By R.L. Bynum

North Carolina jumped seven spots to No. 18 in the latest AP Top 25 men’s college basketball poll released on Monday.

The jump for UNC (2–0) comes after rolling to a 94–54 opening-game win Monday over Central Arkansas, then getting a signature 87–74 win Friday over Kansas (1–1), which fell six spots to No. 25. Carolina moved up five spots to No. 20 in the USA Today Coaches Poll.

The Tar Heels return to the Smith Center for two games this week, both airing on ACC Network: at 7 p.m. Tuesday against Radford (2–0) and at 9 p.m. Friday against N.C. Central (0–3). The Eagles host Bluefield State at 7 p.m. Wednesday (ESPN+).

UNC will be without senior center Seth Trimble, who broke a bone in his left forearm during a team workout Sunday and is scheduled to have surgery this week.

Carolina was only ranked in the first five polls last season, peaking at No. 9 in the preseason poll and last ranked No. 20 on Dec. 2.

UNC is No. 21 on BartTorvick.com, and No. 23 on EvanMiya.com and KenPom.com. The first NET rankings don’t come out until Dec. 1

Three other teams in the preseason poll lost during the first week of the regular season:
— Reigning national champion Florida (1–1) fell seven spots to No. 10 after a 93–87 loss to Arizona, which jumped eight spots to No. 5, the biggest jump in the poll.
— Ian Jackson’s St. John’s team (1–1) fell eight spots to No. 13, the biggest drop in the poll, after a 103–96 loss to Alabama, which moved up seven spots to No. 8.
— Arkansas (1–1) slipped seven spots to No. 21 after a 69–66 loss to Michigan State, which jumped five spots to No. 17.

Duke (2–0), which got two first-place votes, moved up two spots to No. 4 after beating Texas 76–60 and Western Carolina 95–54.

Louisville (2–0) slipped one spot to No. 12 after beating South Carolina State 104–95 and Jackson State 106–70.

Just as with the preseason poll, N.C. State received the 26th-most poll points to miss the rankings, with Kansas beating out the Wolfpack by a 130–87 poll points margin.

Ranking UNC the highest at No. 4 is David Jabonski of the Dayton Daily News in Ohio, with Shane Mettlen of the Daily News-Record in Harrisonburg, Va., ranking the Heels the lowest at No. 25.

Kate Rogerson of WTVD was one of 11 voters who had Carolina No. 18, and Chris Lea of WRAL voted the Heels No. 21. The most voters (14) had UNC No. 20.

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AP Top 25

Rank	School (1st-place votes)	Poll points	Previous
1	Houston (18)	1,462	2
2	Purdue (36)	1,459	1
3	UConn (3)	1,361	4
4	Duke (2)	1,223	6
5	Arizona	1,204	13
6	Michigan (1)	1,121	7
7	BYU	1,111	8
8	Alabama	1,087	15
9	Kentucky	1,072	9
10	Florida	990	3
11	Texas Tech	969	10
12	Louisville	856	11
13	St. John’s	812	5
14	Illinois	610	17
15	UCLA	609	12
16	Iowa State	605	16
17	Michigan State	557	22
18	North Carolina	494	25
19	Gonzaga	466	21
20	Tennessee	456	18
21	Arkansas	324	14
22	Auburn	207	20
23	Creighton	153	23
24	Wisconsin	140	24
25	Kansas	130	19

Others receiving votes: N.C. State 87, San Diego St. 67, Indiana 45, Oregon 43, Vanderbilt 37, Ohio St. 17, Baylor 14, Southern Cal 12, Kansas St 5, Missouri 4, Mississippi 4, Mississippi St. 3, Georgia 2, Stanford 1, Oklahoma St. 1, Texas 1, Georgetown 1, Utah St. 1, Iowa 1, Virginia Tech 1.

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Date	Month/day	Time	Opponent/event (current ranks)	TV/ record
	October
24	Friday	L, 78–76	vs. No. 22 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. 9 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 No. 25 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. 15 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. 4 Duke	19–4, 7–3
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 courtesy of UNC Athletics