Tar Heels hang on to top spot

North Carolina’s overtime win at Clemson kept the Tar Heels unbeaten and the top of the Associated Press’ college basketball poll unchanged Monday.

For the sixth straight week, North Carolina, Memphis and Kansas were 1-2-3 in the Top 25, and the first nine teams held their places from last week.

Xavier and Miami both returned to the rankings, replacing Pac-10 teams Arizona and Southern California.

North Carolina (15-0) needed Wayne Ellington’s three-pointer with less than a second to play in overtime for a 90-88 victory over Clemson and the No. 1 ranking it has held since the preseason poll.

The Tar Heels received 46 first-place votes and 1,768 points from the 72-member national media panel.

Memphis (13-0), which had blowout home victories over Siena and Pepperdine last week, was No. 1 on 25 ballots and had 1,742 points.

Kansas (14-0) and Washington State (13-0) both won on the road last week.

The Jayhawks, who received the only other first-place vote, beat Boston College 85-60.

The Cougars beat Washington 56-52.

The two other remaining undefeated teams in Division I college basketball – Vanderbilt (15-0) and Mississippi (13-0) of the SEC – were ranked 13th and 16th.