By R.L. Bynum
North Carolina moved up one spot to No. 11 in the the latest AP Top 25 women’s basketball poll and is 13th in the first NET ranking after three impressive victories on successive days to win the Cancun Challenge last week. But it faces a considerable challenge ahead this week.
The Tar Heels (8–1) beat South Dakota State 83–48, Kansas State 84–73 and Columbia 80–63 in Playa del Carmen, Mexico.
Tournament MVP Indya Nivar is the ACC Player of the Week after producing the second triple-double in program history, averaging 12.7 points, 6.7 rebounds, 6.7 steals and 6.0 assists while shooting 53.6% in three Cancun games.
Carolina, which returned the ranking it held in the first two polls of the season, has been No. 14 or higher for 13 consecutive weeks, the longest such stretch since doing so for 16 straight weeks from Feb. 17, 2014, to Jan. 19, 2015.
UNC leapfrogged undefeated Iowa (8–0), which fell one spot to No. 12.
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The Tar Heels visit Texas (8–0), which moved up two spots to No. 2, at 7 p.m. Thursday (ESPN2) in the ACC/SEC Women’s Challenge.
The Longhorns earned two two huge victories last week, with a 76–65 victory over UCLA (down one spot to No. 4), which gave UNC its only loss (78–60 in Las Vegas on Nov. 13), and a 66–64 victory over South Carolina (down one spot to No. 3), which beat the Tar Heels in a preseason exhibition game (91–82 in Atlanta on Oct. 30).
Those were the only losses by teams that were ahead of UNC in last week’s poll.
Carolina remains the highest-ranked among the three ACC teams in the poll, with No. 18 Notre Dame (5–1) and No. 22 Louisville (7–2) both moving up one spot.
N.C. State (5–3) was No. 25 last week but fell out of the poll with the 26th-most poll points.
UNC also has the best NET ranking among ACC teams at 13th, followed by Louisville (14th), Stanford (23rd), Notre Dame (32nd), Virginia (34th), N.C. State (39th), Syracuse (41st), Clemson (44th), Duke (49th), Miami (50th), Virginia Tech (55th), California (72nd), Florida State (87th), Wake Forest (95th), Georgia Tech (103rd), Boston College (172nd), SMU (204th) and Pittsburgh (241st).
AP Top 25
| Rank | School (1st-place votes) | Record | Poll points | Previous |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | UConn (22) | 7–0 | 790 | 1 |
| 2 | Texas (10) | 8–0 | 777 | 4 |
| 3 | South Carolina | 7–1 | 719 | 2 |
| 4 | UCLA | 8–1 | 713 | 3 |
| 5 | LSU | 8–0 | 652 | 5 |
| 6 | Michigan | 6–1 | 629 | 6 |
| 7 | Maryland | 9–0 | 599 | 7 |
| 8 | TCU | 8–0 | 561 | 8 |
| 9 | Oklahoma | 7–1 | 546 | 9 |
| 10 | Iowa State | 9–0 | 502 | 10 |
| 11 | North Carolina | 8–1 | 463 | 12 |
| 12 | Iowa | 8–0 | 452 | 11 |
| 13 | Ole Miss | 7–0 | 396 | 13 |
| 14 | Baylor | 7–1 | 355 | 15 |
| 15 | Vanderbilt | 8–0 | 335 | 17 |
| 16 | USC | 5–2 | 288 | 18 |
| 17 | Kentucky | 8–1 | 284 | 16 |
| 18 | Notre Dame | 5–1 | 276 | 19 |
| 19 | Tennessee | 5–2 | 245 | 14 |
| 20 | Michigan State | 8–0 | 233 | 20 |
| 21 | Washington | 7–0 | 171 | 22 |
| 22 | Louisville | 7–2 | 105 | 23 |
| 23 | Ohio State | 6–1 | 84 | 23 |
| 24 | Oklahoma State | 8–1 | 83 | 24 |
| 25 | West Virginia | 6–1 | 64 | 21 |
Others receiving votes: N.C. State 26, Nebraska 19, Richmond 7, Texas Tech 7, Princeton 6, Oregon 6, Georgia 3, Stanford 2, Fairfield 1, Alabama 1.
| Team | League | Overall | NET* | WAB* |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. 13 Duke | 16–2 | 21–8 | 10 | 13 |
| No. 12 Louisville | 15–3 | 25–6 | 13 | 10 |
| No. 16 North Carolina | 14–4 | 25–6 | 19 | 14 |
| N.C. State | 13–5 | 20–9 | 23 | 27 |
| Syracuse | 12–6 | 22–7 | 40 | 31 |
| Virginia Tech | 12–6 | 22–8 | 41 | 34 |
| Notre Dame | 12–6 | 20–9 | 24 | 23 |
| Clemson | 11–7 | 20–10 | 44 | 40 |
| Virginia | 11–7 | 19–10 | 36 | 49 |
| California | 9–9 | 18–13 | 53 | 60 |
| Stanford | 8–10 | 19–12 | 42 | 56 |
| Miami | 8–10 | 16–13 | 58 | 65 |
| Georgia Tech | 7–10 | 12–17 | 76 | 109 |
| Florida State | 5–13 | 10–20 | 107 | 138 |
| Wake Forest | 4–14 | 14–16 | 121 | 134 |
| SMU | 2–16 | 9–21 | 220 | 209 |
| Pittsburgh | 1–17 | 8–23 | 262 | 238 |
| Boston College | 1–17 | 5–26 | 247 | 283 |
* — Through Sunday games
Thursday’s results
No. 16 North Carolina 82, Virginia 70
No. 12 Louisville 69, Georgia Tech 50
Notre Dame 72, Syracuse 62
Miami 79, Pittsburgh 58
N.C. State 65, Wake Forest 58
No. 13 Duke 80, Florida State 52
Stanford 87, SMU 57
Clemson 70, California 63
Sunday’s results
No. 16 North Carolina 74, No. 13 Duke 69
Virginia Tech 83, Virginia 82
Georgia Tech 79, Miami 49
N.C. State 93, Pittsburgh 43
Stanford 85, Clemson 50
Syracuse 90, Boston College 65
Notre Dame 65, No. 12 Louisville 62
Florida State 77, Wake Forest 74, OT
California 78, SMU 34
End of regular season
ACC tournament
Gas South Arena
Duluth, Ga.
March 4–8
| Date | Day/month | Scores | Opponent/event (current ranks) | Record |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| October | ||||
| 30 | Thursday | L, 91–82 | No. 4 South Carolina in Atlanta | Exhib. |
| November | ||||
| 3 | Monday | W, 90–42 | vs. N.C. Central | 1–0 |
| 6 | Thursday | W, 71–37 | vs. Elon | 2–0 |
| WBCA Challenge Las Vegas | ||||
| 13 | Thursday | L, 78–60 | vs. No. 2 UCLA | 2–1 |
| 15 | Saturday | W, 82–68 | vs. Fairfield | 3–1 |
| ——————————— | ||||
| 20 | Thursday | W, 85–50 | at N.C. A&T | 4–1 |
| 23 | Sunday | W, 94–48 | vs. UNCG | 5–1 |
| Cancun Challenge Cancun, Mexico | ||||
| 27 | Thursday | W, 83–48 | vs. South Dakota St. | 6–1 |
| 28 | Friday | W, 85–73 | vs. Kansas State | 7–1 |
| 29 | Saturday | W, 80–63 | vs. Columbia | 8–1 |
| December | ACC/SEC Women’s Challenge | |||
| 4 | Thursday | W, 79–64 | at No. 3 Texas | 8–2 |
| ——————————— | ||||
| 7 | Sunday | W, 82–40 | vs. Boston Univ. | 9–2 |
| 14 | Sunday | L, 76–66, OT | vs. No. 13 Louisville | 9–3, 0–1 ACC |
| 17 | Wednesday | W, 84–34 | vs. UNCW | 10–3 |
| 21 | Sunday | W, 93–74 | vs. Charleston Southern | 11–3 |
| 29 | Monday | W, 90–38 | at Boston College | 12–3, 1–1 ACC |
| January | ||||
| 1 | Thursday | W, 71–55 | vs. California | 13–3, 2–1 |
| 4 | Sunday | L, 77–71, OT | vs. Stanford | 13–4, 2–2 |
| 11 | Sunday | L, 73–50 | at No. 22 Notre Dame | 13–5, 2–3 |
| 15 | Thursday | W, 73–62 | vs. Miami | 14–5, 3–3 |
| 18 | Sunday | W, 82–55 | at Florida State | 15–5, 4–3 |
| 22 | Thursday | W, 54–46 | at Georgia Tech | 16–5, 5–3 |
| 25 | Sunday | W, 77–71, OT | vs. Syracuse | 17–5, 6–3 |
| February | ||||
| 2 | Monday | W, 61–59 | at N.C. State | 18–5, 7–3 |
| 5 | Thursday | W, 53–44 | vs. Clemson | 19–5, 8–3 |
| 8 | Sunday | W, 84–56 | vs. Wake Forest | 20–5, 9–3 |
| 12 | Thursday | W, 94–42 | vs. SMU | 21–5, 10–3 |
| 15 | Sunday | L, 72–68 | at No. 8 Duke | 21–6, 10–4 |
| 19 | Thursday | W, 66–63, OT | at Virginia Tech | 22–6, 11–4 |
| 22 | Sunday | W, 78–50 | vs. Pittsburgh | 23–6, 12–4 |
| 26 | Thursday | W, 82–70 | at Virginia | 24–6, 13–4 |
| March | ||||
| 1 | Sunday | W, 72–69 | vs. No. 8 Duke | 25–6, 14–4 |
| ACC tournament | Gas South Arena, Duluth, Ga. | |||
| 6 | Friday | W, 85–68 | Quarterfinal vs. Va. Tech | 26–6 |
| 7 | Saturday | L, 65–57 | Semifinal vs. No. 13 Louisville | 26–7 |
| NCAA tournament Fort Worth 1 Regional | ||||
| 21 | Friday | W, 82–51 | First round in Chapel Hill: vs. Western Illinois | 27–7 |
| 23 | Sunday | W, 74–66 | Second round in Chapel Hill: No. 17 Maryland | 28–7 |
| 27 | Friday | L, 63–52 | Sweet 16 in Fort Worth, Texas: vs. No. 1 UConn | 28–8 |
Photo courtesy of UNC Athletics
