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Heel Tough Blog: 2027 3✮ WR Decommits from UNC
@tn1_ant- Instagram The Tar Heels are building some nice momentum on the field, but the team did lose one of its commits in the 2027 recruiting class. As first reported by Inside Carolina, 2027 3✮ WR Anthony Williams is no longer committed to UNC. Williams, the No. 942 overall prospect and No. 116 wide receiver in the class according to 247Sports Composite Rankings, had been committed to the Tar Heels since June 14th following his official visit to Chapel Hill on June 5th. Wi

Anthony Pagnotta
20 hours ago1 min read


Heel Tough Blog: Indiana Exhibition Takeaways
Robert Goddin- Imagn Images It wasn’t the result, let alone the effort, that Carolina was looking to put together last night, as the Tar Heels fell in exhibition play, 76-58 to the Indiana Hoosiers, in a game that at times wasn’t even that close. A week after scoring 88 points in a win over USC, Carolina scored 58 points and shot just 36% from the field, 32% from behind the arc, 54% from the free-throw line, and committed 15 turnovers, leading to 19 points for Indiana. But th

Anthony Pagnotta
1 day ago4 min read


Heel Tough Blog: Indiana Exhibition - What 2 Watch 4
@UNC_Basketball For the second time under Michael Malone, the Tar Heels are set to play a preseason exhibition game, this time against the Indiana Hoosiers, in Gainbridge Fieldhouse on Sunday evening. The Tar Heels opened preseason play with an impressive 88-70 win over USC last Friday against USC, in a game where Carolina’s defensive intensity fueled a big second half, leading to the comfortable win. The Trojans were without three key members of their rotation, on a team tha

Joshua Marlow
2 days ago3 min read


Heel Tough Blog: Duke Recap
UNC Athletics Billy’s first words were “Beat Duke” and he did just that on Saturday. After racing out to a 17-0 lead in the first half, the Tar Heel offense fell silent, allowing Duke to storm back and take a 20-17 lead with 4:39 to go in the game. The offense would respond with their first scoring drive since the middle of the second quarter, capped by a 24-yard touchdown run by Jaylen McGill with 1:53 remaining which gave the Tar Heels the lead back. The defense would conce

Anthony Pagnotta
3 days ago6 min read


Heel Tough Blog: Duke Preview
Charles LeClaire- Imagn Images The Tar Heels will travel to Duke on Saturday for the 113th meeting of the Battle for the Victory Bell. The Tar Heels will be looking to build off the first ranked win of the Bill Belichick era in this one, while Duke will be hoping to get back on track after a headscratching loss to Georgia Tech. Here’s everything you need to know heading into this rivalry matchup. Team Breakdowns Tar Heels The Tar Heels come into this game looking to generate

Anthony Pagnotta
3 days ago8 min read


Heel Tough Blog: Stock Report- Pittsburgh
UNC Athletics The Tar Heels entered Saturday looking for the first ranked win under Bill Belichick and the first win against a ranked opponent on the road since 2020. Despite a slow start on both sides of the ball, the team would scrap their way to a huge 21-17 over the No. 25 Pittsburgh Panthers. As the team now prepares for a trip to Durham to try and win back the Victory Bell, here is a look at who we have trending up and trending down around Tar Heel football. ⇧Shamar Eas

Anthony Pagnotta
5 days ago6 min read


Heel Tough Blog: UNC Picked to Finish 5th in the ACC in 2026-27
University of North Carolina Athletics Last week, the ACC held its annual preseason basketball event in Uptown Charlotte, as all the schools made their way to the Queen City for a media event designed to promote the upcoming season. During that time, a select number of media members were chosen to vote on the awards for the upcoming season and pick their preseason champion for the 2026-27 season, which starts in less than three weeks. Today those voting results were made publ

Joshua Marlow
7 days ago2 min read


Heel Tough Blog: PFF Report - Pittsburgh
UNC Athletics For the first time under Bill Belichick, the Tar Heels beat a ranked opponent after taking down #25 Pittsburgh, 21-17 on Saturday, improving UNC to 3-2 on the season and 1-1 in the ACC. The Panthers may have been without their starting QB, but they still led UNC 10-7 at the half and 17-14 in the 4th quarter before a touchdown pass from Billy Edwards Jr. gave Carolina the lead for good, giving the UNC program their first win over a ranked opponent since 2020 unde

Joshua Marlow
Oct 133 min read


Heel Tough Blog: Two Tar Heel CBs Out Indefinitely
Charles LeClaire- Imagn Images The Tar Heels came into Saturday afternoon with some major injury issues on the defensive side of the football and suffered two important ones in the secondary during the win over Pittsburgh. It started with nickel corner Kaleb Cost, who ran into the concrete wall behind the end zone on a first quarter pass play where he was making a play on the ball. He crashed hard hitting his right leg and face against the wall, but the broadcast cited the kn

Anthony Pagnotta
Oct 122 min read


Heel Tough Blog: Pittsburgh Recap
UNC Athletics The Tar Heels came into Saturday looking for the first ranked win under Bill Belichick and the first ranked win on the road since 2020. While it may have been ugly, the team was able to do enough to pick up a win that makes the hopes of making a bowl game very realistic. Here is a look at our biggest takeaways from the Tar Heels’ 21-17 victory of No. 25 Pittsburgh. Defense Played a Very Similar Game to TCU Saturday’s performance from the Tar Heel defense felt ve

Anthony Pagnotta
Oct 105 min read


Heel Tough Blog: USC Exhibition Takeaways
University of North Carolina Athletics For the first time under Michael Malone, the Tar Heels took the floor in preseason exhibition play last night, taking down USC 88-70 in Greensboro, behind a big game from Jarin Stevenson and contributions from Neo Avdalas, Isaiah Denis, and Maximo Adams. Carolina trailed at the half, 39-37, but behind a big second half, sparked by improved defense, UNC outscored the Trojans 51-31, as the Trojans shot just 27% in the second half, to pull

Joshua Marlow
Oct 103 min read


Heel Tough Blog: Pittsburgh Preview
Bob Donnan- Imagn Images The Tar Heels will look to end their two-game losing streak and pick up Bill Belichick’s first win over a ranked opponent on Saturday when they face the No. 25 Pittsburgh Panthers on the road. Here’s everything that you need to know about the matchup with the Panthers, who have won three of the last five meetings between the two. Team Breakdowns Tar Heels The Tar Heels will be hoping to make another statement on how far they have come from last year o

Anthony Pagnotta
Oct 97 min read


Heel Tough Blog: USC Exhibition - What 2 Watch 4
University of North Carolina Athletics The Michael Malone Era unofficially gets started tonight, as Carolina Basketball takes the floor in preseason exhibition play against the USC Trojans in Greensboro. This is the first time we’ve seen the Tar Heels since they blew a 19-point lead to VCU in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, which ultimately led to the firing of Hubert Davis and the hiring of Malone, a former NBA champion with the Denver Nuggets. As is the case after a

Joshua Marlow
Oct 94 min read


Heel Tough Blog: Stock Report- Notre Dame
Bob Donnan- Imagn Images The Tar Heels competed hard on Saturday in Kenan Stadium against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, the No. 3 team in the country, but ultimately fell short. Now, the team turns its attention to another undefeated team, the Pittsburgh Panthers. Here is a look at who we have trending up and trending down going into that road trip to Acrisure Stadium. ⇩Kaleb Cost The Tar Heel secondary struggled as a whole, but no one struggled more than Cost on Saturday. W

Anthony Pagnotta
Oct 88 min read


Heel Tough Blog: Cameron Fens Won't Play in Friday's Exhibition
The Tar Heels made their way to Charlotte today for the annual preseason event to promote the upcoming college basketball season, as Michael Malone, Neo Avdalas, and Jarin Stevenson met with the media in uptown Charlotte. This precedes Carolina’s first exhibition game on Friday night against USC, the unofficial start of the Malone era in Chapel Hill. A major talking point around preseason practice is the status of UNC big man Cameron Fens, who transferred to North Carolina a

Joshua Marlow
Oct 71 min read


Heel Tough Blog: PFF Report - Week 5 (Notre Dame)
Bob Donnan- Imagn Images It wasn’t the result that the Tar Heels were hoping for on Saturday, falling to Notre Dame 37-26 in Chapel Hill, in a game that Carolina led 7-0 in the first half, and only trailed 21-20 in the second, before the Fighting Irish pulled away. It was a game that featured the competitive spirit you want to see from your team, but the areas the program still needs to grow and develop were highlighted in a major way. As we do every week, let’s see how the T

Joshua Marlow
Oct 63 min read


Heel Tough Blog: 5 Things to Be Excited About For UNC Basketball in 2026-27
The clock is ticking. We are now a week away from seeing this new version of the Tar Heel basketball squad take the court in an exhibition matchup against USC. Michael Malone has had a couple of weeks of full practice implementing his system, and things appear to be coming together for this team. I wrote an article a while ago talking about some of the questions that this team and coaching staff face leading into the 2026-27 season. While that article focused more on potentia
Ashtin Marlow
Oct 45 min read


Heel Tough Blog: Notre Dame Recap
Bob Donnan- Imagn Images The Tar Heels faced a monumental task on Saturday when they welcomed Notre Dame, the third ranked team in the country to Chapel Hill. The Fighting Irish had a chance in the middle of the second quarter to take the Tar Heels completely out of game, but back-to-back touchdowns allowed the Tar Heels to flip the script and battle into the fourth quarter. While moral victories aren’t something we love, this was a needed one for the Tar Heels as they head i

Anthony Pagnotta
Oct 45 min read


Heel Tough Blog: Notre Dame Preview
Ashley Tumlin- Imagn Images The Tar Heels return to Kenan Stadium on Saturday as they face what might just be their toughest test of the season in the form of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. Here’s everything you need to know as the Tar Heels attempt to recreate the magic of 2008 tomorrow afternoon. Team Breakdowns Tar Heels The Tar Heels are coming into this game off their second bye week of the early season, which followed the team’s first loss of the season to Clemson in di

Anthony Pagnotta
Oct 37 min read


Heel Tough Blog: Five Storylines Coming Out of UNC’s Second Bye Week
Ashley Tumlin- Imagn Images The Tar Heels are coming out of their second bye week of the season and beginning to get ready for the game against Notre Dame this Saturday in Kenan Stadium to kick off a nine game stretch to finish the season. As they begin those preparations, here is a look at the five biggest storylines around the team heading into a difficult stretch of games. Quarterback Job Will Still Be Billy Edwards’ For Now Many fans were calling for the Tar Heels to turn

Anthony Pagnotta
Oct 13 min read
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