UNC Basketball: Both Polls Bid Farewell to Tar Heels

For the first time since the end of the 2022-23 season, UNC basketball is absent from the Associated Press Top 25 Poll. The Tar Heels (5-4, 1-0 ACC), who began the 2024-25 campaign at No. 9 in the country, fell from No. 20 to unranked status in this week's release on Monday after losing at home to the now-No. 7 Alabama Crimson Tide, 94-79, on Wednesday night and beating the unranked Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, 68-65, on Saturday afternoon.

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The move marked the fifth time in as many weeks this season that UNC has either dropped or remained in the same spot.

Meanwhile, the ACC has two representatives in the AP Top 25 Poll, the only ones who emerged victorious across last week's 16-game SEC/ACC Challenge slate. The Duke Blue Devils rose five notches to No. 4, and the Clemson Tigers jumped from unranked to No. 16.

POLL ALERT: Tennessee is No. 1 in the men's AP Top 25 after a massive shakeup; Auburn, Iowa State, Duke, Kentucky round out top five.

Full poll: https://t.co/ZJG5mgWrsa pic.twitter.com/A2munAekkb
— AP Top 25 (@AP_Top25) December 9, 2024

In the USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll, Duke and Clemson check in at No. 6 and No. 16, respectively.

UNC basketball, still receiving votes in both polls, is now gearing up to host the unranked La Salle Explorers (6-4, 0-1 Atlantic 10) at 4 p.m. ET Saturday (The CW Network). That'll be the Tar Heels' only outing before the next edition of each poll comes out next Monday.

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Stay tuned to North Carolina Tar Heels On SI for more UNC basketball news.