Tar Heels Announce 2018-19 Non-Conference Schedule

CHAPEL HILL – A first-ever on-campus game against Gonzaga, a neutral-site contest against Kentucky, a Thanksgiving tournament in Las Vegas, and home games against a pair of former Tar Heel assistant coaches highlight the 2018-19 non-conference schedule for the University of North Carolina men's basketball team.

Carolina will play host to Gonzaga at the Dean E. Smith Center on December 15^th in the fourth meeting between the two schools and the fourth between Carolina head coach Roy Williams and Gonzaga's Mark Few, who have the two highest career winning percentages among active NCAA coaches.

The Tar Heels and Bulldogs have played three times – in Madison Square Garden in the 2006 pre-season NIT, in the 2009 NCAA South Region Sweet 16 in Memphis, and in 2017 in Phoenix in the NCAA championship game.

Carolina and Kentucky play in the fifth annual CBS Sports Classic on December 22^nd in Chicago. This is the first meeting since Carolina defeated the Wildcats, 75-73, in Memphis in the 2017 NCAA South Region final.

The Tar Heels return to Las Vegas to play for the third time in the Continental Tire Las Vegas Invitational. The 2018 field includes UNC, Michigan State, Texas and UCLA.

The LVI begins with games in Chapel Hill against Tennessee Tech (Nov. 16) and St. Francis (Pa.) (Nov. 19). The games at Orleans Arena in Las Vegas are slated on Thanksgiving Day on Nov. 22 and the championship on Nov. 23. The pairings will be announced this summer.

Jerod Haase and the Stanford Cardinal come to Chapel Hill on Nov. 12^th and C.B. McGrath brings the UNCW Seahawks to the Smith Center on Dec. 5^th. Haase played for Williams at Kansas, was an assistant in Chapel Hill from 2003-12 and will be in his third year at Stanford. McGrath also played for Williams in Lawrence, was on staff at Carolina from 2003-17 and will be in his second season as the head coach in Wilmington.

The Tar Heels will play an exhibition game against Mount Olive (date TBA), then open the regular season at Wofford (Nov. 6) and at Elon (Nov. 9). This will mark the first time UNC has opened a season with consecutive road games since 1986-87 when the Tar Heels played at Hawai'i and Hawai'i-Loa.

Carolina will be the first opponent in Elon's new Schar Center.

UNC will conclude its non-conference schedule with home games against Davidson (Dec. 29) and Harvard (Jan. 2) before beginning play in the Atlantic Coast Conference the weekend of Jan. 5-6.

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