Which North Carolina basketball games have stood out most over the last decade? In the first part of this countdown, three very different Tar Heel wins make the cut: a high-scoring statement against Tennessee, a brutal takedown of NC State, and Caleb Wilson’s breakout night versus Kansas.
No. 10 on the list belongs to North Carolina’s 100-92 win over Tennessee on Nov. 29, 2023, the opening act of the ACC/SEC Challenge. No.
17 North Carolina used the Smith Center floor to announce itself in a big way, putting up 61 first-half points and shooting nearly 58 percent overall in the opening half while going a perfect 16-for-16 at the line before the break. RJ Davis led the charge with 27 points, Armando Bacot posted 22 points and 11 rebounds, and Harrison Ingram chipped in 20 as the Tar Heels spread the scoring around.
Tennessee wasn’t quiet, with Dalton Knecht exploding for 37 points, but Carolina had already built enough separation to hold on. The win mattered beyond the final score, too.
Coming off a missed NCAA Tournament the year before, and following a ranked win over Arkansas in the Battle 4 Atlantis, the Tar Heels finally had a result that felt like proof they could chase an ACC title and make noise nationally.
No. 9 is the kind of result Tar Heel fans never forget: North Carolina 107, NC State 56 on Jan. 22, 2017.
The game was pushed back a day because of an ice storm, then turned into a runaway almost immediately. No.
14 North Carolina started slowly, trailing 6-4, before detonating a 20-0 run that buried the Wolfpack. By halftime, Carolina was up 56-23 and well on its way to the program’s largest-ever margin of victory in an ACC game and its biggest win over NC State since 1921.
Justin Jackson scored 21 points, Joel Berry II added 19, and four Tar Heels reached double figures. The defense was just as overwhelming: 26 NC State turnovers, 17 steals, and total control of the boards.
It also arrived at a key moment in the national championship season, after an ACC-opening loss at Georgia Tech and an overtime escape against Clemson, when Roy Williams’ team looked every bit like a title contender.
At No. 8, North Carolina’s 87-74 win over Kansas on Nov. 7, 2025 earns its spot as the latest entry on the list.
The Tar Heels and Jayhawks were meeting in their first-ever home-and-home series, and Carolina answered a loss in Allen Fieldhouse the previous season with a strong second-half surge in Chapel Hill. Trailing by eight at the half, the 25th-ranked Tar Heels erupted for 58 points after the break and shot 66.7 percent from the field in the second half.
A 29-9 run swung the game hard in Carolina’s favor, turning a double-digit deficit into a 13-point win. Caleb Wilson was the headliner, finishing with 24 points, seven rebounds, four assists and four steals in what amounted to his national coming-out party.
Henri Veesaar added 20 points, including three dunks during the opening burst of the second half, and Seth Trimble finished with 17 points and eight rebounds. North Carolina also dominated the paint 48-20, a clear sign of the frontcourt strength that would define the 2025-26 team.
The win gave Hubert Davis’ group an immediate boost after an uneven 2024-25 season and offered a fresh reminder that the Tar Heels could still play on the national stage.
In Other News...
Former Tar Heel Andrew Platek Lands A Head Coaching Role
Andrew Plateks coaching path has taken another step forward, this time with a move into a head job at Shenendehowa boys basketball. The former UNC guard arrives after two seasons on the sideline at Niskayuna High School, giving him a chance to build on the local coaching experience he has already picked up since his playing days at Guilderland and Chapel Hill.
Platek is stepping into a program that had long been led by Paul Yattaw, and his next challenge will be putting his own stamp on it. He has made clear the style he wants to bring with him, one rooted in pace, transition and volume, a familiar blueprint for anyone who watched Roy Williams teams at North Carolina. [Read more 🡒]
UNC Fans Get A Strange Bill Belichick Surprise In CFB27
Bill Belichicks first season at North Carolina is already drawing plenty of attention, and now Tar Heels fans have another odd wrinkle to notice when they boot up EA Sports College Football 27. The game includes UNC, but it does not include Belichick himself, leaving players to find a generic stand-in on the sideline instead of the sports most recognizable coach.
The omission comes down to licensing, since Belichick did not opt into EA Sports coaches agreement, and he is one of seven head coaches left out of the game. He is joined by names such as Miamis Mario Cristobal and Colorados Deion Sanders, a reminder that even in a title built around realism, not every major figure is guaranteed to show up exactly as fans expect. [Read more 🡒]