No. 13: 2016

Our series counting down the Top 30 North Carolina basketball teams of all time continues.

Our mission isn't to make any declarative statements, but rather have some fun, give our readers something to discuss, walk down memory lane some and provide a needed escape.

Your thoughts and picks are welcome in our message board thread for this series.

Record: 33-7 (14-4)

NCAA Tournament: NCAA runner-up

ACC Tournament: ACC Champions

Ranking: 3

Coach: Roy Williams

All-Americans: Brice Johnson

All-ACC: Brice Johnson (1st).

Honors: Brice Johnson, NCAA East Region MOP; Joel Berry, ACC Tournament MVP.

What's To Know: The Tar Heels opened the season as the No. 1 team in the nation and remained there for just a couple of weeks, dropping after losing at Northern Iowa in late November. They lost just once more (a buzzer-beater at Texas in December) until a February stretch in which the Heels dropped four of seven in one period before regrouping to win 10 consecutive games leading to one of the most dramatic conclusions to a major sports championship in American sports history.

Marcus Paige hit an acrobatic, off-balance 3-pointer with five seconds remaining to tie the national title game versus Villanova. But following a timeout, the Wildcats hit a 30-footer at the buzzer to win the national championship.

Seven different Tar Heels led the team in scoring at least once that season, but Brice Johnson was the team’s best player, as he turned in one of the most outstanding individual seasons at UNC in years.

Johnson set a UNC single-season mark with 23 double-doubles that season. His best game was a 39-point, 23-rebound performance at Florida State on a night be became just the second Tar Heel to ever record at least 39 points and 23 rebounds in a game. He also pulled down 416 rebounds, the most ever by a Tar Heel. And he was just the eighth Tar Heel to earn first-team All-ACC Tournament, All-NCAA Regional and All-Final Four honors in the same season.

The season also saw growth in Justin Jackson, who would win the ACC’s Player of the Year the following season, and the rest of the Heels who returned for a Redemption Tour that ended with them winning the national title in 2017. They fought through that run no doubt riding the experience gained from the 2016 run.

2015-16 Schedule & Results

Brice Johnson, 1st Round, No. 25 overall selection

Marcus Paige, 2nd Round, No. 55 overall selection