North Carolina has formally introduced its 2025–2026 non-conference males’s basketball schedule, which incorporates two matchups in opposition to in-state HBCUs — Winston-Salem State and North Carolina Central. The Tar Heels will host Winston-Salem State on October 29 in an exhibition sport, adopted by a daily season contest in opposition to North Carolina Central on November 14.
The video games proceed a significant custom of North Carolina partaking with HBCUs, highlighting the state’s wealthy basketball historical past and cultural connections. The Tar Heels final performed Winston-Salem State to open the 2019–2020 season, incomes a 96–61 win. That WSSU staff would go on to win the CIAA championship below head coach Cleo Hill Jr., proving itself as one of many high packages in Division II HBCU basketball.
North Carolina’s final contest in opposition to North Carolina Central got here in the course of the pandemic-impacted 2020–2021 season. Regardless of being closely favored, UNC needed to battle for a 73–69 win over the Eagles, showcasing the aggressive fringe of HBCU packages even in opposition to conventional basketball powerhouses.
This yr’s matchups maintain particular resonance for UNC head coach Hubert Davis. A local of Winston-Salem, Davis has private ties to HBCUs — his father performed at Johnson C. Smith College, a fellow CIAA member alongside WSSU. In 2022, Davis obtained the Clarence “Massive Home” Gaines Coach of the Yr award, named in honor of the legendary WSSU head coach and Naismith Corridor of Famer.
These video games present precious publicity and expertise for HBCUs whereas giving North Carolina an opportunity to honor its connections to Black school basketball tradition. For WSSU and NCCU, the chance to compete in Chapel Hill provides one other layer of visibility and problem for his or her respective packages.
As UNC prepares for one more season with nationwide expectations, these early-season contests in opposition to HBCUs will function each a aggressive tune-up and a celebration of North Carolina’s deep basketball roots throughout all divisions.
