The North Carolina men’s basketball team is headed to the Big Dance for the 45th time.
UNC (23-9, 13-5 ACC) earned a No. 6 seed in the East Region and will face No. 11 seed and Big East tournament champions Providence (23-11, 10-8 Big East) in San Antonio on Friday.
The Tar Heels haven’t had the best experience in San Antonio in previous tournaments. In 2008, Kansas jumped out to a 40-12 lead en route to a 84-66 defeat of UNC in the Final Four.
This is UNC’s four straight year in the NCAA Tournament and 10th in Roy Williams’ 11 years at the school. Providence hasn’t appeared in the NCAA tournament since 2004.
UNC was previously a six seed in 1996 (in Richmond) and 2004 (in Denver) and went 1-1 in both tournaments.
Providence defeated Creighton 65-58 Saturday night to claim the Big East crown. Friars point guard Bryce Cotton earned the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player and played all 40 minutes, scoring 23 points in the title game.
Providence has also won seven of its last nine games.
UNC is one of six ACC schools — including No. 12 seed N.C. State and No. 3 seed Duke — to make the NCAA Tournament. ACC champion Virginia is the East Region’s No. 1 seed.
UNC isn’t the only North Carolina school heading to San Antonio in the East. North Carolina Central earned a bid as a No. 14 seed and faces No. 3 seed Iowa State on Friday. The winner of UNC-Providence will face the winner of that game.
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