Heel Tough Blog: UNC Releases 2025-26 Non-Conference Schedule

@UNC_Basketball

Earlier today, the Carolina Basketball program officially released the non-conference schedule for the upcoming basketball season, and it looks quite different from last year. Yes, the Tar Heels will be challenged in the months leading up to the start of ACC play, but they won’t face the gauntlet of ranked opponents that they had to battle last year, when they started the season preseason ranked inside the top 10, and found themselves out of the top 15 after Thanksgiving. Here’s a month-by-month breakdown of what the Tar Heels are up against this non-conference season, with a team bringing in nine new players, featuring five transfers, an international pro, and three freshmen. 

October: 

• A lot of things have changed since the retirement of Roy Williams, but one thing that hasn’t has been the program hosting a local school for a preseason exhibition, with funds going to the opponent. This year, the opponent will be Winston-Salem State, which will visit Chapel Hill on Wednesday, October 29th. Carolina is also slated to travel to Salt Lake City for an exhibition against BYU, but that date has not been finalized. 

November:

• Carolina will begin the 2025-26 campaign at home against Central Arkansas on November 3rd, before the first real test of the season, at home against Kansas on November 7th. That’s the first Friday of the season, and the return game of a home-and-home series with the Jayhawks, after UNC lost in Lawrence last year. Carolina will play three more games at home, against Radford, NC Central, and Navy, before they leave Chapel Hill for the first time in the regular season. That first road trip will take place the week of Thanksgiving, when the Tar Heels make their way to Fort Myers, Florida, for two games against St. Bonaventure and Michigan State. In total, Carolina will play seven games in the opening month of the season, with 5 of them taking place in the Smith Center, and the other two on a neutral floor. 

December: 

• In the final month of the non-conference season, Carolina will start out with their first and only true road game before ACC play, with a trip to Kentucky, for the ACC/SEC Challenge, which will take place in December. After that, Carolina will return home for three more games, against Georgetown, USC Upstate, and ETSU. The game against Georgetown is on a Sunday, and is the first game in a home-and-home with the Big East foe. After that homestand, Carolina will head to Atlanta for a matchup with Ohio State in the CBS Sports Classic on the Saturday before Christmas, before closing out non-conference play at home against ECU, the week of Christmas. 

Hubert Davis expressed his desire to play more home games in the non-conference season, and this schedule accomplishes that desire. Even with only one true road game, we will learn a lot about the Tar Heels, with games against NCAA Tournament teams like Kansas, Michigan State, and Kentucky, and programs on the upswing in Ohio State and Georgetown. Combined with games against in-state competition, this is the perfect schedule for a program welcoming in nine new players and a coach who appears to be on the hot seat entering the season. 

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