UNC men’s basketball stays ranked #16 despite Michigan State loss

As is tradition, last week around Thanksgiving, most of the early season tournaments and multi-team events were held, giving us some of biggest matchups that take place before conference play. Soon, we’ll be headed into a quiet period before the new year, but that’s not this week either. This week, the ACC-SEC Challenge will take place, giving us another slate of big non-conference games. Both UNC teams will be part of the battles this week, both taking part in some of the event’s more high profile clashes.

Before we get to that, though, let’s take a look at last week and run down where the AP Top 25 rankings now stand.

Men’s Basketball

AP Top 25

1. Purdue (40 first place votes)

2. Arizona (6)

3. Michigan (15)

4. Duke

5. UConn

6. Louisville

7. Michigan State

8. Houston

9. BYU

10. Iowa State

11. Gonzaga

12. Alabama

13. Tennessee

14. Illinois

15. Florida

16. North Carolina

17. Vanderbilt

18. Kentucky

19. Texas Tech

20. Auburn

21. Kansas

22. Indiana

23. St. John’s

24. USC

25. Arkansas

Where is UNC?

The Tar Heel men took their first loss of the season last week, falling to Michigan State at the Fort Myers Tip-Off. However despite that loss, both due to the Spartans being good and Carolina having a decent body of work themselves to this point, the defeat didn’t actually drop them in the poll. UNC stayed at the #16 spot they were also in last week.

Biggest Winners

Vanderbilt won the Battle 4 Atlantis title to move to 8-0, moving up a week-high seven spots in the rankings. The most notable move, though, was probably Michigan, who are up to #3 and are getting the second most first place votes after obliterating both Auburn and Gonzaga.

Biggest Losers

St. John’s lost to said Auburn team last week in what was their third defeat of the season. All of their losses have come to current Top 25 teams, so they maintain a ranking, but they’re down to #23 now.

Conference Breakdown

• SEC: 7

• Big 12: 6

• Big 12: 6

• ACC: 3

• Big East: 2

• WCC: 1

Marque Matchups This Week

• #16 North Carolina (6-1) at #18 Kentucky (5-2) – Tonight at 9:30 PM ET on ESPN

• #4 Duke (8-0) at #7 Michigan State (7-0) – Saturday at 12:00 PM ET on FOX

• #10 Iowa State (7-0) at #1 Purdue (7-0) – Saturday at 12:00 PM ET on CBS

Women’s Basketball

AP Top 25

1. UConn (22 first place votes)

2. Texas (10)

3. South Carolina

4. UCLA

5. LSU

6. Michigan

7. Maryland

8. TCU

9. Oklahoma

10. Iowa State

11. North Carolina

12. Iowa

13. Ole Miss

14. Baylor

15. Vanderbilt

16. USC

17. Kentucky

18. Notre Dame

19. Tennessee

20. Michigan State

21. Washington

22. Louisville

23. Ohio State

24. Oklahoma State

25. West Virginia

Where is UNC?

The Carolina women had a very nice week at their MTE at the Cancun Challenge in Mexico. They beat South Dakota State, Kansas State, and Columbia — all 2025 NCAA Tournament teams — by a combined 64 points. Thanks to that, the Heels moved up a spot and are now #11.

Biggest Winners

There weren’t many big jumps in terms of places this week, so the most notable is the new #2 Texas. The Longhorns moved up from #4 this week after knocking off both previous #2 and #3, South Carolina and UCLA respectively.

Biggest Losers

Elsewhere in the SEC, Tennessee was the biggest drop of the week. The Lady Vols took a 22-point defeat to the aforementioned UCLA team, which sent them falling five places downwards.

Conference Breakdown

• Big Ten: 8

• SEC: 8

• Big 12: 5

• ACC: 3

• Big East: 1

Marquee Matchups This Week

• #11 North Carolina (8-1) at #2 Texas (8-0) – Thursday at 7:00 PM ET on ESPN2

• #3 South Carolina (7-1) at #22 Louisville (7-2) – Thursday at 7:00 PM ET on ESPN

• #18 Notre Dame (5-1) at #13 Ole Miss (7-0) – Thursday at 9:00 PM ET on ESPN2