UNC Tar Heels release full 2015-16 non-conference basketball schedule | News & Observer

Previously announced games against Maryland, Texas and UCLA highlight North Carolina’s non-conference basketball schedule, which UNC released in full Wednesday.

The Tar Heels open the season in the Veterans Classic on Nov. 13 against Temple at Navy’s Alumni Hall in a game that was previously announced. That is the first of four non-conference games UNC will play on neutral courts.

The others are the two games in the Hall of Fame Classic in Kansas City on Nov. 23 and 24 against either Kansas State, Missouri or Northwestern, and the game against UCLA on Dec. 19 in Brooklyn in the CBS Sports Classic.

This is the second consecutive season UNC is playing in that event. It defeated Ohio State in Chicago last December, and the Tar Heels will play Kentucky in Las Vegas in the 2016 CBS Sports Classic.

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The Tar Heels’ marquee non-conference home game will be against Maryland on Dec. 1 in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. UNC and Maryland played annually between 1955 and 2014, before Maryland departed the ACC to join the Big Ten.

Both the Tar Heels and Terrapins could enter the season ranked among the top five nationally. UNC won the last ACC game between the teams – 75-63 in February 2014 in the Smith Center.

UNC’s non-conference schedule includes two true road games – at Northern Iowa on Nov. 21 and at Texas on Dec. 12. The game at Northern Iowa will represent a homecoming for Marcus Paige, the senior point guard who is an Iowa native.

The Tar Heels have never played against Northern Iowa. The game at Texas, meanwhile, will be UNC’s third in the Erwin Center against the Longhorns, who defeated UNC there in 2012. The Tar Heels are 0-2 against Texas in the Erwin Center but 4-0 in NCAA tournament games there.

The non-conference schedule also includes home games against Fairfield, Wofford, Davidson, Tulane, Appalachian State and UNC-Greensboro. Shammond Williams, a former UNC guard, is an assistant coach at Tulane.