By R.L. Bynum
Just as in the previous two seasons, North Carolina’s men’s and women’s basketball teams will play on separate nights at the Jumpman Invitational at Charlotte’s Spectrum Center.
Both teams will play Florida. The men will play the Gators on Tuesday, Dec. 17, when Oklahoma’s women take on Michigan. The Carolina women will play Florida on Wednesday, Dec. 18, when the Oklahoma and Michigan men’s teams battle.
The game times and the order of games each night haven’t been set, and ESPN will determine both.
Florida’s men, who beat Michigan 106–101 in double overtime in the Jumpman Invitational last season, finished 24–12. The Gators lost to No. 12 Auburn 86–67 in the SEC tournament championship game before losing 102–100 to No. 10 Colorado in the first round of the NCAA tournament.
Next season will be the third for Florida under head coach Todd Golden, who previously coached at San Francisco.
Florida’s women, who beat Michigan 82–65 in last season’s Jumpman Invitational, finished 16–16, lost to Ole Miss 84–74 in the SEC tournament quarterfinals and lost 79–60 to St. John’s in the first round of the WNIT.
Coach Kelly Rae Finley will enter her third season in Gainesville next season.
Carolina’s men are 2–0 in the event, with an 81–69 win over Oklahoma last season and an 80–76 victory over Michigan two seasons ago. UNC’s women have split their two games, losing 76–68 to Michigan two seasons ago but downing Oklahoma last season 61–52.
The Tar Heels are No. 9 in ESPN’s way-too-early men’s top 25 and No. 17 in ESPN’s way-too-early women’s Top 25.
Coach Hubert Davis’ team opens the season at home Nov. 4 against Elon before playing at Kansas on Nov. 8. Other known parts of the schedule are a Nov. 22 game at Hawaii, playing in the Maui Invitational Nov. 25–27, a Dec. 14 home game against LaSalle and a December game against UCLA in the CBS Sports Classic.
Coach Courtney Banghart’s team will play UConn in a neutral-site game in North Carolina (likely Greensboro) and is expected to face reigning national champion South Carolina.
Photo courtesy of UNC Athletics
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