Heel Tough Blog: 2025-26 ACC Basketball Schedule Officially Released
- Joshua Marlow
- 3 minutes ago
- 3 min read
While the main focus on campus is on Carolina Football, the basketball season isn’t too far away, with the start of practice just under three weeks away, and a little over a month before the first preseason exhibition. Another sign that we’re getting close to the start of the season is the ACC schedule, which was released earlier this afternoon for the 2025-26 season, one that the league is filled with more top-to-bottom success and respect. In the off-season, the ACC made the move from 20 conference games back down to 18, in large part to encourage their conference members to play more high-profile games in November and December, as the league has fallen behind the SEC, Big 12 & Big 10, in terms of the pecking order of the best conferences in college basketball.
As always, the Tar Heels are tasked with a tough conference slate, and it comes in what is believed to be a make-or-break year for head coach Hubert Davis. Here is a month-by-month breakdown of the ACC games Carolina will play this season.
December:
Before the calendar officially turns to 2026, Carolina will play host to Florida State on either December 30th or 31st to open up conference play. With the decision to reduce the number of conference games, there’s no need for the early December ACC matchup, so the first conference game is back in its traditional area on the calendar, at the end of the year, going into the new year. This is the only matchup with the Seminoles this season, as there’s a new head coach in Tallahassee, after a long and successful run for Leonard Hamilton.
January:
The schedule does heat up in a big way in January, with Carolina playing a total of 7 games, but only 2 of them will be played in Chapel Hill. Three of the first four games in January will be on the road, at new ACC venues for Carolina, as they’ll travel to SMU, Stanford, and Cal. The date against the Cardinal has not been set yet. The home game in between those road contests will come against Wake Forest. After playing at Cal, UNC will return back home to host Notre Dame on either January 20th or 21st, before back-to-back road dates to close out the month, at Virginia, and at Georgia Tech.
February:
With so many road games in January, the schedule begins to balance out, with more home games in February, with back-to-back games in the Dean Dome to open up the month, against Syracuse, and the first matchup against Duke. After the Duke game, it’s another stretch of three road games in four contests, as UNC will travel to Miami, NC State, and Syracuse, with a home game against Pittsburgh in between. The road dates at Miami and NC State have yet to be finalized. Carolina will conclude the month with back-to-back home games, as they’ll host Louisville and Virginia Tech to end the second full month of ACC play.
March:
There are only two games in March, one at home and one on the road. Carolina will host Clemson for their annual Senior Night, in what will conclude a three-game homestand dating back to February. That means Carolina will finish the season on the road in Durham, against the Duke Blue Devils.
Make sure to tune to tonight’s edition of The Four Corners Podcast for a more in-depth breakdown of the schedule, starting at 7 PM, on the Heel Tough Blog Facebook page and YouTube channel.