By R.L. Bynum

The higher the expectations, the more likely a team will play games that start later, which is the case for Carolina’s women’s basketball team.

After playing only two ACC games that started at 8 p.m. last season, the Tar Heels have four such games this coming season, including home games against Florida State (Dec. 29), Duke (Jan. 19) and Virginia Tech (Feb. 23) and a road game against N.C. State (Feb. 16). There could potentially be a fifth since the time for the Jan. 15 home game against the Wolfpack hasn’t been set.

The ACC announced the starting times for all of its women’s basketball games on Wednesday afternoon.

UNC plays one game at 11 a.m. (Nov. 16 against South Carolina State) and two games at noon (Feb. 5 at Louisville and the regular-season finale on Feb. 26 at Duke.)

Coach Courtney Banghart’s fourth season comes after the Tar Heels went 25–7 and earned the program’s first Sweet 16 berth since 2015, which has helped boost the sale of season tickets, which can be purchased here. UNC returns junior starters in guards Deja Kelly and Kennedy  Todd-Williams, wing Alyssa Ustby and center Anya Poole.

In an odd scheduling quirk, James Madison’s men’s team plays Carolina on Dec. 20 at the Smith Center in a noon game, and the Dukes’ women’s team plays host to the Tar Heels at 2 p.m. that day.

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On Sunday, Feb. 19, the men’s team plays N.C. State in Raleigh at 1 p.m. and the women’s team faces Wake Forest at home at 4 p.m. That men’s game probably would have been scheduled for the day before if not for the Feb. 18 NHL Stadium Series game at Carter-Finley Stadium between the Carolina Hurricanes and the Washington Capitals.

Carolina plays in three events in the same cities as the men’s team.

Both play in the Phil Knight Invitational in Portland, with the women meeting Oregon at 5 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day (ESPNU) in the four-team event. The Tar Heels will play against either Iowa State or Michigan State in the consolation game (1 p.m., ESPN2) or the championship game (7:30 p.m., ESPN2) on Sunday, Nov. 27.

Bookmark this page for scores and schedules for all UNC teams.

Both play at Indiana in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge, with the women’s team facing the Hoosiers on Thursday, Dec. 1, at 6 p.m., one day after the men’s teams meet.

Both play Michigan in the Jumpman Invitational in Charlotte at the Hornets’ arena. The women face the Wolverines at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 20, one day before the men’s teams play.

Carolina schedule

Date	Month/day	Time/score	Opponent/event (current ranking)	Location	Record
	November
9	Wednesday	W, 91–59	Jackson State	Home	1–0
12	Saturday	W, 75–48	TCU	Home	2–0
16	Wednesday	W, 93–25	South Carolina State	Home	3–0
20	Sunday	W, 76–65	James Madison	Harrisonburg, Va.	4–0
			Phil Knight Invitational
24	Thursday	W, 85–79	Oregon	Portland	5–0
27	Sunday	W, 73–64	No. 17 Iowa State	Portland	6–0
	December		ACC/Big Ten Challenge
1	Thursday	L, 87–63	No. 2 Indiana	Bloomington, Ind.	6–1
7	Wednesday	W, 64–42	UNCW	Home	7–1
11	Sunday	W, 99–67	Wofford	Home	8–1
16	Friday	W, 89–47	USC Upstate	Home	9–1
			Jumpman Invitational
20	Tuesday	L, 76–68	No. 18 Michigan	Charlotte	9–2
			ACC season begins
29	Thursday	L, 78–71	Florida State	Home	9–3, 0–1 ACC
	January
1	Sunday	L, 68–65	No. 4 Virginia Tech	Blacksburg, Va.	9–4, 0–2 ACC
5	Thursday	L, 62–58	Miami	Coral Gables, Fla.	9–5, 0–3 ACC
8	Sunday	W, 60–50	No. 10 Notre Dame	Home	10–5, 1–3 ACC
12	Thursday	W, 70–59	Virginia	Charlottesville, Va.	11–5, 2–3 ACC
15	Sunday	W, 56–47	N.C. State	Home	12–5, 3–3 ACC
19	Thursday	W, 61–56	No. 13 Duke	Home	13–5, 4–3 ACC
22	Sunday	W, 70–57	Georgia Tech	Home	14–5, 5–3 ACC
26	Thursday	W, 72–57	Pittsburgh	Pittsburgh	15–5, 6–3 ACC
29	Sunday	W, 69–58	Clemson	Clemson	16–5, 7–3 ACC
	February
2	Thursday	W, 73–62	Virginia	Home	17–5, 8–3 ACC
5	Sunday	L, 62–55	Louisville	Louisville	17–6, 8–4 ACC
9	Thursday	L, 75–67	Syracuse	Syracuse	17–7, 8–5 ACC
12	Sunday	W, 73–55	Boston College	Home	18–7, 9–5 ACC
16	Thursday	L, 77–66, OT	N.C. State	Raleigh	18–8, 9–6 ACC
19	Sunday	W, 71–58	Wake Forest	Home	19–8, 10–6 ACC
23	Thursday	L, 61–59	No. 4 Virginia Tech	Home	19–9, 10–7 ACC
26	Sunday	W, 45–41	No. 13 Duke	Durham	20–9, 10–8 ACC
	March		ACC Tournament
2	Thursday	W, 68–58	Clemson	Greensboro	21–9
3	Friday	L, 44–40	No. 13 Duke	Greensboro	21–10
			NCAA tournament
18	Saturday	W, 61–59	St. John’s	Columbus, Ohio	22–10
20	Monday	L, 71–69	No. 12 Ohio State	Columbus, Ohio	22–11

Photo courtesy of the ACC