UNC basketball dips out of conference for replacement game
North Carolina won’t have to wait another week to play after all, as the school announced it will face Northeastern on Wednesday.
The Tar Heels (12-7, 7-5 ACC) were going to be left without a weekday game for the second straight week when the ACC announced Tuesday’s game against Virginia Tech wasn’t going to happen. The Hokies were pausing activities while several of players had to be quarantined due to COVID-19 protocols for contact tracing.
Boston-based Northeastern (9-7) is in second place in the Colonial Athletic Association. The Huskies went nearly three weeks between games from Jan. 24 to Feb. 13, when they had four games postponed due to COVID-19 protocols.
The game will be on the ACC Network at 7 p.m., according to UNC’s website.
UNC coach Roy Williams discussed how difficult it was to find a replacement opponent on Monday’s ACC coaches video call. He said his preference was to play an in-state school to possibly give them more attention — and a payout. The Tar Heels have only played six home games this season, so Williams said his priority was on securing a team willing to travel to Chapel Hill.
“It’s not an easy situation, because I’m not going to go back and play them there next year,” Williams said on the video call. “We’ve already got commitments for next year and we’re playing fewer home games than anybody in the country anyway.”
UNC had home games against Clemson, Miami and Virginia Tech all postponed due to COVID protocols. The league has not announced potential dates to reschedule them so they will in all likelihood be lost.
Northeastern at UNC
When: 7 p.m., Wednesday
Where: Smith Center, Chapel Hill
Watch: ACC Network
This story was originally published February 15, 2021 at 9:07 PM.