Full UNC men’s basketball schedule is out. The complete slate, plus top games

Hubert Davis overhauled North Carolina’s roster by adding size and versatility — bringing in transfers like Henri Veesaar, Jarin Stevenson, Luka Bogavac and Kyan Evans — while losing 11 players, including star guard R.J. Davis, in the program’s biggest rebuild of his tenure.

Now the Tar Heels know the exact path they’ll navigate through the regular season.

The ACC released full schedules for all 18 men’s basketball teams Tuesday afternoon. That includes UNC’s slate, which contains seven teams that played in the NCAA Tournament last season — all of them top-30 seeds.

Four of those games against tournament teams will come in the nonconference slate, with a preseason game at BYU, a home game against Kansas, a neutral-site game against Michigan State and an ACC/SEC Challenge matchup at Kentucky.

The Tar Heels, who only return one starter in Seth Trimble from last season’s 24-25 squad, will rely on an arsenal of transfers as well as incoming 5-star Caleb Wilson. The power forward out of Atlanta already made his goals for this season clear as far as in-state competition goes.

“I’mma tell you how I’m feeling right now: I don’t like Duke, I don’t like N.C. State. I don’t like Wake Forest,” Wilson said in an interview with social media influencer Connor Printz. “This year we putting belt on everybody.”

Here’s a look at UNC’s entire schedule:

UNC’s can’t-miss basketball game

A treat arrives early on the schedule when North Carolina travels west to play an exhibition game with AJ Dybantsa and BYU, a top-20 team in ESPN’s way-too-early top 25 rankings, in Salt Lake City, Utah, on Oct. 24. ESPN has UNC ranked at No. 25.

Dybantsa, the No. 1 recruit in his class, committed to BYU over UNC and Alabama. His name has appeared in the offseason headlines more often pertaining to NBA draft boards than the Cougars. But yes, he does have a college season to play before he goes pro, and will play the Tar Heels as the second of two BYU exhibition games.

For a UNC team that struggled with a lack of size last season, as Coach Davis emphasized in his press conference last week, this game will be an early test to see how the additions of Veesaar and Stevenson help bolster the frontcourt.

Trap game alert

North Carolina plays at Virginia on Jan. 24 in a game the Tar Heels shouldn’t overlook. It comes toward the end of a tough seven-game stretch for UNC in January, with five of the team’s contests that month being played on the road.

The Cavaliers hired VCU’s Ryan Odom in March and he has, like UNC, brought in some impressive international prospects. Be on the lookout for Johann Grunloh and Thijs De Ridder.

Toughest stretch for UNC

UNC faces its most demanding run of the season in January, which will see the Tar Heels crisscross the country to face a string of tough road opponents.

The gauntlet begins Jan. 3 with a trip to Dallas to take on SMU at Moody Coliseum, followed a turnaround against Wake Forest in Chapel Hill on Jan. 10. North Carolina has a week to regroup in between those games, but then begin a stretch that’ll see the Tar Heels play four true road games in an 18-day span: at Stanford, at Cal, at Virginia and at Georgia Tech. Only one date in that stretch — a Notre Dame game after the West Coast trip — is at home.

Easiest stretch for UNC

There is a November stretch, following the game against Kansas, where North Carolina should be able to rack up four wins over teams that didn’t make last season’s NCAA Tournament.

The first of those three games are at home: Nov. 11 against Radford, Nov. 14 against NC Central and Nov. 18 against Navy.

UNC caps off this four-game stretch with a game against St. Bonaventure in Fort Myers, Florida — the first game of its Thanksgiving break tournament, the Sketchers Fort Myers Tip-Off at Suncoast Credit Union Arena.

When does UNC play Duke?

The dates of this year’s home-and-home rivalry are easy to remember: Just think seven and seven.

The first game between the Tar Heels and Blue Devils takes place in Chapel Hill on Saturday, Feb. 7. The teams will face off again at Cameron Indoor Stadium on Saturday, March 7.

UNC basketball’s non-conference test

There are many high-quality opponents to chose from, including Kansas and Michigan State, but a road trip to play Kentucky tops the list.

The Tar Heels face the Wildcats on Dec. 2 at Rupp Arena in a blue-blood showdown. Kentucky enters this season stacked with talent and high expectations, especially given the addition of Arizona State transfer Jayden Quaintance — a projected lottery pick.

It’s unclear if Quaintance will be available for this game due to a torn ACL (suffered in February), but the Wildcats pack a punch regardless with transfers like Pitt’s Jaland Lowe, Florida’s Denzel Aberdeen and Alabama’s Mouhamed Dioubate.

UNC basketball schedule

This story was originally published September 9, 2025 at 4:18 PM.