North Carolina gets one last preseason run-out Tuesday night, and this one comes with a little extra Chapel Hill flavor.
The Tar Heels host Charlotte at home at 7 p.m. in their final tune-up before the regular season. UNC has already given fans two very different exhibition looks: an 88-70 win over USC in Greensboro and a 76-58 loss at Indiana on October 18. Now the Tar Heels return home, where they’ll be in front of their crowd for the first time since March.
There’s more to this matchup than just the scoreboard. Charlotte’s visit brings back two familiar names to Chapel Hill in Wes Miller and Marcus Paige.
Miller, a 2005 national champion under Roy Williams, has built himself into a successful mid-major coach with stops at UNC-Greensboro and Cincinnati before taking over at Charlotte. Paige, who played at UNC from 2012 to 2016, remains one of the program’s most dangerous shooters from deep and held the school’s 3-point record until RJ Davis passed him.
This also remains a team still taking shape under Michael Malone, who has assembled much of the 2026-27 roster through the transfer portal while also bringing in international big men, flipping recruits and keeping players in place after the coaching change. UNC still doesn’t have a clear-cut go-to scorer, though Chapel Hill native Jarin Stevenson showed he could fill that role in the preseason opener. Isaiah Denis and Jaydon Young are expected to keep getting run off the bench, and Sayon Keita brings a tall, athletic presence in the frontcourt with a well-rounded game.
Malone is still sorting out his best combinations and likely won’t lock in his rotations until the regular season begins, but UNC does have something it struggled with last season: depth.
Charlotte, meanwhile, will be playing in its first preseason game, so rust is part of the equation. Miller’s roster is built around transfers, including several players he brought over from Cincinnati.
For those planning to watch, the game tips at 7:30 p.m. ET. And if UNC’s final preseason outing goes the way the Tar Heels want, it could be a useful reminder of what this group can look like once the games start counting.
UNC’s exhibition schedule before the opener has already included the USC win and the Indiana loss, and this matchup with Charlotte leads into a season slate that starts Nov. 2 against Western Carolina. After that comes a busy opening stretch featuring Wofford, Wyoming, Georgia, Marshall, Monmouth, West Virginia in the Dick Vitale Invitational, Arkansas in the ACC-SEC Challenge, and plenty more conference and nonconference tests all the way into March.
In Other News...
Bill Belichick's Real Power At UNC May Be Coming Into Focus
North Carolinas front office reshuffling has turned into one of the more revealing storylines around the Tar Heels football program. The school suspended Michael Lombardi from his general manager role on July 27 amid an HR investigation, and he formally resigned in early September, leaving the program to sort through a job that has become increasingly important as college football keeps borrowing more from the pro model.
The search for a replacement is already underway, with former Michigan GM Sean Magee helping consult on the process. What makes the next hire especially interesting is the possibility that the role could be built to report to both athletic director Steve Newmark and head coach Bill Belichick, a structure that would say a lot about how much influence Belichick is expected to wield in Chapel Hill and how UNC wants its football operation to function moving forward. [Read more 🡒]
Josh Downs Just Put UNC Fans On Trade Watch
The NFL trade market has started to swirl around a familiar name for North Carolina fans, with former Tar Heels wide receiver Josh Downs now asking the Colts for a move. Downs is in the final year of his rookie contract, and his name has already been floating in trade talk as Indianapolis continues to reshape its roster with a string of notable departures, including Quenton Nelson and DeForest Buckner. For UNC supporters, it is another reminder of how quickly the NFL side of the pipeline can turn into a waiting game.
Downs has long been one of the more recognizable Carolina receivers to follow at the next level, and his situation now sits in the same conversation as teammate Jonathan Taylor. The Tar Heels, meanwhile, have their own receiver story unfolding back in Chapel Hill with Jordan Shipp and the broader push to keep that position producing at a high level. For a fan base that tracks both the college and pro arcs closely, this is the kind of roster-watch wrinkle that can change the mood around a Friday night or Sunday afternoon in a hurry. [Read more 🡒]
UNC Misses On Five-Star As This Recruitment Slipped Away Fast
North Carolina had a real shot in the mix for five-star prospect Asa Montgomery, but the rising 2027 guard is headed to Duke instead, narrowing one of the more closely watched recruiting battles on the board. Montgomery picked the Blue Devils over a group that included UNC, UConn, Georgia Tech and LSU, a reminder of how quickly elite recruiting can turn when a player starts separating himself from the pack.
For the Tar Heels, the miss adds another layer to a rivalry that tends to show up in the recruiting lanes long before it ever reaches the court. Dukes class keeps building around top-end talent, while UNC now has to keep pressing ahead with other targets and make up ground elsewhere in a cycle where every high-end decision matters. [Read more 🡒]