The fourth season under Hubert Davis looks to build on a Sweet 16 berth in 2023-24. UNC basketball will make the Thanksgiving week trip to the Maui Invitational, where they are guaranteed to face at least two teams ranked in the final AP Top 25.
at Kansas (Friday, Nov. 8)
A rematch of the 2022 National Championship game, this is also a rare matchup of these two programs. In fact, of the 12 times these programs played, only one meeting has occurred at a campus arena. The Tar Heels, with 25 points from York Larese, defeated Kansas 78-70 at Allen Fieldhouse on Dec. 17, 1960.
In that 2022 game, RJ Davis is the top returning scorer from both teams. He dropped 15 points and 12 rebounds for the Tar Heels. The Jayhawks return two players but neither was a significant scoring factor. Kansas outscored Carolina by 18 points in the second half to win 72-69.
The loss extended their losing streak to Kansas to four games, with the last victory by Carolina in the series coming in the 2002 Preseason NIT. The series is tied at 6 games a piece. This game rarely is decided by 10 points or less, with it only occurring once since Dean Smith retired.
vs. Dayton (Monday, Nov. 25 in Hawaii)
Carolina makes their first trip to the Maui Invitational since winning the 2017 edition. In fact, since 1990, the Tar Heels are 18-3 inside the Lahaina Civic Center. Their first round opponent in the 2024 tournament is the Dayton Flyers.
This is just the four meeting all-time between these two programs, with Dayton leading the series 2-1 after defeating the Tar Heels 79-68 in the 2010 NIT Championship game.
Dayton is coming off a 25-8 season with a second round appearance in the NCAA Tournament. The Flyers are 9-4 against ACC opponents since their last meeting against UNC.
None of the three previous meeting have been decided by less than 10 points. After this game, the Tar Heels will face either Auburn or Iowa State. A meeting against Auburn will be only the third since Carolina joined the ACC, while matching up with the Cyclones will get Carolina a chance to end a two game losing streak in that series.
vs. Alabama (Wednesday, Dec. 4)
Carolina’s 2023-24 season was ended in the Sweet 16 with a 89-87 defeat to 4-seeded Alabama in Los Angeles. Two of the top scorers in that game for the Crismon Tide, Grant Nelson and Mark Sears, return to Alabama for another season.
RJ Davis is the only Tar Heel from that matchup in Los Angeles returning that scored in double-figures. Davis dropped 16 points but was held to 4-of-20 shooting and failed to connect on any of his nine three-point attempts.
Despite losing the overall series between the two programs 8-6, Alabama is currently on a two-game winning streak in the series. UNC’s last victory in the series was in the 2019 Battle 4 Atlantis quarterfinal matchup.
This match-up will come after the Tar Heels return from the Maui Invitational. Carolina will look to reverse a trend, where they haven’t won the first game after the tournament since 2008. On a positive note for the Tar Heels, this is just the third meeting between the programs to be in Chapel Hill. In the previous two match-ups, Alabama was no match and fell both times by an average of 19 points.
vs. Florida (Tuesday, Dec. 17 in Charlotte)
For just the seventh time, these two programs will face off and the second meeting to be held in Charlotte. The last time these schools met was in the fifth-place game of the 2015 Battle 4 Atlantis, where the Tar Heels won 75-64.
The last three match-ups have been decided by less than 12 points, so the Heels will need to rely on transfer Ven-Allen Lubin. The junior forward transfer from Vanderbilt had a game-high 25 points in an upset victory against Florida in the regular-season finale.
The Gators, in traveling to Charlotte, will face its fourth ACC team in this early part of the season. This is the second straight game being played in the Queen City for Florida, having defeated Michigan in last year’s Jumpman Invitational. That game last season was the first time Florida has played a game in Charlotte since falling to Duke in the 1994 Final Four.
Florida did not have a stellar offseason in terms of the transfer porter after going 24-12 with a first-round NCAA Tournament exit. The only transfer coming to Gainesville from a power conference team is Rueben Chinyelu from Washington State.
vs. UCLA (Saturday, Dec. 21 at Madison Square Garden)
Part of Hubert Davis’s run to the 2022 National Title game was playing 4th-seeded UCLA in the Sweet 16. Like other match-ups on this list, the top returning player from the last meeting is RJ Davis.
Davis had 12 points and 7 rebounds in the victory, but only shot 3-of-11 from the field against the Bruins’ defense. UCLA, on the other hand, has no players on the roster that played in that last meeting.
The only Bruin who has some experience against Carolina is Skyy Clark. The junior guard spent last season with Louisville and had a game-high 16 points in an 86-70 losing effort. 12 of those points came from beyond the arc.
UNC holds a 12-3 series advantage and are looking to win their eighth straight meeting. The Bruins are looking for their first win since defeating the Heels inside the Dean Dome in January 2000.
Looking Ahead
UNC Basketball will have their intra-squad scrimmage on Oct 13th, holding it at the Harrah’s Resort in Cherokee, NC. After two exhibitions, with one on the road at Memphis on Oct. 15th, the Tar Heels will open the season on Nov. 4th against the Elon Phoenix. Looking for their 15th win in the series, North Carolina will use this match-up to get prepared for Kansas.