North Carolina missed the 2023 NCAA Tournament after starting No. 1 in the Associated Press Top 25 poll. It was a disaster from November all the way through March, when the Tar Heels lost their second game in the ACC Tournament to finish 20-13 and cemented themselves as the sport’s biggest disappointment. It put third-year coach Hubert Davis in a position where he really needed a nice bounce-back season to quiet some critics.
He appears to be having one.
UNC beat Louisville 86-70 on Wednesday to improve to 14-3 overall, 6-0 in the ACC. The Tar Heels are now 6-3 in the first two quadrants with zero losses outside of Quadrant 1. They’re on a seven-game winning streak and sitting at No. 4 in Thursday morning’s updated CBS Sports Top 25 And 1 daily college basketball rankings.
Jae’lyn Withers led UNC against Louisville, which doubles as the program for which he played the previous three seasons. The 6-foot-9 senior got 15 points and 10 rebounds against his former coach and teammates.
“He was pretty good. He was more than pretty good,” Davis said before adding, “we just don’t win this game without J-With. He was fantastic. We needed him to have his best game of the season. I’m just really happy [for him] and really proud of him.”
North Carolina’s next four games are against Boston College, Wake Forest, Florida State and Georgia Tech, meaning the Tar Heels won’t play another currently ranked team until they host Duke on Feb. 3. As long as UNC doesn’t slip up between now and then, it will take an 11-game winning streak into that contest between what are clearly the ACC’s two best teams. North Carolina and Duke are No. 4 and No. 9 in the Top 25 And 1. No other ACC school is ranked here nor inside the top 35 of the NET.
Top 25 And 1 rankings
Biggest Movers
3
Seton Hall
1
Texas Tech
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