UNC basketball and N.C. State are taking their rivalry to Greensboro.
The schools will meet in a nonconference game at the Greensboro Coliseum during the 2026-27 season, with the matchup set for Dec. 15 and branded as “The Tobacco Road Classic.” Representatives of the Oak View Group, First Horizon Coliseum and Old Dominion Freight Line announced the game at a press conference on Wednesday, Aug.
- Tickets are scheduled to go on sale through First Horizon Coliseum on Thursday, Sept.
The agreement runs for two years, which means the teams will also play a return game in 2027.
Greensboro has not hosted a regular-season meeting between the Tar Heels and Wolfpack since the Big Four Tournament in 1979. The last time they played there at all was the 1998 ACC Tournament.
UNC holds a 10-4 record against N.C. State in Greensboro.
The series has already shifted in some notable ways. Last season marked the first time in 100 years that UNC and N.C.
State did not play twice in the regular season. N.C.
State won the only meeting, rolling to an 82-58 victory in Raleigh at Lenovo Center.
The old travel pattern is changing again this season. N.C.
State had hosted the Tar Heels in Chapel Hill every year since 1919 before that run ended in 2026. Now UNC will host the Wolfpack at the Smith Center, but it will not go to Raleigh for the first time since 1947.
This will also be the first time since the 1946-47 season that the teams meet with first-year head coaches on both sidelines. Everett Case guided N.C. State to two wins over Tom Scott’s Tar Heels that season.
Michael Malone is now leading UNC after a quarter century in the NBA, while Justin Gainey has returned to his alma mater in Raleigh to begin his head-coaching career. UNC’s roster includes N.C.
State transfer Matt Able, and N.C. State’s roster features former Tar Heel big man Ven-Allen Lubin.
The ACC’s move to an 18-game league schedule has altered some of the conference’s longtime rivalries, and the league, founded in 1953, now has UNC paired primarily with Duke and N.C. State paired with Wake Forest. The other home-and-home matchups rotate each year.
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O'Neill is still very much part of the conversation, though, and that matters for a team trying to smooth out the transition at the game's most important position. He is expected to be the backup and remains in the mix for playing time if the starter gets benched, so this is not necessarily a closed file so much as a first answer. For North Carolina, the bigger takeaway is that the Tar Heels can now start shaping Week 1 around a defined quarterback plan instead of a battle that had lingered into the final stretch. [Read more 🡒]
Michael Malone Is Sending UNC Fans A Tough Early Message
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There is reason for optimism, though, because Malone also brings a track record of recruiting success and is expected to help UNC stack talent in the 2027 class. The bigger question is how quickly all of that can be turned into a team that looks like a title contender again. For Tar Heels fans, the early message is less about instant gratification and more about patience, even as the pieces for a stronger future begin to come together. [Read more 🡒]
UNCs Offseason Additions Still Havent Silenced This Doubt
ESPNs latest Bracketology update gave North Carolina a little less room to breathe, slotting the Tar Heels as an 8-seed after they had been projected as a 7-seed two months ago. It is a small drop on paper, but it fits the uneasy tone around a team that has tried to bolster its roster in the offseason while still searching for the kind of confidence that comes with being viewed as a more secure tournament bet.
UNC did add Angelo Brizzi, Cameron Fens and Sayon Keita, giving the roster a different look heading into the season and some reason for optimism. Even so, the broader conversation has not fully moved off the same question: whether those additions are enough to quiet doubts about where the Tar Heels sit in the bracket and how tough their path could be if they wind up in a loaded region. [Read more 🡒]