By R.L. Bynum

Carolina and Kansas will play a home-and-home men’s basketball series, with games in the 2024–25 and 2025–26 seasons.

The series starts in 2024–25, with the Tar Heels visiting Lawrence, Kansas, for the second time in program history and the first time since 1960. When the Jayhawks come to the Smith Center during the 2025–26 season, it will be their first visit to Chapel Hill.

“These two games should be exciting for players and coaches on both teams and a win for fans of college basketball,” UNC head coach Hubert Davis said. “It’s an opportunity for two great programs to play in each other’s home arenas, which are among the best and most historic in our game.”

UNC’s only previous appearance in Allen Fieldhouse was a 78–70 victory on Dec. 17, 1960, in Frank McGuire’s final season as UNC’s head coach and Dean Smith’s third season as an assistant coach at Carolina.

The Tar Heels and Jayhawks have split 12 all-time meetings but Kansas has won four straight games over the last 16 seasons, including a 72–69 victory in the 2022 national championship game in New Orleans.

The teams also met in the 1957 NCAA final. Lennie Rosenbluth led Carolina to the first of its six NCAA championships by defeating Wilt Chamberlain and Kansas 54–53 in three overtimes in Kansas City.

The programs have combined for 10 championships, 247 wins and 37 Final Fours in 103 NCAA tournament appearances. Carolina has the most NCAA tournament wins and Final Fours, is second in appearances and third in championships; Kansas is third all-time in NCAA tournament appearances, fourth in wins, fifth in Final Fours and seventh in titles.

There are 30 former UNC and Kansas players and coaches in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. Tar Heels and Jayhawks have won a combined 22 national player-of-the-year awards and 131 first-team All-America honors, including the two most consensus first-team All-America seasons in college basketball history (25 Jayhawks in 32 seasons and 18 Tar Heels in 27 seasons).

Carolina and Kansas rank in the top three in college basketball history in both wins and winning percentage. UNC is second in winning percentage and third in wins; the Jayhawks have the most wins and are third in winning percentage.

Smith played for Phog Allen at Kansas, where he was a member of the 1952 NCAA champions and 1953 NCAA finalists, and was head coach for 36 years at UNC, where he won two NCAA titles, led the Tar Heels to 11 Final Fours and retired as the winningest coach in college basketball history. Following his graduation from KU in 1953, Smith began his Hall of Fame coaching career the following season as a volunteer assistant to Allen and Dick Harp.

Roy Williams was the head coach at Kansas from 1988 to 2003 and Carolina from 2003 to 2021, leading the two programs to a combined nine Final Fours. Williams won NCAA championships with the Tar Heels in 2005, 2009 and 2017, and is the only individual to win 400 games at two schools (418 at Kansas and 485 at Carolina).

Larry Brown played for and coached under Smith at UNC and was the head coach of the Jayhawks for five seasons, leading KU to a pair of Final Fours and the 1988 NCAA championship.

Carolina and Kansas have played seven times in the NCAA tournament, including two championship games (1957 and 2022) and three times in the national semifinals (1991, 1993 and 2008). UNC-Kansas is the most frequently-played matchup in the Final Four, twice more than any other pair of teams have played in the Final Four.

---

Date	Month/day	Score	Opponent/event (current ranks)	Record
	October
27	Friday	W, 117–53	vs. St. Augustine’s	Exhibition
	November
6	Monday	W, 86–70	vs. Radford	1–0
12	Sunday	W, 90–68	vs. Lehigh	2–0
17	Friday	W, 77–52	vs. UC Riverside	3–0
			Battle 4 Atlantis in the Bahamas
22	Wednesday	W, 91–69	Northern Iowa	4–0
23	Thursday	L, 83–81, OT	Villanova	4–1
24	Friday	W, 87–72	Arkansas	5–1
			ACC/SEC Men’s Challenge
29	Wednesday	W, 100–92	vs. No. 6 Tennessee	6–1
	December
2	Saturday	W, 78–70	vs. Florida State	7–1, 1–0 ACC
			Jimmy V Classic in New York
5	Tuesday	L, 87–67	No. 1 Connecticut	7–2
			CBS Sports Classic in Atlanta
16	Saturday	L, 87–83	No. 12 Kentucky	7–3
			Jumpman Invitational in Charlotte
20	Wednesday	W, 81–69	Oklahoma	8–3
			—————————
29	Friday	W, 105–60	vs. Charleston Southern	9–3
	January
2	Tuesday	W, 70–57	at Pittsburgh	10–3, 2–0 ACC
6	Saturday	W, 65–55	at Clemson	11–3, 3–0 ACC
10	Wednesday	W, 67–54	at N.C. State	12–3, 4–0 ACC
13	Saturday	W, 103–67	vs. Syracuse	13–3, 5–0 ACC
17	Wednesday	W, 86–70	vs. Louisville	14–3, 6–0 ACC
20	Saturday	W, 76–66	vs. Boston College	15–3, 7–0 ACC
22	Monday	W, 85–64	vs. Wake Forest	16–3, 8–0 ACC
27	Saturday	W, 75–68	at Florida State	17–3, 9–0 ACC
30	Tuesday	L, 74–73	at Georgia Tech	17–4, 9–1 ACC
	February
3	Saturday	W, 93–84	vs. No. 13 Duke	18–4, 10–1 ACC
6	Tuesday	L, 80–76	vs. Clemson	18–5, 10–2 ACC
10	Saturday	W, 75–72	at Miami	19–5, 11–2 ACC
13	Tuesday	L, 86–79	at Syracuse	19–6, 11–3 ACC
17	Saturday	W, 96–81	vs. Virginia Tech	20–6, 12–3 ACC
24	Saturday	W, 54–44	at Virginia	21–6, 13–3 ACC
26	Monday	W, 75–71	vs. Miami	22–6, 14–3 ACC
	March
2	Saturday	W, 79–70	vs. N.C. State	23–6, 15–3 ACC
5	Tuesday	W, 84–51	vs. Notre Dame	24–6, 16–3 ACC
9	Saturday	W, 84–79	at No. 13 Duke	25–6, 17–3 ACC
			ACC tournament Washington
14	Thursday	W, 92–67	Quarterfinals: Florida State	26–6
15	Friday	W, 72–65	Semifinals: Pittsburgh	27–6
16	Saturday	L, 84–76	Final: N.C. State	27–7
			NCAA tournament
21	Thursday	W, 90–62	First round in Charlotte: Wagner	28–7
23	Saturday	W, 85–69	Second round in Charlotte: Michigan State	29–7
28	Thursday	L, 89–87	Sweet 16 in Los Angeles: No. 19 Alabama	29–8

---

Key events, dates

Saturday, April 27, was the deadline for players to submit their names to the NBA draft
Wednesday — Deadline for players to enter the transfer portal
May 11–12 — NBA G League Elite Camp in Chicago
May 12–19 — NBA Combine in Chicago
May 17–19 — Evaluation for high school players at NCAA-certified events (EYBL in Indianapolis is one of those)
May 29 at 11:59 p.m. — Deadline to withdraw from NBA draft and maintain college eligibility
June 16 at 5 p.m. — Deadline to withdraw from the NBA draft

---

UNC schedule so far

Nov. 8 — at Kansas (final AP rank No. 20; final NET ranking No. 19)
Nov. 22 — at Hawaii (final NET ranking No. 172)
Nov. 25–27 — Maui Invitational — Auburn (final AP rank No. 18; final NET ranking No. 5), Colorado (unranked; No. 25), Connecticut (No. 1; No. 2), Dayton (No. 24; No. 23), Iowa State (No. 8; No. 6), Memphis (unranked; No. 75), Michigan State (unranked; No. 24)
Dec. 14 — vs. La Salle (final NET ranking No. 195)
Likely in late November — Opponent TBA in ACC/SEC Challenge
December — vs. UCLA (final NET ranking No. 107) in CBS Sports Classic (date, location TBA)
December — vs. Florida (final NET ranking No. 29) in Jumpman Invitational at Charlotte’s Spectrum Center (date TBA)
— Games home and away against Duke, N.C. State and Pittsburgh
— Home games vs. Boston College, California, Georgia Tech, Miami, SMU, Stanford and Virginia
— Road games vs. Clemson, Florida State, Louisville, Notre Dame, Syracuse, Virginia Tech and Wake Forest
Note: 2024 NCAA tournament teams are in bold.

---

Potential 2024-25 UNC roster

No.	Class	Player	Pos.	Hgt	Wgt
—	Freshman	James Brown (4 star)	5	6–8	225
—	Freshman	Ian Jackson (5 star)	2	6–4	180
—	Freshman	Drake Powell (5 star)	2	6–5	185
2	Soph.	Elliot Cadeau	PG	6–1	180
1	Soph.	Zayden High	4	6–9	225
—	Junior	Cade Tyson	3	6–7	203
13	Junior	Jalen Washington	5	6–10	230
0	Junior	Seth Trimble	2	6–3	195
5	Graduate	RJ Davis	PG	6–0	180
		Eligible for fifth season
24	Graduate	Jae’Lyn Withers	4	6–9	215
		Walk-ons eligible for 5th season
14	Graduate	Creighton Lebo	PG	6–1	180
22	Graduate	Rob Landry	2	6–4	190

Photo via @UNC_Basketball