By R.L. Bynum

North Carolina faces a demanding ACC men’s basketball schedule as the Tar Heels try to follow up last season’s run to the NCAA tournament championship game.

The schedule, which the ACC released Tuesday, opens at the Smith Center on Monday, Nov. 7 against UNCW, with the first league game on Sunday, Dec. 4 at reigning ACC champion Virginia Tech. It will be the fourth time in the last five seasons that Carolina has opened ACC play on the road. This is the fourth consecutive season that each team will play 20 conference games.

Coach Hubert Davis’ team, coming off a 29–10 season that included an East Regional title, is expected to be near the top of the polls and is No. 1 in the Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook ranking. Four starters are back, including All-America big man Armando Bacot, fifth-year senior wing and defensive ace Leaky Black and junior guards RJ Davis and Caleb Love.

“Live Action with Carolina Basketball” is set for Friday, Sept. 30 at 6 p.m. (the night before the home football game against Virginia Tech) and the Tar Heels face Johnson C. Smith in an exhibition game Friday, Oct. 28 (the night before the home football game against Pittsburgh).

The first Duke game will be on Saturday, Feb. 4 in Durham in the first matchup with Jon Scheyer as head coach after UNC ended Mike Krzyzewski’s coaching career with a loss in the national semifinals. That is the weekend between the NFL conference championship games and the Super Bowl. The Chapel Hill game is set for Saturday, March 4.

The game at N.C. State on Feb. 19 is the day after the Carolina Hurricanes’ Stadium Series game next door in Carter-Finley Stadium against the Washington Capitals.

Although the Tar Heels face N.C. State (which finished 15th in the ACC last season, Jan. 21 and Feb. 19) and Pittsburgh (13th, Dec. 30 or 31 and Feb. 1) twice, they also meet four of the top-six finishers twice: Duke (1st), Notre Dame (3rd, Jan. 7 and Feb. 22), Wake Forest (5th, Jan 4 and Feb. 7) and Virginia (6th, Jan. 10 and Feb. 26).

The four teams Carolina only plays on the road (an average finish of 8.75) are a little more challenging than the four teams it will only face at home (10.0).

The Tar Heels welcome Miami (4th place finish in the ACC last season, Feb. 13), Clemson (10th, Feb. 11), Boston College (12th, Jan. 17), and Georgia Tech (14th, Dec. 10) to the Smith Center and only meet Virginia Tech (7th), Florida State (8th, Feb. 27), Syracuse (9th, Jan. 24) and Louisville (11th, Jan. 14) on the road.

The Tar Heels play three more nonconference home games in November — Friday, Nov. 11 against College of Charleston, Tuesday, Nov. 15 against Gardner-Webb and Sunday, Nov. 20 against James Madison — before playing three games in Portland Nov. 24–27 in the PK1 bracket of the Phil Knight Invitational.

At the PK Invitational, UNC faces Portland on Thanksgiving Day at 1 p.m. (ESPN) in the first round. The Tar Heels then meet Iowa State or Villanova on Friday, Nov. 25, in a consolation (3 p.m., ESPN2) or — most likely — semifinal (5:30 p.m., ESPN) game. The championship game is Sunday, Nov. 27 at 10 p.m. (ESPN), with the consolation game at 3:30 p.m. (ESPN).

Duke is in the Phil Knight Legacy bracket and Carolina is in the PK1 women’s bracket, facing Oregon at 5 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day (ESPNU) and either Iowa State or Michigan State in the consolation (1 p.m., ESPN2) or championship game (7:30 p.m., ESPN2) on Sunday, Nov. 27.

After Carolina’s men play an ACC/Big Ten Challenge game at Indiana on Wednesday, Nov. 30, the league opener against the Hokies is Sunday, Dec. 4. Following a Dec. 10 home game against Georgia Tech, the Heels play a Tuesday, Dec. 13 home game against The Citadel. Next, the Heels play Ohio State at 3 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 17 in the CBS Classic at Madison Square Garden and Michigan at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 21 at the Jumpman Invitational in Charlotte.

Starting with the game at Pittsburgh on either Dec. 30 or 31, the rest of the regular season will be all league contests.

UNC schedule

Date	Month/day	Time/score	Opponent/event (current ranking)	Location	Record
	October
28	Friday	W, 101–40	Johnson C. Smith	Home	Exhibition
	November
7	Monday	W, 69–56	UNCW	Home	1–0
11	Friday	W, 102–86	College of Charleston	Home	2–0
15	Tuesday	W, 72–66	Gardner-Webb	Home	3–0
20	Sunday	W, 80–64	James Madison	Home	4–0
			Phil Knight Invitational
24	Thursday	W, 89–81	First round: Portland	Portland	5–0
25	Friday	L, 70–65	Semifinals: Iowa State	Portland	5–1
27	Sunday	L, 103–101, 4 OTs	Consolation: No. 1 Alabama	Portland	5–2
			ACC/Big Ten Challenge
30	Wednesday	L, 77–65	No. 21 Indiana	Bloomington, Ind.	5–3
	December
4	Sunday	L, 80–72	Virginia Tech	Blacksburg, Va.	5–4, 0–1 ACC
10	Saturday	W, 75–59	Georgia Tech	Home	6–4, 1–1 ACC
13	Tuesday	W, 100–67	The Citadel	Home	7–4
			*CBS Sports Classic*
17	Saturday	W, 89–84, OT	Ohio State	New York	8–4
			*Jumpman Invitational*
21	Wednesday	W, 80–76	Michigan	Charlotte	9–4
30	Friday	L, 76–74	Pittsburgh	Pittsburgh	9–5, 1–2 ACC
	January
4	Wednesday	W, 88–79	Wake Forest	Home	10–5, 2–2 ACC
7	Saturday	W, 81–64	Notre Dame	Home	11–5, 3–2 ACC
10	Tuesday	L, 65–58	No. 14 Virginia	Charlottesville	11–6, 3–3 ACC
14	Saturday	W, 80–59	Louisville	Louisville, Ky.	12–6, 4–3 ACC
17	Tuesday	W, 72–64	Boston College	Home	13–6, 5–3 ACC
21	Saturday	W, 80–69	N.C. State	Home	14–6, 6–3 ACC
24	Tuesday	W, 72–68	Syracuse	Syracuse, N.Y.	15–6, 7–3 ACC
	February
1	Wednesday	L, 65–64	Pittsburgh	Home	15–7, 7–4 ACC
4	Saturday	L, 63–57	No. 12 Duke	Durham	15–8, 7–5 ACC
7	Tuesday	L, 92–85	Wake Forest	Winston-Salem	15–9, 7–6 ACC
11	Saturday	W, 91–71	Clemson	Home	16–9, 8–6 ACC
13	Monday	L, 80–72	No. 16 Miami	Home	16–10, 8–7 ACC
19	Sunday	L, 77–69	N.C. State	Raleigh	16–11, 8–8 ACC
22	Wednesday	W, 63–59	Notre Dame	South Bend, Ind.	17–11, 9–8 ACC
25	Saturday	W, 71–63	No. 14 Virginia	Home	18–11, 10–8 ACC
27	Monday	W, 77–66	Florida State	Tallahassee, Fla.	19–11, 11–8 ACC
	March
4	Saturday	L, 62–57	No. 12 Duke	Home	19–12, 11–9 ACC
			*ACC tournament*
8	Wednesday	W, 85–61	Boston College	Greensboro	20–12
9	Thursday	L, 68–59	No. 14 Virginia	Greensboro	20–13