CHAPEL HILL – Defending national champion North Carolina opens the 2017-18 college basketball season on Nov. 10 at home against Northern Iowa and begins Atlantic Coast Conference play on Dec. 30 at the Smith Center against Wake Forest.
The Tar Heels have posted 33-7 overall records, gone 14-4 in ACC regular-season action and played in the NCAA championship game in each of the last two seasons. UNC won the 2017 NCAA title with a 71-65 win over Gonzaga in Phoenix last April.
Seniors Joel Berry II, the 2017 Final Four Most Outstanding Player, and versatile swingman Theo Pinson lead the Tar Heels. Junior forward Luke Maye, the 2017 NCAA South Regional MVP, and junior guard Kenny Williams, who started 22 games before suffering a season-ending injury, also return.
Roy Williams begins his 15th season as UNC’s head coach and 30th year overall as a college head coach. Williams is 816-216 in 29 seasons, including 398-115 at Carolina.
Late Night with Roy, the annual start to the basketball season, is Friday, Oct. 13. UNC hosts Barton College in an exhibition game on Oct. 27th before regular-season play begins against UNI on Nov. 10. This is the third consecutive year the Tar Heels play the Panthers – the teams have split the first two matchups.
The Tar Heels also host non-conference games against Bucknell, Michigan, Tulane, Western Carolina and Wofford, and travel to Stanford, Davidson (in Charlotte) and Tennessee. UNC plays three games in Portland in PK80, a 16-team event hosted by Nike, opening with the University of Portland on Thanksgiving at 2:30 p.m. Eastern. UNC plays either Arkansas or Oklahoma on Nov. 24 and either Connecticut, DePaul, Michigan State or Oregon on Nov. 26.
UNC is 6-0 in two previous trips to Portland, sweeping three games and winning the Far West Classic in both 1967-68 and 1976-77.
Carolina’s game at Stanford on Nov. 20 is UNC’s first meeting against the Cardinal in Palo Alto since Dec. 3, 1983. It marks the fourth time the Tar Heels have squared off against their former assistant coach Jerod Haase, who is in his second year at Stanford. UNC played three games against Haase when he was the head coach at UAB.
On Nov. 29, Carolina plays host to Michigan in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge. This is the first time the schools have met since the Tar Heels beat the Wolverines in New Orleans on April 5, 1993, in the national championship game. This is the 25thanniversary of that national championship season. Due to the fact several members of the 1992-93 UNC team are currently coaching across the country, the team is holding a reunion and will be honored at Kenan Stadium at the Sept. 23 football game against Duke.
UNC caps its non-ACC schedule on Dec. 23 against Ohio State in New Orleans in year four of the CBS Sports Classic. The Tar Heels beat Ohio State in Chicago in 2014 and are 2-1 in the event.
This is the first time since the ACC began in 1953-54 the Tar Heels do not have a regular-season non-conference game scheduled after Christmas.
Carolina plays Clemson, Duke, NC State and Notre Dame twice apiece, hosts Boston College, Georgia Tech, Miami, Pitt and Wake Forest, and travels to Florida State, Louisville, Syracuse, Virginia and Virginia Tech in ACC play. The Tar Heels conclude the regular season with three of their last four and four of their final six ACC games on the road.
The ACC Tournament is March 6-10 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
Carolina’s schedule includes at least a dozen games against teams that played in the 2017 NCAA Tournament. Twenty-seven of Carolina’s 32 scheduled games will be broadcast on either an ESPN channel or CBS.
The Tar Heel Ticket Package is now on sale, which includes tickets for all home games except the Duke game on Feb. 8. The package includes eight ACC games, seven non-conference games and the preseason game vs. Barton.
Seating for the Tar Heel Ticket Package is in the upper level of the Smith Center and will be assigned in mid-September. Rams Club members will have priority in seat assignments as determined by member points, but the ticket package is available to the general public. Seating assignments will be done in the order they are received once seats for Rams Club members have been assigned.
Tickets in the package are $705 per seat. Fans may purchase the tickets at the GoHeels.com Ticket Center, by calling (919) 962-2296, or in person at the UNC Athletic Ticket Office, located at the front of the Ernie Williamson Athletic Center at 450 Skipper Bowles Drive.
