College basketball rankings: No. 10 North Carolina moves to 11-1 after dramatic win in CBS Sports Classic
The Tar Heels now have one nonconference game remaining before opening ACC play
By
Gary Parrish
•
2 min read
ATLANTA -- The first game of Saturday's CBS Sports Classic, Kentucky's 78-66 win over St. John's, was generally considered the bigger matchup given both teams' struggles (relative to preseason expectations) -- and the relationship between the two coaches. But the second game was the better game.
Final score: North Carolina 71, Ohio State 70.
What it lacked in quality perimeter-shooting, it made up for with late-game drama. The final 48 seconds were wild here inside State Farm Arena.
The roller-coaster sequence began when John Mobley Jr. buried a 26-footer -- while fouled! -- to pull Ohio State completely out of what was earlier an 11-point deficit and put the Buckeyes ahead 70-67 after he completed the rare four-point play in the final minute. Fourteen seconds later, Seth Trimble scored on the other end to cut OSU's lead to 70-69. Eleven seconds after that, Ohio State's Colin White, under pressure. turned it over, creating a situation where UNC had the ball in Trimble's hands, down a point with the shot clock off. He lost his footing on his way to the rim, then lost the ball. But Henri Veesaar -- right place, right time -- grabbed it and dunked it to put North Carolina back on top 71-70 with 7.2 seconds remaining. After a timeout, Mobley pulled a potential game-winner from 29 feet in the final seconds but missed. His teammate, Devin Royal, grabbed the rebound and put it back up -- but UNC freshman Caleb Wilson was there to record his third block of the contest.
Game over.
"We talked about it in the huddle," said North Carolina coach Hubert Davis. "Just two-and-a-half hours ago, if we say all we need to do is, for four seconds, play great defense to get a stop and get a win, would you take that? And they said yes. I said, well, that's the reality. That's all we have to do."
As noted, they did it. So North Carolina is now 11-1 and 10th in Sunday morning's updated CBS Sports Top 25 And 1 daily college basketball rankings, where Michigan remains No. 1 for the 11th consecutive day. Barring a big surprise, the Tar Heels will close out the non-league portion of their schedule Monday with a win over East Carolina. Eight days after that, UNC will open its ACC schedule with a home game against Florida State.
The first UNC-Duke game, if you're curious, is Feb. 7.
Top 25 And 1 rankings
Biggest Movers
4
Texas Tech
7
Auburn
Rk | Teams | Chg | Rcrd | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | | Yaxel Lendeborg finished with 29 points and nine assists in Saturday's 101-83 win at Maryland. The Wolverines' next game is Sunday against La Salle. | -- | 10-0 |
| 2 |  | Koa Peat finished with 11 points and five rebounds in Saturday's 68-45 win over San Diego State. The Wildcats' next game is Monday against Bethune Cookman. | -- | 11-0 |
| 3 |  | Milan Momcilovic finished with 18 points and five rebounds in Sunday's 78-53 win over Eastern Illinois. The Cyclones' next game is Sunday against Long Beach State. | 1 | 11-0 |
| 4 |  | Tarris Reed finished with 16 points and five rebounds in Tuesday's 79-60 win over Butler. The Huskies' next game is Sunday at DePaul. | 1 | 11-1 |
| 5 |  | AJ Dybantsa finished with 35 points and four assists in Friday's 85-67 win over Abilene Christian. The Cougars' next game is Monday against Eastern Washington. | 1 | 11-1 |
| 6 |  | Trey Kaufman-Renn finished with 18 points and six rebounds in Saturday's 88-60 win over Auburn. The Boilermakers' next game is Dec. 29 against Kent State. | 1 | 11-1 |
| 7 |  | Braden Huff finished with 37 points and eight rebounds in Wednesday's 98-70 win over Campbell. The Zags' next game is Sunday against Oregon. | 1 | 11-1 |
| 8 |  | Nikolas Khamenia missed five of the eight shots he attempted in Saturday's 82-81 loss to Texas Tech. The Blue Devils' next game is Dec. 31 against Georgia Tech. | 5 | 11-1 |
| 9 |  | Coen Carr finished with 22 points and seven rebounds in Saturday's 79-70 win over Oakland. The Spartans' next game is Dec. 29 against Cornell. | -- | 11-1 |
| 10 |  | Caleb Wilson finished with 20 points and 15 rebounds in Saturday's 71-70 win over Ohio State. The Tar Heels' next game is Monday against East Carolina. | -- | 11-1 |
| 11 |  | Flory Bidunga finished with 18 points and 10 rebounds in Tuesday's 73-49 win over Towson. The Jayhawks' next game is Monday against Davidson. | 1 | 9-3 |
| 12 |  | Kingston Flemings finished with 21 points and five assists in Saturday's 94-85 win over Arkansas. The Cougars' next game is Dec. 29 against Middle Tennessee. | 1 | 11-1 |
| 13 |  | Pryce Sandfort finished with 32 points and three assists in Saturday's 83-80 win at Illinois. The Cornhuskers' next game is Sunday against North Dakota. | 1 | 11-0 |
| 14 |  | Duke Miles finished with 22 points and five assists in Wednesday's 77-70 overtime win at Memphis. The Commodores next game is Sunday at Wake Forest. | 1 | 11-0 |
| 15 |  | Labaron Philon finished with 26 points and six assists in Wednesday's 92-79 win over South Florida. The Crimson Tide's next game is Sunday against Kennesaw State. | 1 | 8-3 |
| 16 |  | Karter Knox missed five of the six shots he attempted in Saturday's 94-85 win over Arkansas. The Razorbacks' next game is Dec. 29 against James Madison. | 5 | 9-3 |
| 17 |  | Tomislav Ivisic missed two of the three shots he attempted in Saturday's 83-80 loss to Nebraska. The Illini's next game is Monday against Missouri. | -- | 8-3 |
| 18 |  | Christian Anderson finished with 27 points and five assists in Saturday's 82-81 win over Duke. The Red Raiders' next game is Dec. 28 against Winthrop. | 4 | 9-3 |
| 19 |  | Ja'Kobi Gillespie finished with 23 points and five assists in Tuesday's 83-62 win over Louisville. The Vols' next game is Sunday against Gardner Webb. | -- | 8-3 |
| 20 |  | Sananda Fru finished with 18 points and eight rebounds in Saturday's 94-54 win over Montana. The Cardinals' next game is Dec. 30 against Cal. | -- | 10-2 |
| 21 |  | Otega Oweh finished with 20 points and three steals in Saturday's 78-66 win over St. John's. The Wildcats' next game is Tuesday against Bellarmine. | 4 | 8-4 |
| 22 |  | Alvaro Folgueiras finished with 17 points and three rebounds in Saturday's 94-39 win over Bucknell. The Hawkeyes' next game is Dec. 29 against UMass Lowell. | 1 | 10-2 |
| 23 |  | Dallin Hall finished with 20 points and six assists in Saturday's 80-72 win over Maryland. The Cavaliers' next game is Monday against American. | 1 | 10-1 |
| 24 |  | Marquel Sutton finished with 19 points and nine rebounds in Friday's 78-65 win over Southeastern Louisiana. The Tigers' next game is Monday against Prairie View A&M. | 2 | 10-1 |
| 25 |  | Kevin Overton missed 10 of the 18 shots he attempted in Saturday's 88-60 loss to Purdue. The Tigers' next game is Dec. 29 against Queens. | 7 | 8-4 |
| 26 |  | Bryce Hopkins missed seven of the 11 shots he attempted in Saturday's 78-66 loss to Kentucky. The Red Storm's next game is Tuesday against Harvard. | 5 | 7-4 |
