For the second straight season, the North Carolina men's basketball team must save its best for last.
Eight of the team's final 10 opponents on the 2016-17 schedule — which was released Monday — competed in the 2016 NCAA Tournament. But Louisville, one of the other two teams, finished fourth in the ACC and would have likely made the NCAA Tournament if not for a self-imposed postseason ban.
The Cardinals were one of four ACC teams — along with Duke, Notre Dame and Virginia — to beat UNC in 2015-16. This year, all four face the Tar Heels during the brutal 10-game stretch to close the regular season.
North Carolina starts its ACC schedule with back-to-back road games for the first time since 1997-98, as the Tar Heels travel to Georgia Tech on New Year's Eve before heading to Clemson on Jan. 3.
The regular season concludes at home against the Blue Devils on Mar. 4, with the ACC Tournament starting three days later in Brooklyn.
UNC's nonconference slate features dates with Indiana (Nov. 30) and Kentucky (Dec. 17) and a home rematch against Northern Iowa (Dec. 21), which beat the Tar Heels a season ago.
The regular season starts on the road against Tulane on Nov. 11, with the home opener coming Nov. 13 against Chattanooga.
