By R.L. Bynum
With North Carolina one away from its 500th win in the Smith Center, the milestone underscores the many iconic moments at the venerable arena that sprang up from a wooded area on South Campus in the 1980s.
From national‑title springboards to miracle comebacks, the Smith Center has been the venue for some of the most electric, emotional wins in college basketball. UNC teams playing in the arena have won four of UNC’s six national championships, as the Tar Heels call it home for the 41st season.
Here are seven of the most memorable games in the history of the arena, followed by a list of some of the most memorable individual performances.
1. March 6, 2005: No. 2 UNC 75, No. 6 Duke 73
The words of the legendary Woody Durham captured the moment after Raymond Felton missed a free throw with 19.4 seconds left and UNC trailing Duke by one: “They battle for it. Loose ball … recovered Marvin … HE SCORES!” Durham preferred to use last names in his calls, but did it differently that season with Marvin Williams and Jawad Williams on the team.
It was a defining Smith Center moment, as Marvin Williams, with an intense, determined look on his face, completed the three-point play and two Duke shots rimmed out in the final seconds.
UNC stormed back from nine down with 3:03 left, scoring the game’s final 11 points, sparked by current assistant coach Sean May’s domination (26 points and a Smith Center-record 24 rebounds) and capped by Williams’ legendary follow shot. The building shook, students flooded the floor, and Roy Williams’s Tar Heels seized the outright regular-season ACC title on their way to the 2005 national championship.
2. Feb. 5, 1992: No. 9 UNC 75, No. 1 Duke 73
Eric Montross played through a bloodied face while UNC toppled the top-ranked Blue Devils, who would win their second straight national title. It will forever be known as the “Bloody Montross” game after he took a head-butt and some hard elbows to his face. It was a gritty, physical win that announced Carolina as a legitimate challenger in the sport’s fiercest rivalry a year before the Tar Heels won the 1993 national championship. Carolina ended a 23-game Duke win streak, with Derrick Phelps hitting two huge free throws with 44 seconds left.
3. Jan. 27, 1993: No. 3 UNC 82, No. 19 Florida State 77
Carmichael Auditorium had the 1974 comeback from eight points down in 17 seconds against Duke. While the Smith Center’s answer to that may not be as dramatic, it was incredible. On UNC’s way to a national championship, the No. 19 Seminoles stunned the college basketball world by taking a 21-point lead over the No. 3 Tar Heels with 11½ minutes left.
As Durham, who also called that “UNBELIEVABLE!” Carmichael comeback, said after the game, quoting somebody else: “Miracles don’t just happen in Chapel Hill. They usually happen.”
A pair of Henrik Rodl 3-pointers ignited 15 straight points, and Eric Montross’s jump-hook with 1:59 cut the FSU lead to 77–76. At midcourt, George Lynch stole a cross-court pass by two-sport star Charlie Ward, who won the Heisman Trophy, and soared for a dunk (at 6:40 in the below video) to give UNC the lead for good.
“I’d like some rosé, maybe some cheddar,” Tar Heel Sports Network analyst Mick Mixon mused before Donald Williams put the game away with two free throws. It was a dig at FSU’s Sam Cassell, who was part of that Seminoles collapse a year after calling the Smith Center “a cheese-and-wine crowd” (although it will be forever misquoted as “wine and cheese.”)
4. Jan. 18, 1986: No. 1 UNC 95, No. 3 Duke 92
Before any banners or legacies, No. 1 UNC christened the “Dean Smith Student Activities Center” by beating No. 3 Duke in a blue‑blood showdown with cheerleaders and television broadcasters, UNC alum Marty Brennaman and Tar Heels legend Billy Cunningham, donning tuxedos. The manual scoreboard was still in one corner and operated by kids as it was at Carmichael, but everything else was different, including a “spring-air floor.” Warren Martin scored the first basket, and Steve Hale led the way with a career-high 28 points in a 95–92 Tar Heels victory. It was a perfect beginning to what would become one of the nation’s most dominant home courts. A good trivia question: What was the first game at the Smith Center? Yes, UNC-Duke was the first varsity game. But, earlier that day, UNC’s junior varsity team played Lenoir Community College in the first game at the arena.
5. Feb. 8, 1992: No. 9 UNC 80, Wake Forest 78
In a game often forgotten because it was three days after the epic Duke win that’s No. 2 on this list, the Tar Heels staged the largest comeback in program history. The Demon Deacons’ lead ballooned to 22 at one point. UNC trailed by 20 points with 14:49 left and 11 with 6:17 remaining, before a 10–0 run cut the deficit to one. Pat Sullivan, a current assistant coach, tied it on two free throws with 38 seconds left. Brian Reese stole the ball with 16 seconds left and missed on a drive, but got the rebound and beat the buzzer with a 12-foot jumper to win the game. The only other UNC rally that comes close is when the Tar Heels came back from 21 points behind with 17:36 left in Maui to beat Dayton 92–90 on Nov. 25, 2024.
6. Feb. 5, 1998: No. 2 UNC 97, No. 1 Duke 73
In a matchup between the nation’s top two ranked teams, Antawn Jamison touched the ball for only 53 seconds but carved up the Blue Devils with a nearly flawless 35 points on 14 of 20 shooting in a season he won National Player of the Year honors. Jamison’s trademark quick release repeatedly befuddled the Blue Devils, even though they knew it was coming.
7. Dec. 10, 1990: No. 10 UNC 84, No. 25 Kentucky 81
In the first Chapel Hill meeting with Kentucky, UNC overcame a 12‑point deficit behind balanced scoring from Rick Fox, Pete Chilcutt, King Rice, and a junior named Hubert Davis in a landmark early win in the building’s history. UNC hadn’t led for nearly 30 minutes before a Chilcutt dunk with 1:02 left gave UNC the lead for good against Coach Rick Pitino’s Wildcats.
More on Tar Heels
— Wake Forest at No. 17 UNC: TV info, stats, scouting Deacons, keys to game, comparisons and notes
— Davis’s positionless calculus: inside rotation math after Wilson, Veesaar and Trimble
— Davis explains why UNC switching more on defense this season
— ‘It came from every direction’: Davis says UNC’s defensive lapses at SMU need to be ‘one-game thing’
— UNC, other top ACC teams, fall in NET rankings; another game becomes Q1
Outstanding individual performances
Here are a few of the most outstanding individual performances by Tar Heels in the Smith Center:
— Joseph Forte scored 38 points, then a Smith Center record, and had 10 rebounds and six assists while playing all 40 minutes in No. 6 Carolina’s 91–81 victory over Tulsa on Nov. 12, 2000.
— Tyler Hansbrough introduced himself as a future legend, scoring 20 of his 40 points in the second half to break Forte’s record. Psycho T made 11 of 13 free-throw attempts, as No. 23 UNC erased a 20-point deficit to beat Georgia Tech 82–75 on Feb. 15, 2006.
— Eighteen seasons later, RJ Davis broke Hansbrough’s record with 42 points in No. 9 UNC’s 75–71 victory over Miami on Feb. 26, 2024. Davis was 14 of 22 from the floor and made 7 of 11 3-point attempts. Davis also has the fifth-highest scoring game in the arena by a Tar Heel with 36 points as No. 3 UNC earned a 85–64 win over Wake Forest on Jan. 22, 2024.
— Brendan Haywood became the first player in program history to record a triple-double, collecting 18 points, 14 rebounds and 10 blocks in a defensive clinic as the No. 14 Tar Heels rolled to a 67–45 victory over Miami on Dec. 4, 2000.
— Hansbrough denied Clemson its first win in Chapel Hill (which wouldn’t come until 2020) by scoring 13 of his 39 points after regulation and pulling down 13 rebounds as the No. 3 Tar Heels ripped out the hearts of the Tigers with a 103–93 double-overtime victory on Feb. 10, 2008.
— Rashad McCants (in a 69–54 win over Clemson on March 2, 2004) and Dante Calabria (in a 100–70 victory over Florida State on Jan. 25, 1995) both scored eight 3-pointers in games. They share the school single-game record with four others, including Hubert Davis, but those were the only two such achievements in the Smith Center.
— Raymond Felton dished out 18 assists on Dec. 7, 2003, in No. 10 UNC’s 115–81 win over George Mason as the Tar Heels scored 68 second-half points.
UNC records by home arena
Bynum Gym (1911–23; 13 seasons) 63–15, win percentage 80.8%
Indoor Athletic Gym, also known as the Tin Can (1924–38; 15 seasons) 130–20, 86.7%
Woollen Gym (1939–65; 26 seasons) 130–20, 79.2%
Carmichael Auditorium (1965–86; 21 seasons) 170–21, 89.0%
Smith Center (1986–present; 41st season) 499–90, 84.7%
Photo courtesy of UNC Athletics
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