UNC basketball stays put in USA TODAY Sports Coaches poll

The North Carolina Tar Heels' basketball program suffered its first loss of the 2026-26 season, falling to Michigan State on Thanksgiving. UNC completed a 1-1 week, beating St. Bonaventure to open the Fort Myers Tip-off to open the week.

But even with the loss, moving UNC to 6-1 overall, the Tar Heels didn't move in the latest USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll.

North Carolina stayed put at No. 17 in the latest poll following the loss. They received 230 points and being at No. 17 is still the highest ranking they have had all season long. Michigan State was able to move up four spots from No. 12 to No. 8 after the win.

Next up for North Carolina is a big road game at No. 18 Kentucky in the ACC/SEC Challenge. The Wildcats are 5-2 and stayed put at No. 18 in the poll.

Below is the full updated poll for the USA TODAY Sports Coaches poll.

Rank

Team

Record

PTS

1st

Prev

Chg

Hi/Lo

1

Purdue

7-0

762

21

1

-

1/1

2

Michigan

7-0

721

6

6

+4

2/7

3

Arizona

7-0

709

3

3

-

3/13

4

Duke

8-0

696

1

4

-

4/5

5

UConn

6-1

608

0

7

+2

3/7

6

Louisville

7-0

600

0

5

-1

5/12

7

Houston

7-1

588

0

2

-5

2/7

8

Michigan State

7-0

531

0

12

+4

8/21

9

Iowa State

7-0

502

0

13

+4

9/18

10

BYU

6-1

493

0

11

+1

7/11

11

Gonzaga

7-1

480

0

10

-1

10/20

12

Alabama

5-2

428

0

9

-3

9/16

13

Tennessee

7-1

377

0

16

+3

13/18

14

Florida

5-2

313

0

8

-6

3/14

15

Illinois

6-2

312

0

14

-1

8/15

16

Vanderbilt

8-0

268

0

23

+7

16/NR

17

North Carolina

6-1

230

0

17

-

17/25

18

Kentucky

5-2

222

0

18

-

8/18

19

Texas Tech

6-2

192

0

20

+1

11/20

19

Indiana

7-0

192

0

24

+5

19/NR

21

Kansas

6-2

154

0

NR

+10

19/NR

22

St. John's

4-3

129

0

15

-7

6/22

23

Arkansas

5-2

119

0

21

-2

15/23

24

Auburn

6-2

104

0

25

+1

22/NR

25

Iowa

7-0

69

0

NR

+13

25/NR

No. 19 UCLA; No. 22 North Carolina State;

USC 56; UCLA 33; Nebraska 31; Missouri 28; Saint Mary's 20; Baylor 19; North Carolina State 16; Virginia 14; LSU 14; Clemson 9; Butler 9; Ole Miss 8; TCU 5; Wisconsin 4; Utah State 4; SMU 4; Oklahoma State 1; Colorado 1;

This article originally appeared on Tar Heels Wire: UNC Basketball ranked No. 17 in USA TODAY Sports Coaches poll.