UNC’s nonconference men’s basketball schedule will feature more home games, less travel

By R.L. Bynum

North Carolina announced a nonconference men’s basketball schedule Friday that will include more home games and less travel than last season.

The highlights of the nine nonconference games at the Smith Center will be Nov. 7 with the first Chapel Hill matchup in program history against Kansas and the Dec. 7 game against Georgetown. UNC trails in the all-time series against both programs and will be trying to end losing streaks against both.

It’s the 14th matchup all-time between Kansas and UNC and the first in North Carolina since the 82–68 Tar Heels win in 1981 in Charlotte, Michael Jordan’s first college game. The Jayhawks have won the last five meetings to take a 7–6 series lead.

The Hoyas lead that series 5–4, having won the last two meetings: 79–74 in the 2003 NIT and 96–84 in overtime during the Eastern Regional championship game of the 2007 NCAA tournament at the Meadowlands.

The most notable meeting, of course, was UNC’s 63–62 victory at the New Orleans Superdome in the 1982 national championship game, when Jordan hit the game-winning shot and Fred Brown threw an errant pass to James Worthy.

Of the four games away from Chapel Hill, the top matchups are against Michigan State on Nov. 27 in the Fort Myers Tip-Off, the Dec. 2 game at Kentucky in the ACC/SEC Men’s Challenge and the Dec. 20 contest in Atlanta against Ohio State in the CBS Sports Classic.

Last season, UNC played only six nonconference home games and played seven away from Chapel Hill, including two on an opponent’s home court (Kansas and Hawai’i). This season, the Tar Heels will play only four nonconference games away from the Smith Center, with only one of those on an opponent’s home court (Kentucky).

While Carolina traveled to New York City and Hawaii during the nonconference schedule last season, the Tar Heels will only travel to Fort Myers, Fla., Lexington, Ky., and Atlanta this season.

There will be two exhibition games, one on Oct. 29 in the Smith Center against Winston-Salem State. Carolina hasn’t officially announced the other exhibition, but the Tar Heels reportedly will face BYU on Oct. 24 at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City.

The only nonconference opponent that had not previously been reported is East Tennessee State, which will play in Chapel Hill on Nov. 16.

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	8 p.m.	vs. East Tennessee State	ACCN
			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