By R.L. Bynum

North Carolina jumped six spots to No. 16 in the AP Top 25 men’s poll after a 2–0 week that included a road upset of Virginia, the biggest jump of any team in the poll.

It’s the first time UNC has been ranked in every poll this late in the season since making every poll in the 2024–25 season, when the Tar Heels were in the top 10 for 15 weeks. The Tar Heels’ highest rank this season was No. 12 on Dec. 15 and Dec. 22. UNC was also No. 16 in polls on Nov. 24 and Dec. 1.

The Tar Heels (16–4, 4–3 ACC) rolled to a 91–69 home victory over Notre Dame on Wednesday before giving the Cavaliers (16–3, 5–2) their first home loss, 85–80, dropping them three spots to No. 17.

Another ACC team to drop was Clemson (17–4, 7–1), which slipped four spots to No. 22 after losing in overtime at home to N.C. State 80–76.

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— Tar Heels in pros: White surges amid trade rumors; Ryan, Davis, Ingram lighting up G League

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Duke (18–1, 7–0) moved up one spot to No. 4 after beating Wake Forest 90–69, taking advantage of Purdue (17–3), previously No. 4, losing 69–67 to UCLA and 88–92 to Illinois. The Boilermakers fell eight spots to No. 12.

The only other ACC team in the poll is Louisville (14–5, 4–3), which moved up three spots to No. 20 after beating Virginia Tech 85–71.

In addition to the Cavaliers and Tigers, four other teams that were eight or fewer spots ahead of UNC in last week’s poll, all from the SEC, lost:
— Vanderbilt (17–3), with former UNC players Tyler Nickel and Jalen Washington, dropped three spots to No. 18 after beating Mississippi State 88–56 but losing 93–68 to Arkansas (15–5), which moved up five spots to No. 15.
— Florida (14–6) dropped three spots to No. 19 after losing 76–67 to Auburn
— Alabama (13–6) plummeted six spots to No. 23 following a 79–73 loss to Tennessee.
— Georgia (16–4) fell from No. 21 to out of the poll after losing 87–67 to Texas.

Ian Jackson’s St. John’s team (15–5) returned to the poll at No. 25. The Red Storm were last ranked on Dec. 15, when they were No. 22, after being ranked No. 5 in the preseason poll.

Ranking UNC the highest at No. 13 is Brice Cherry of the Waco Tribune-Herald in Texas. Geoff Grammer of The Albuquerque Journal in New Mexico was the only voter to leave the Tar Heels off their ballot.

John Johnson of WXII ranked UNC No. 14, Kate Rogerson of WTVD voted the Heels No. 17 and WRAL’s Chris Lea ranked Carolina No. 20.

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AP Top 25

Rank	School	Record (1st-place votes)	Poll points	Previous
1	Arizona	20–0 (60)	1,500	1
2	UConn	19–1	1,402	2
3	Michigan	18–1	1,379	3
4	Duke	18–1	1,326	5
5	Nebraska	20–0	1,283	7
6	Gonzaga	21–1	1,097	8
7	Michigan State	18–2	1,072	10
8	Iowa State	18–2	1,070	9
9	Illinois	17–3	1,060	11
10	Houston	17–2	983	6
11	Texas Tech	16–4	939	12
12	Purdue	17–3	864	4
13	BYU	17–2	837	13
14	Kansas	15–5	614	19
15	Arkansas	15–5	568	20
16	North Carolina	16–4	528	22
17	Virginia	16–3	509	14
18	Vanderbilt	17–3	497	15
19	Florida	14–6	389	16
20	Louisville	14–5	297	23
21	Saint Louis	19–1	286	24
22	Clemson	17–4	245	18
23	Alabama	13–6	202	17
24	Miami (OH)	20–0	140	25
25	St. John’s	15–5	133	NR

Others receiving votes: Tennessee 88, Kentucky 51, Georgia 49, Iowa 30, Texas A&M 27, Auburn 15, N.C. State 8, SMU 4, Saint Mary’s 3, Utah St. 2, Villanova 2, Wisconsin 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