The North Carolina men's basketball team unveiled its full slate of games for the upcoming 2020-2021 season on Tuesday. The Tar Heels will play 27 games after having the schedule reduced by four games due to the COVID-19 pandemic — 27 games is the fewest they have played since 2005-2006.
The season will open on Nov. 25 against College of Charleston, the night before Thanksgiving. North Carolina is slated to play seven more non-conference games, including:
- The three-game Maui Invitational tournament in Asheville, N.C. from Nov. 30 - Dec. 2.
- The ACC/Big Ten Challenge at Iowa on Dec. 8.
- The CBS Sports Classic vs. Ohio State in Cleveland on Dec. 19.
UNC will also play a non-conference home game against Elon on Dec. 12.
ACC play begins on Dec. 22 against N.C. State, the first time the Tar Heels and the Wolfpack will open conference play against each other since the 2005-2006 season. This is also the first time the two teams will have played each other in November or December since 1979 in the Big Four Tournament in Greensboro.
North Carolina is scheduled for six home-and-home series with ACC opponents this year with N.C. State, Clemson, Duke, Florida State, Miami and Syracuse. The first game against Duke this season will be played in Durham on Feb. 6 with the game in Chapel Hill slated for March 6, the last game of the regular season.
The ACC Tournament is scheduled to take place in Washington D.C. this year from March 9-13.
“It is a difficult and challenging schedule to say the least,” head coach Roy Williams said in a statement. “We have a young team with a number of freshmen who are going to get a lot of playing time, and those are the type teams that you’d like to have some scrimmages and exhibition games that none of us have this season. But that’s the world we live in."
Even though Williams said the team didn't catch a break by playing twice against multiple teams that have many returners, he's still optimistic
