By R.L. Bynum

No. 19 North Carolina got a pretty good challenge in its opener on Monday night, but that probably won’t be the case on Sunday.

The Tar Heels (1–0) welcome Lehigh to the Smith Center at 2 p.m. (ACC Network) after pulling away from Radford on Monday for an 86–70 victory.

The Mountain Hawks are 0–2 and have lost four straight games after going 16–14 last season.

They lost their opener 84–78 at home Monday to Cornell and will be playing their second road game in three days after suffering a 74–65 defeat at Penn State on Friday night. Former UNC guard D’Marco Dunn started and scored nine points for the Nittany Lions in that game.

While Radford (1–1), which beat Marshall 66–62 on Friday, has a KenPom ranking of 155, Lehigh is at 260.

Carolina fans will remember Lehigh for becoming the second No. 15 seed to beat a No. 2 seed when it upset Duke 75–70 in Greensboro in the 2012 NCAA tournament. Lehigh hasn’t played Carolina since a 62–58 Tar Heels victory in Woollen Gym in 1941.

Lehigh, picked to finish second in the Patriot League, is led by preseason all-conference selections Tyler Whitney-Sidney (6–2 junior guard averaging 16.0 points in the first two games) Keith Higgins Jr. (6–4 junior guard; 15.5 points), who combined for 40% of the Mountain Hawks’ scoring last season. Senior 6–9 center Dominic Parolin averages 10 points and a team-leading 7.5 rebounds.

There was a lot for Coach Hubert Davis to like from the Radford win.

“We have guys that can consistently make shots from the outside and what that does is it gives us spacing to be able to throw the ball into the post,” Davis said. “It gives us spacing to be able to penetrate and get to the basket.”

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He approached the game more like Roy Williams always did with early-season contests, playing a lot of players. It remains to be seen whether that pattern will be sustained once ACC play starts.

“We’ve got 11 starters,” Davis said. “Guys can come in at any time and contribute and not only can contribute but can make impactful plays on both ends of the floor to give us a chance to be the best team that we can possibly become.”

Eight players played at least 11 minutes, with only fifth-year Notre Dame transfer Cormac Ryan playing more than 30 minutes.

Armando Bacot led four starters to score in double figures with 25 points and 13 rebounds.

NOTES — UNC’s starting five against Radford of Bacot, Ryan, RJ Davis, Paxson Wojcik and Harrison Ingram have combined to make 421 college starts, led by Bacot’s 132. … George Glamack scored 33 points to lead UNC in that 1941 win over Lehigh. … On the ACC Network call of the Lehigh game will be Anish Schroff, the radio voice of the Carolina Panthers, and former Boston College star Malcolm Huckaby. … Marcus Ginyard, who was the analyst on the streaming TV broadcast of the exhibition victory over St. Augustine’s, will be the Tar Heel Sports Network analyst for the game. … This will be UNC’s first game against a team currently in the Patriot League since Carolina beat Loyola Maryland on Nov. 9, 2021, in Hubert Davis’ head-coaching debut. … After the Lehigh game, UNC faces UC Riverside at 8 p.m. Friday before playing in the Battle 4 Atlantis in the Bahamas, facing Northern Iowa at noon Wednesday, Nov. 22, in the first round.

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Date	Month/day	Scores	Opponent/event (current ranks)	Record
	October
24	Friday	L, 78–76	vs. BYU in SLC	Exhib.
29	Wednesday	W, 95–53	vs. Winston-Salem St.	Exhib.
	November
3	Monday	W, 94–54	vs. Central Arkansas	1–0
7	Friday	W, 87–74	vs. No. 17 Kansas	2–0
11	Tuesday	W, 89–74	vs. Radford	3–0
14	Friday	W, 97–53	vs. N.C. Central	4–0
18	Tuesday	W, 73–61	vs. Navy	5–0
			Fort Myers Tip-Off
25	Tuesday	W, 85–70	vs. St. Bonaventure	6–0
27	Thursday	L, 74–58	vs. No. 11 Michigan State	6–1
	December		ACC/SEC Men’s Challenge
2	Tuesday	W, 67–64	at Kentucky	7–1
			—————————
7	Sunday	W, 81–61	vs. Georgetown	8–1
13	Saturday	W, 80–62	vs. USC Upstate	9–1
16	Tuesday	W, 77–58	vs. ETSU	10–1
			CBS Sports Classic in Atlanta
20	Saturday	W, 71–70	vs. Ohio State	11–1
			—————————
22	Monday	W, 99–51	vs. East Carolina	12–1
30	Tuesday	W, 79–66	vs. Florida State	13–1, 1–0 ACC
	January
3	Saturday	L, 97–83	at SMU	13–2, 1–1
10	Saturday	W, 87–84	vs. Wake Forest	14–2, 2–1
14	Wednesday	L, 95–90	at Stanford	14–3, 2–2
17	Saturday	L, 84–78	at California	14–4, 2–3
21	Wednesday	W, 91–69	vs. Notre Dame	15–4, 3–3
24	Saturday	W, 85–80	at No. 9 Virginia	16–4, 4–3
31	Saturday	W, 91–75	at Georgia Tech	17–4, 5–3
	February
2	Monday	W, 87–77	vs. Syracuse	18–4, 6–3
7	Saturday	W, 71–68	vs. No. 1 Duke	19–4, 7–3
10	Tuesday	L, 75–66	at No. 25 Miami	19–5, 7–4
14	Saturday	W, 79–65	vs. Pittsburgh	20–5, 8–4
17	Tuesday	L, 82–58	at N.C. State	20–6, 8–5
21	Saturday	W, 77–64	at Syracuse	21–6, 9–5
23	Monday	W, 77–74	vs. Louisville	22–6, 10–5
28	Saturday	W, 89–82	vs. Virginia Tech	23–6, 11–5
	March
3	Tuesday	W, 67–63	vs. Clemson	24–6, 12–5
7	Saturday	L, 76–61	at No. 1 Duke	24–7, 12–6
10–14	Tues.-Sat.	ACC tournament	Spectrum Center, Charlotte
12	Thursday	L, 80–79	Quarterfinals: vs. Clemson	24–8
		NCAA tournament
19	Thursday	L, 82–78, OT	First round: vs. VCU in Greenville, S.C.	24–9

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The class for next season is listed.

No./ Stars	Class	Player	Pos.	Hgt	Wgt
5 star	Freshman	Maximo Adams	SF	6–7	205
3 star	Freshman	Malloy Smith	CG	6–5	190
5 star	Freshman	Sayon Keita	C	7–0	215
4 star	Freshman	Kevin Thomas	W	6–7	190
	Freshman	Alexandros Samodurov	C	6–11	212
	RS freshman	Cade Bennerman — W	C	7–0	205
	Sophomore	Neoklis Avdalas — X	G	6–9	215
	Sophomore	Isaiah Denis	G	6–4	180
	Sophomore	Matt Able — Y	G	6–5	196
1	Senior	Terrence Brown — Z	G	6–3	174
4	Senior	Jaydon Young	G	6–4	200
15	Senior	Jarin Stevenson	4	6–10	215
	Graduate	Angelo Brizzi — ZZ	2	6–3	193
		Walk-ons
25	Junior	John Holbrook	4	6–8	230
32	Senior	Evan Smith	2	6–1	195

W — Northwestern transfer. X — Virginia Tech transfer; Y — N.C. State transfer; Z — Utah transfer; ZZ — Buffalo transfer

Michael Malone’s coaching staff: Chuck Martin, Bryan Tibaldi, Sean May and Pat Sullivan; Deon Thompson will be a graduate assistant, and Brandon Robinson will reportedly have a support staff position.

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Players who left for the transfer portal

Player	Class next season	Pos.	Hgt	Wgt	Next school
Luka Bogavac	Senior	W	6–6	215	Oklahoma State
James Brown	Senior	C	6–10	240	Howard
Derek Dixon	Sophomore	G	6–5	200	Arizona
Kyan Evans	Senior	G	6–2	175	Minnesota
Zayden High	Junior	C	6–10	230	South Florida
Jonathan Powell	Junior	G	6–6	190	Pittsburgh
Ivan Matlekovic	Junior	C	7–0	255

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Schedule so far

(Other than the ACC/SEC Challenge, games without links revealed from reporting by Alex Rosinski or Rocco Miller)
(13 of 14 games)

Oct. 18 — exhibition game vs. Indiana at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis
Nov. 2 — vs. Western Carolina
Nov. 6 — vs. Wofford
Nov. 10 — vs. Wyoming
Nov. 13 — vs. Georgia
Nov. 20 — vs. Marshall
Nov. 27 — vs. West Virginia at the Dick Vitale Invitational at Charlotte’s Spectrum Center
Dec. 1 — vs. Arkansas in ACC/SEC Challenge
Dec. 6 — vs. Butler
Dec. 12 — at Georgetown
Dec. 15 (tentative date) — vs. N.C. State in a non-conference game in Greensboro
Dec. 19 — vs. Kentucky in CBS Sports Classic at Madison Square Garden, 2:30 p.m.
Dec. 21 — vs. The Citadel
Jan. 30 — vs. Illinois in Nashville, Tenn.

ACC games
Home and away: Duke, Louisville
Home only: California, Georgia Tech, Miami, N.C. State, SMU, Stanford, Virginia
Away only: Boston College, Florida State, Notre Dame, Pitt, Syracuse, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest

Photo via @UNC_Basketball