UNC Basketball in the AP Poll: Men Up to No. 17, Women Up to No. 16

The UNC men’s and women’s basketball teams both rose in the latest editions of the AP Poll, which were released Monday. The men’s team rose one spot to No. 17, while the women’s team rose five spots to No. 16.

The No. 17 Tar Heel men won a pair of home games last week, defeating then-No. 24 Louisville 77-74 Monday night and Virginia Tech 89-82 Saturday night. Carolina won both games as it continues to be without star freshman Caleb Wilson, who has missed the last five games as he continues to rehab a fractured left hand.

Elsewhere in the poll, Duke sits at No. 1 for the second consecutive week and will host the Tar Heels in the regular season finale Saturday night. Virginia drops two spots to No. 13 after losing in Durham during the weekend, and Miami climbs into the poll at No. 22. Louisville dropped out of the poll after its loss to UNC, but still received the second-most votes of any unranked team. Clemson, which visits the Smith Center Tuesday night, also received votes, as did NC State. To view the full men’s poll, click here.

UNC’s game against Clemson Tuesday night tips off at 7 p.m.

On the women’s side, Carolina shot up five spots to No. 16 following an 82-70 road win at Virginia and a 74-69 home win against then-No. 12 Duke, UNC’s first against a ranked opponent this season. The Tar Heels’ No. 16 ranking is their highest since the first week of January.

Louisville sits at No. 12 in the poll as the highest-ranked ACC team, while Duke dropped one spot to No. 13. UNC is the only other ACC side to be ranked, although Notre Dame and NC State both received votes. To view the full women’s poll, click here.

Carolina is the No. 3 seed in this week’s ACC Tournament, which will be contested Wednesday through Sunday at Gas South Arena in Duluth, GA. The Tar Heels will play their first game of the tournament Friday night at 7:30 p.m. against either No. 14 seed Florida State, No. 11 Georgia Tech or No. 6 Virginia Tech.

Featured image via Todd Melet

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