Carolina Moves Up to No. 7 in This Week's AP Top 25
Riding a four-game win streak, including a pair of victories this past week, North Carolina moved up to No. 7 in this week’s Associated Press Top 25 rankings.
The Tar Heels picked up a pair of home wins over the last week, first defeating Miami, 75-71, on Monday night, then beating NC State,79-70, on Saturday. Carolina was No. 9 last week and has been ranked in the top 10 for 11 consecutive weeks, reaching as high as No. 3 for three weeks.
RJ Davis exploded in UNC’s win over Miami, setting a personal career-high with 42 points, which is also the most ever scored by any player in a college game in Smith Center history.
“Every time I shot the ball, it felt like it was going in,” Davis said following the game that night.
He leads the ACC in scoring averaging 21.5 points per game, and is the frontrunner for ACC Player of the Year.
Harrison Ingram paced the Heels in the victory over the rivals from Raleigh, netting 22 points, which is his high game as a Tar Heel. He helped deliver Carolina its fourth consecutive victory and fifth in the last five games, as UNC heads into the final week of the regular season in first place in the conference.
“Harrison was Harrison today,” UNC Coach Hubert Davis said Saturday. “Having a guy on your team that as soon as he walks into the locker room, everyone's just smiling and laughing. His personality just lifts people up. And then on the court, he just changes. He's a guy that can guard multiple positions, he can rebound, he can post up, he can hit 3s, offensive rebound, make free throws and he adds another ball handler for us.
“So, with the pressure we can give him the ball, and he can bring it up and initiate offense. And you never have to tell Harrison, ‘let's play hard.’ He just instinctively in anything, practice, shoot around or obviously a game, brings tremendous energy for us and it fueled us today.”
The Tar Heels are 23-6 overall and 15-3 in the ACC. This week, they host Notre Dame on Tuesday night for the final home game of the season, and then head to Duke on Saturday night. Then, the postseason arrives beginning with the ACC Tournament in Washington, D.C.