UNC Basketball: The Final Play Revealed for Championship Season!
UNC will face the VCU Rams to open its 2026 NCAA Tournament run. When the Tar Heels last started their Big Dance run in Greenville, a trophy followed.
The UNC basketball team faces an uphill climb to win its seventh NCAA Championship, starting with VCU at 6:50 p. m. ET on Thursday , but there's good news: all 68 teams get to hit the reset button.
North Carolina (24-8, 12-6 ACC) once looked like a National Championship contender, but Caleb Wilson's season-ending injury changed that hope drastically. The Tar Heels still play a winning brand of basketball without their superstar freshman, but the loss of a difference-maker like Wilson is extremely difficult. UNC and the Atlantic 10 champion Rams (24-7, 15-3 A-10) will battle in Greenville, S.
C. If you're looking at history alone, there's another good sign for North Carolina. When the Tar Heels last opened their NCAA Tournament run in Greenville, they won the 2017 National Championship .
UNC dominated Texas Southern in the Round of 64, winning 103-64, then came back to beat Arkansas 72-65. That same Natty run included a 12-point win over Butler in the Sweet 16, Luke Maye's "shot heard 'round the world' against Kentucky in Elite Eight action, a Final Four victory over Oregon, plus the grand finale against Gonzaga. Why can North Carolina's 2025-26 roster make a deep run?