By R.L. Bynum

Carolina moved up two spots in the AP Top 25 men’s poll released Monday, earning a season-high ranking of No. 14.

The Tar Heels (8–1) earned a pair of power-conference victories, winning 67–64 at Kentucky on Tuesday and knocking off Georgetown 81–61 at home on Sunday.

It’s UNC’s highest ranking since it was No. 12 on Nov. 25, 2024, and the 724 poll points are the most since garnering 976 that week.

Duke (10–0) moved up one spot to No. 3 after beating Florida 67–66 and Michigan State 66–60. Elliot Cadeau’s Michigan team (8–0) went up one spot to No. 2, Vanderbilt (with Jalen Washington and Tyler Nickel) is up two spots to No. 15 and Ian Jackson’s St. John’s team (5–3) moved up one spot to No. 22.

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Five teams ahead of the Tar Heels in last week’s poll lost:
— Purdue (8–1) sank five spots from No. 1 to No. 6 after an 81–58 loss to Iowa State.
— Louisville (8–1) slipped five spots to No. 11 after losing 89–80 to Arkansas but beating Indiana 87–78.
— Michigan State (8–1) fell two spots to No. 9 after falling to Duke.
— Tennessee (7–3) sunk seven spots to No. 20 after a 62–60 loss to Syracuse.
— Florida (5–3) dropped three spots to No. 18 after its loss to Duke.

Virginia (8–1) debuted in the poll at No. 24 after two big wins last week, winning 88–69 at Texas and beating Dayton 86–73 in Charlotte.

Kentucky (5–4) fell out of the poll after also losing 94–59 to Gonzaga (9–1), which moved up three spots to No. 8.

Ranking UNC the highest at No. 10 is John Johnson of WXII-TV in Winston-Salem. Ranking the Heels the lowest, as he has every week of the season, is Shane Mettlen of the Daily News-Record in Harrisonburg, Va. This week, he has them No. 22.

Chris Lea of WRAL voted UNC No. 12 and Kate Rogerson of WTVD has the Heels No. 14.

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AP Top 25

Rank	School (1st-place votes)	Record	Poll points	Previous
1	Arizona (33)	8–0	1,461	2
2	Michigan (19)	8–0	1,440	3
3	Duke (7)	10–0	1,400	4
4	Iowa State (1)	9–0	1,304	10
5	UConn	8–1	1,263	5
6	Purdue	8–1	1,173	1
7	Houston	8–1	1,064	8
8	Gonzaga	9–1	1,054	11
9	Michigan State	8–1	1,017	7
10	BYU	7–1	1,007	9
11	Louisville	8–1	877	6
12	Alabama	7–2	854	12
13	Illinois	7–2	771	14
14	North Carolina	8–1	724	16
15	Vanderbilt	9–0	686	17
16	Texas Tech	7–2	508	19
17	Arkansas	7–2	488	25
18	Florida	5–3	422	15
19	Kansas	7–3	380	21
20	Tennessee	7–3	286	13
21	Auburn	7–3	264	20
22	St. John’s	5–3	254	23
23	Nebraska	9–0	180	NR
24	Virginia	8–1	130	NR
25	UCLA	7–2	79	NR

Others receiving votes: Iowa 60, Oklahoma St. 54, Southern Cal 50, Georgia 49, Saint Mary’s 38, Seton Hall 31, Kentucky 29, Wisconsin 24, Indiana 18, Clemson 14, LSU 14, Villanova 9, California 6, Notre Dame 4, Miami 4, SMU 3, TCU 2, Arizona St 2, Miami (Ohio) 2, St. Bonaventure 1.

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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

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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 courtesy of UNC Athletics