By R.L. Bynum

North Carolina’s men’s basketball non-conference opponents, except one, are known after the announcement Wednesday that the Tar Heels will face St. Bonaventure in the Fort Myers Tip-Off on Nov. 25, in addition to the previously announced Nov. 27 game, Thanksgiving Day, in the event against Michigan State.

A fourth team will be added to the Fort Myers field in the coming weeks. It will be the second all-time meeting with the Bonnies, who UNC beat 91–72 in the 1968 NCAA tournament. They went 21–11 last season and lost to Kent State in the first round of the NIT.

Led by Coach Mark Schmidt, who will enter his 19th season with the program, St. Bonaventure has been one of the most consistent programs in the Atlantic 10. The Bonnies have won 324 games in Schmidt’s 18 seasons, reached the 20-wins mark in three of the last four seasons and advanced to postseason play five times in the last nine seasons (not including the COVID season).

Started in 2018, the Fort Myers Tip-Off has regularly attracted top programs, including Gonzaga, Kansas, Auburn, 2025 national champion Florida, Ohio State, Marquette, Wisconsin, Virginia and Michigan.

Ten of 11 non-conference opponents are known (see list at bottom), several of which were reported by the Made For March blog. Jeff Goodman reported this week that they will face N.C. Central at home.

Only three of those are against power conference teams, and only two of those made the NCAA tournament. A fourth power conference opponent will come in the ACC/SEC Challenge.

This season, Carolina played 10 games against teams in the final AP Top 25 poll released Tuesday, including No. 1 and national champion Florida, No. 3 Duke (3 games), No. 4 Auburn, No. 6 Alabama, No. 7 Michigan State, No. 18 Ole Miss, No. 21 Louisville and No. 22 Clemson, in addition to an exhibition game against No. 25 Memphis.

The toughest matchups so far are the Nov. 14 home game against Kansas (21–13 last season; 24th in KenPom) — which UNC lost to at Lawrence, Kansas, last season — the matchup against Michigan State (30–7, 7th) and a likely CBS Sports Classic matchup with Ohio State (17–15, 37th). Those three are the only known opponents that finished higher than 151 in the KenPom rankings this season.

At No. 7, Michigan State is the only known non-conference opponent in the final AP poll, though it’s likely that the ACC/SEC Challenge opponent made that poll since seven SEC teams are in the final ranking.

UNC opens the season at home on Nov. 3 in the program’s first meeting with Central Arkansas, which ended up 9–24 with a 349 KenPom ranking.

On Nov. 11, the Tar Heels host Radford, which finished 20–13 with a 151 KenPom rank. After the Kansas game, Carolina faces Navy (15–19, 276) at home on Nov. 18 before the Thanksgiving Day game against Michigan State.

The Tar Heels’ ACC/SEC Challenge game is likely to be played on either Dec. 2 or Dec. 3, and it is expected to be a road game, given that they played at home in the first two seasons. The CBS Sports Classic is expected to be played on Dec. 20 against Ohio State, but the date and location have not been announced.

The only other known non-conference opponents are USC Upstate and East Carolina, both visiting the Smith Center in December, and N.C. Central at home. USC Upstate, 6–26 last season and 340th in KenPom, visits on Dec. 13. East Carolina, 19–14 with a 176 KenPom ranking, plays UNC on Dec. 22.

No.	Class	Player	Pos.	Hgt	Wgt
8	Freshman	Caleb Wilson (5 star)	4	6–10	215
5	Freshman	Isaiah Denis (4 star)	CG	6–4	180
3	Freshman	Derek Dixon (4 star)	CG	6–5	200
40	Sophomore	Ivan Matlekovic	5	7–0	255
11	Sophomore	Jonathan Powell	G	6–6	190
2	Sophomore	James Brown	5	6–10	240
1	Sophomore	Zayden High	4	6–10	230
44	Junior	Luca Bogavac (BO-guh-VAHTS)	W	6–6	215
4	Junior	Jaydon Young	2	6–4	200
13	RS junior	Henri Veesaar (VEH-sar)	5	7–0	225
0	Junior	Kyan Evans	1	6–2	175
15	Junior	Jarin Stevenson	4	6–10	215
7	Senior	Seth Trimble	2	6–3	200
		Walk-ons
25	Sophomore	John Holbrook	4	6–8	230
32	Junior	Evan Smith	2	6–1	195
6	RS senior	Elijah Davis	2	6–3	205

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Former UNC players who transferred

Player	Class next season	Pos.	Hgt	Wgt	Next school
Elliot Cadeau	Junior	PG	6–1	180	Michigan
Jalen Washington	Senior	C	6–10	235	Vanderbilt
Ian Jackson	Sophomore	G	6–4	190	St. John’s
Cade Tyson	Senior	F	6–7	200	Minnesota
Ven-Allen Lubin	Senior	C	6–8	230	N.C. State

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Date	Month/day	Time	Opponent/event (current ranks)	TV/ record
	October
24	Friday	L, 78–76	vs. No. 10 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. 9 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. East Tennessee State	10–1
			CBS Sports Classic in Atlanta
20	Saturday	3 p.m.	vs. Ohio State	CBS
			—————————
22	Monday	8 p.m.	vs. East Carolina	ACCN
30	Tuesday	7 p.m.	vs. Florida State	ESPN2
	January
3	Saturday	2:15	at SMU	The CW
10	Saturday	6 p.m.	vs. Wake Forest	ACCN
14	Wednesday	9 p.m.	at Stanford	ACCN
17	Saturday	4 p.m.	at California	ACCN
21	Wednesday	7 p.m.	vs. Notre Dame	ESPN2
24	Saturday	2 or 2:30	at No. 23 Virginia	ESPN or ESPNU
31	Saturday	2 p.m.	at Georgia Tech	ACCN
	February
2	Monday	7 p.m.	vs. Syracuse	ESPN
7	Saturday	6:30	vs. No. 3 Duke	ESPN
10	Tuesday	7 p.m.	at Miami	ESPN or ESPN2
14	Saturday	2 p.m.	vs. Pittsburgh	ESPN
17	Tuesday	7 p.m.	at N.C. State	ESPN or ESPN2
21	Saturday	1 p.m.	at Syracuse	ABC
23	Monday	7 p.m.	vs. No. 11 Louisville	ESPN
28	Saturday	6:30 or 8:30	vs. Virginia Tech	ESPN or ESPN2
	March
3	Tuesday	7 p.m.	vs. Clemson	ESPN or ESPN2
7	Saturday	6:30	at No. 3 Duke	ESPN
10–14	Tues.-Sat.	ACC tournament	Spectrum Center, Charlotte

Photo via @UNC_Basketball