By R.L. Bynum

The ACC has approved reducing the men’s basketball conference schedule from 20 to 18 games, but the schedule will work differently from the 18-game format used last season in women’s basketball.

UNC and N.C. State could play only once in the regular season for the first time in 106 seasons.

Under the women’s schedule, teams only faced one opponent home and home (for North Carolina, it was Duke) and played every other ACC opponent once. That meant that UNC and N.C. State only played once during the regular season.

Each men’s team will play two opponents home and home. One for UNC will always be Duke, but the other will be “variable” for the Tar Heels, and that opponent for next season won’t be known until the ACC schedule is released. That will mean there will be one league team that UNC won’t face each season.

The logical second home-and-home opponent is N.C. State, but the ACC’s release suggests that this will only sometimes be the case. UNC and State have played twice in every regular season since 1920. They only played once in 1913 and 1919.

The move has been widely viewed as a way to help the league get more NCAA tournament berths after only four teams made the field last season. The ACC went to the 20-game schedule for the 2019–20 season. In March, the Big 12 reduced its conference schedule from 20 games to 18.

“Moving to an 18-game conference schedule is a direct result of our ongoing strategic review and analysis and provides our schools a better balance of non-conference and conference games, while also allowing them more autonomy in the scheduling process,” ACC commissioner Jim Phillips said. “This decision reflects our ongoing prioritization to do what’s best for ACC men’s basketball, and we appreciate the thoughtfulness of our membership and the support from our television partners.”

The ACC office collaborated with athletics directors, coaches, external consultants and television partners and worked with multiple experts to conduct statistical analysis to examine the conference’s basketball product, metrics and scheduling.

The first league games are expected to be scheduled for late December.

The other primary partners are: Boston College-Notre Dame, Clemson-Georgia Tech, California-Stanford, Florida State-Miami, Louisville-SMU, N.C. State-Wake Forest, Pittsburgh-Syracuse and Virginia Tech-Virginia.

The shift means that Carolina and every other ACC men’s team will schedule 13 nonconference games. Ten of the 13 opponents are already known (see schedule below).

Date	Time/ scores	Month/day	Opponent/event (current ranks)	TV/ record
		October	Exhibitions
9	W, 88–70	Friday	vs. No. 21 USC in Greensboro	—
18	L, 76–58	Sunday	vs. Indiana in Indianapolis	—
27	W, 89–82, OT	Tuesday	vs. Charlotte	—
		November	Regular season
2	W, 80–72	Monday	vs. Western Carolina	1–0
6	W, 109–70	Friday	vs. Wofford	2–0
10	W, 76–63	Tuesday	vs. Wyoming	3–0
13	L, 78–70	Friday	vs. Georgia	3–1
20	9 p.m.	Friday	vs. Marshall	ACCN
23	7 p.m.	Monday	vs. Monmouth	ACCN
27	7 p.m.	Friday	Dick Vitale Invitational vs. West Virginia in Charlotte	ESPN
		December
1	7:30	Tuesday	ACC/SEC Challenge vs. No. 19 Arkansas	ESPN
6	3 p.m.	Sunday	vs. Butler	ESPN2
12	Noon	Saturday	at Georgetown	Peacock
15	7 p.m.	Tuesday	Tobacco Road Classic vs. N.C. State in Greensboro	ESPN2
19	2:30	Saturday	CBS Sports Classic vs. No. 24 Kentucky in New York	CBS
21	8 p.m.	Monday	vs. The Citadel	The CW
30	4 p.m.	Wednesday	vs. California	ACCN
		January
2	4 p.m.	Saturday	at Boston College	ESPN or ESPN2
5	9 p.m.	Tuesday	at No. 10 Louisville	ESPN or ESPNU
9	Noon	Saturday	vs. N.C. State	ESPN2
13	7 p.m.	Wednesday	at Florida State	ESPN2 or ESPNU
16	2:15	Saturday	vs. Stanford	The CW
19	9 p.m.	Tuesday	vs. No. 6 Virginia	ESPN
23	Noon	Saturday	at Syracuse	ESPN or 2 or U
26	7 p.m.	Tuesday	vs. SMU	ESPN or ESPN2
30	6 or 6:30	Saturday	Nashville Hoops Showdown vs. No. 3 Illinois in Nashville, Tenn.	ESPN
		February
2	7 p.m.	Tuesday	at Notre Dame	ESPN or ESPN2
6	2:15	Saturday	vs. Georgia Tech	The CW
8	6 p.m.	Monday	vs. No. 10 Louisville	ESPN
13	5:30	Saturday	at No. 2 Duke	ABC
20	7 p.m.	Saturday	at Wake Forest	ACCN
22	7 p.m.	Monday	vs. No. 17 Miami	ESPN
27	7 p.m.	Saturday	at Virginia Tech	ESPN
		March
2	9 p.m.	Tuesday	at Pittsburgh	ESPN or ESPN2
6	6 or 6:30	Saturday	vs. No. 2 Duke	ESPN
9–13		Tues.-Sat.	ACC tournament in Greensboro

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No.	Class	Player	Pos.	Hgt	Wgt
25	Freshman	Maxi Adams	F	6–7	220
30	Freshman	Malloy Smith	G	6–5	180
21	Freshman	Sayon Keita (SIGH-on KAY-tuh)	C	7–0	205
5	Freshman	Kevin Thomas	W	6–6	205
35	Sophomore	Cade Bennerman — U	C	7–0	205
17	Sophomore	Neo Avdalas — W (NEE-oh ahv-DOLL-lus)	G	6–9	220
2	Sophomore	Isaiah Denis	G	6–4	185
3	Sophomore	Matt Able — X	G	6–5	200
22	Junior	Alex Samodurov (SAH-muh-DUHR-off)	C	6–11	225
1	Senior	Terrence Brown — Y	G	6–3	180
4	Senior	Jaydon Young (JAY-din)	G	6–4	200
15	Senior	Jarin Stevenson (JARE-in)	F	6–10	220
14	Graduate	Angelo Brizzi — Z (BRIZZ-ee)	G	6–3	200
54	Graduate	Cameron Fens — V (Fenz)	C	7–0	255
		Walk-ons
99	Junior	John Holbrook — SA	F	6–8	230
32	Senior	Evan Smith	G	6–1	200

V — South Dakota transfer; U — Northwestern transfer; W — Virginia Tech transfer; X — N.C. State transfer; Y — Utah transfer; Z — Buffalo transfer; SA — Holbrook is a designated student-athlete, so he doesn’t count against UNC’s 15-player limit.

Coach Michael Malone’s coaching staff — Associate head coach Chuck Martin; assistant coaches Bryan Tibaldi (tih-BALL-dee), Sean May, Jorge Sanz (HOR-hey sahnth), Pat Sullivan and Brandon Robinson; Director of player development Deon Thompson.

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Former players at other schools

Player	Class	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	Pacific

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Photo courtesy of the ACC