Full 2025-26 Schedule Released For UNC Basketball

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — With the ACC’s announcement of North Carolina’s conference schedule on Wednesday, the Tar Heels’ 2025-26 schedule is complete.

The ACC is reverting back to an 18-game conference schedule this season. The league had played a 20-game schedule since the 2019-20 campaign, moving up from an 18-game slate. Under the new scheduling format, each ACC team will play two home-and-home opponents, with one of those two teams serving as year-to-year opponents. Teams will play in one-off games against 14 of the remaining 15 member schools. Duke will serve as North Carolina’s year-to-year opponent.

UNC Basketball 2025-26 Schedule
Oct 24 vs. BYU (exhibition in Salt Lake City)
Oct 29 vs. Winston-Salem State (exhibition)
Nov 3 vs. Central Arkansas
Nov 7 vs. Kansas
Nov 11 vs. Radford
Nov 14 vs. NC Central
Nov 18 vs. Navy
Nov 25 vs. St. Bonaventure, Fort Myers, Fla. (Fort Myers Tip-Off)
Nov 27 vs. Michigan State, Fort Myers, Fla. (Fort Myers Tip-Off)
Dec 2 at Kentucky (ACC-SEC Challenge)
Dec 7 vs. Georgetown
Dec 13 vs. USC Upstate
Dec 16 vs. ETSU
Dec 20 vs. Ohio State, Atlanta, Ga. (CBS Sports Classic)
Dec 22 vs. ECU
Dec 30/31 vs. Florida State
Jan 3 at SMU
Jan 10 vs. Wake Forest
Jan 13/14 at Stanford
Jan 17 at Cal
Jan 20/21 vs. Notre Dame
Jan 24 at Virginia
Jan 31 at Georgia Tech
Feb 2 vs. Syracuse
Feb 7 vs. Duke
Feb 10/11 at Miami
Feb 14 vs. Pitt
Feb 17/18 at NC State
Feb 21 at Syracuse
Feb 23 vs. Louisville
Feb 28 vs. Virginia Tech
Mar 3/4 vs. Clemson
Mar 7 at Duke

North Carolina will not face Boston College in the 2025-26 season. The last time UNC did not face Boston College in a season was the 2020-21 year that was impacted by COVID-19. The Tar Heels were scheduled to face them that February on the road, but the game was postponed and never played.

North Carolina will face Duke and Syracuse both at home and on the road. UNC’s home-only games will come against Clemson (March 3 or 4), Florida State (Dec. 30 or 31), Louisville (Feb. 23), Notre Dame (Jan. 20 or 21), Pitt (Feb. 14), Virginia Tech (Feb. 28) and Wake Forest (Jan. 10). In addition to the Blue Devils and Orange, The Tar Heels will travel to face Cal (Jan. 17), Georgia Tech (Jan. 31), Miami (Feb. 10 or 11), N.C. State (Feb. 17 or 18), SMU (Jan. 3), Stanford (Jan. 13 or 14) and Virginia (Jan. 24).

North Carolina hosts Duke on Feb. 7 and heads to Durham on March 7. UNC will face Syracuse at home on Feb. 2 and on the road on Feb. 21.

UNC will make the California trip for the first time this season, facing Stanford and Cal on the road after hosting those two teams last season. The last time North Carolina faced the Golden Bears in California was in 1998, when the teams faced off in Oakland for the Pete Newell Challenge. UNC last faced Stanford on the road in 2017 at Maples Pavilion. The Tar Heels will also head to SMU for the first time since Mustangs joined the lead. UNC last faced SMU in Dallas in 1986.

Last season, UNC picked up single-game series wins against Georgia Tech, SMU, California, Boston College, Syracuse, Virginia, Miami, Florida State and Virginia Tech and went 0-1 against Louisville, Stanford, Clemson.

UNC defeated Notre Dame twice: once in the regular season and again in the ACC Tournament. The Tar Heels also swept N.C. State in the regular season.

The Tar Heels split their games against Pittsburgh in the regular season, and they lost to Wake Forest in Winston-Salem before beating the Demon Deacons in the ACC Tournament. North Carolina went 0-3 in its meetings against Duke.

UNC will play two preseason exhibition games: one on the road vs. BYU on Oct. 24th and another against Winston-Salem State at home on Oct. 29. It will open the regular season against Central Arkansas on Nov. 3. The next four games come at home against Kansas (Nov. 7), Radford (Nov. 11), North Carolina Central (Nov. 14) and Navy (Nov. 18).

The team will then head to Florida for the Skechers Fort Myers Tip-Off, where it will play St. Bonaventure on Nov. 25 and Michigan State on Nov. 27, then it will head up to Lexington to face Kentucky on Dec. 2 in the ACC-SEC Challenge.

UNC will return to the Smith Center for a three-game home stretch against Georgetown (Dec. 7), USC Upstate (Dec. 13) and ETSU (Dec. 16). Up next will be North Carolina’s annual CBS Sports Classic game on Dec. 20, in which the team will play Ohio State in Atlanta. North Carolina will round out its non-conference schedule against East Carolina at home on Dec. 22.

North Carolina finished fifth in the ACC with a 13-7 conference record. It won two ACC Tournament games before losing to Duke in the semifinals.

UNC finished the season with a 23-14 record. After sneaking into the NCAA Tournament and winning its First Four game against San Diego State, the team lost to Ole Miss 71-64 in the Round of 64. Hubert Davis is 101-45 in his four seasons as North Carolina’s head coach.

Seth Trimble and James Brown are the holdovers from last year’s team. Zayden High rejoins the team after not being on the roster last season. High played his freshman season with the Tar Heels during the 2023-24 campaign.

Freshmen recruits Caleb Wilson, Isaiah Denis and Derek Dixon will join the team as well. West Virginia wing Jonathan Powell, Arizona center Henri Veesaar, Colorado State guard Kyan Evans, Alabama forward Jarin Stevenson, Virginia Tech guard Jaydon Young and High Point Center Ivan Matlekovic are UNC’s transfer portal additions. The team also signed Luka Bogavac from Montenegro.

“There is a pressure and expectation for us to be good this year,” Davis said in his press conference on Tuesday. “But that pressure and that expectation for us to be good is no different than any other year. The standard is at the highest here, and I always talk to the guys, ‘The standard is the standard.’ And there’s an expectation every year for us to reach that standard.”