The North Carolina women's basketball team released its 2020-21 schedule Wednesday, unveiling a 25-game season with 20 ACC games.
The year will open on Nov. 25 with a slate of five non-conference games starting with Radford, followed by UNC Greensboro, High Point, South Carolina State and UNC Charlotte. All five of those games will be played at home in Carmichael Arena.
The team’s conference schedule begins on Dec. 10 with a trip to Winston-Salem to face the Wake Forest Demon Deacons. That’s followed by a road game against No. 5 Louisville, two home games against No. 23 Syracuse and Wake Forest, and a three-game road trip against Syracuse, Pittsburgh and Miami.
On Jan. 14, the Tar Heels will take on Virginia Tech at home, followed by another home game against their perennial rivals, the Duke Blue Devils. UNC will then take a trip to Charlottesville to face Virginia, head back home for a game against No. 22 Notre Dame, and then play an away game against Virginia Tech to close out January.
The Tar Heels’ Feb. 4 home matchup against Florida State will be the first of four consecutive home games, followed by games against No. 8 North Carolina State, Boston College and Virginia on Valentine’s Day. After that, UNC will play back-to-back road games against Clemson and N.C. State, before returning home to face Georgia Tech. To close out the season, the Tar Heels will travel to Durham on Feb. 28 for one last slugfest against Duke.
"It's obviously a different kind of year in so many ways, but the official schedule release signifies that it's almost game time," head coach Courtney Banghart said in a statement. "This team has been so hard at work since July, fully committed to the preparation of reaching their lofty goals. They are eager to play together."
Four of the opponents the Tar Heels will face this season are teams ranked in the AP preseason top 25. In the five matches UNC played against those teams last season, the Tar Heels won just one game in a66-60 comeback win against the N.C. State Wolfpack.
To close out their last season, the Tar Heels lost eight straight conference games, including a first-round exit in the ACC Tournament against Wake Forest. Though the team is welcoming one of its most heralded recruiting classes in recent memory, the Tar Heels will need to vastly improve in conference play if they hope to capitalize on the momentum the class is bringing.
