs. Boston Univ.9–2
14SundayL, 76–66, OTvs. No. 9 Louisville9–3,
0–1 ACC
17WednesdayW, 84–34vs. UNCW10–3
21SundayW, 93–74vs. Charleston Southern11–3
29MondayW, 90–38at Boston College12–3,
1–1 ACC
January
1ThursdayW, 71–55vs. California13–3, 2–1
4SundayL, 77–71, OTvs. Stanford13–4, 2–2
11SundayL, 73–50at Notre Dame13–5, 2–3
15ThursdayW, 73–62vs. Miami14–5, 3–3
18SundayW, 82–55at Florida State15–5, 4–3
22ThursdayW, 54–46at Georgia Tech16–5, 5–3
25SundayW, 77–71, OTvs. Syracuse17–5, 6–3
February
2MondayW, 61–59at N.C. State18–5, 7–3
5ThursdayW, 53–44vs. Clemson19–5, 8–3
8SundayW, 84–56vs. Wake Forest20–5, 9–3
12Thursday6 p.m.vs. SMUACCN
15Sunday1 p.m.at No. 11 DukeABC
19Thursday6 p.m.at Virginia TechACCN
22SundayNoonvs. PittsburghACCN
26Thursday7 p.m.at VirginiaACCN
Extra
March
1SundayNoonvs. No. 11 DukeESPN
ACC tournament
4–8Wed.-SunGas South Arena,
Duluth, Ga.
NCAA tournament
20–24Fri.-Mon.First, second rounds
27–30Fri.-Mon.Regionals
Fort Worth, Texas,
and Sacramento, Calif.
April
3, 5Fri., SunFinal Four
Phoenix

Photo courtesy of UNC Athletics

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Published by R.L. Bynum

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