The 2023–24 North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball team represented the

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC, UNC–Chapel Hill, or simply Carolina) is a public university, public research university in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States. Chartered in 1789, the university first began enrolli ...

for the

2023–24 NCAA Division I men's basketball season The 2023–24 NCAA Division I men's basketball season began on November 6, 2023. The regular season ended on March 17, 2024, with the 2024 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament beginning with the First Four on March 19 and ending with th ...

. The team was led by coach

Hubert Davis Hubert Ira Davis Jr. (born May 17, 1970) is an American college basketball coach and former professional player who is the head coach of the North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball, North Carolina Tar Heels men's team. Before his coaching care ...

, who entered his third season as UNC's head coach, and was assisted by

Jeff Lebo Jeffrey Brian Lebo (born October 5, 1966) is an American basketball coach and former player who is an assistant coach for his alma mater, North Carolina. He was previously the head men's basketball coach at East Carolina (2010–2017), Auburn Un ...

Sean May Sean Gregory May (born April 4, 1984) is an American former professional basketball player and current assistant basketball coach at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, University of North Carolina. May was born in Chicago, Illinois ...

, and Brad Frederick. The Tar Heels played their home games at the

Dean Smith Center The Dean E. Smith Student Activities Center (commonly known as the Dean Smith Center, Smith Center, or the Dean Dome) is a multi-purpose arena in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, used primarily as the home for the University of North Carolina at Ch ...

Chapel Hill, North Carolina Chapel Hill is a town in Orange County, North Carolina, Orange and Durham County, North Carolina, Durham counties, North Carolina, United States. Its population was 61,960 in the 2020 United States census, making Chapel Hill the List of municipa ...

, as members of the

Atlantic Coast Conference The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, the ACC's eighteen member universities compete in the National Collegiate Athlet ...

(ACC). The North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball team drew an average home attendance of 20,593 in 2023-24, the highest in college basketball. The Tar Heels began the season ranked nineteenth in the nation, and progressed up the rankings to fourteenth after three straight wins. It was with that ranking that they entered their early-season tournament, the

Battle 4 Atlantis The Battle 4 Atlantis is an early-season college basketball tournament. It takes place at Atlantis Paradise Island on Paradise Island in The Bahamas, on the week of the US holiday of Thanksgiving. For sponsorship purposes, the tournament is of ...

. They won their first game against

Northern Iowa Iowa ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the upper Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west; Wisconsin to the northeast, Ill ...

before losing in overtime to Villanova. They defeated twentieth-ranked

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the West South Central region of the Southern United States. It borders Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, Texas to the southwest, and Oklahoma ...

to finish in third place in the tournament. They then beat tenth-ranked

Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...

in the

ACC–SEC Challenge The ACC–SEC Challenge is an in-season NCAA Division I college basketball series that matches men's and women's teams from the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) and the Southeastern Conference (SEC). It replaced the ACC–Big Ten Challenge and the ...

and won their ACC opener over

Florida State Florida State University (FSU or Florida State) is a Public university, public research university in Tallahassee, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preeminent university in the s ...

. They were defeated by eventual national champion, then fifth-ranked

UConn The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university system with its main campus in Storrs, Connecticut, United States. It was founded in 1881 as the Storrs Agricultural School, named after two benefactors. In 1893, ...

in the

Jimmy V Classic The Jimmy V Classic is an annual basketball game organized by ESPN Events ESPN Events is an American multinational sporting event promoter owned by ESPN Inc. It is headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, and shares its operations with SE ...

and lost a

rivalry A rivalry is the state of two people or groups engaging in a lasting competitive relationship. Rivalry is the "against each other" spirit between two competing sides. The relationship itself may also be called "a rivalry", and each participant ...

match to fourteenth-ranked

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

. They defeated seventh-ranked

Oklahoma Oklahoma ( ; Choctaw language, Choctaw: , ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Texas to the south and west, Kansas to the north, Missouri to the northea ...

in the Jumpman Invitational to move up to ninth in the rankings. The defeat of Oklahoma started a string of ten straight wins for the team, including rivalry wins over

NC State North Carolina State University (NC State, North Carolina State, NC State University, or NCSU) is a public land-grant research university in Raleigh, North Carolina, United States. Founded in 1887 and part of the University of North Carolina sy ...

and Wake Forest and a ten-point defeat of sixteenth-ranked Clemson. At the end of the streak, the team reached its highest ranking during the season, third. The Tar Heels had a rough stretch after that, winning only two of their next five games. However, one of those two wins was against bitter

rival A rivalry is the state of two people or Social group, groups engaging in a lasting competitive relationship. Rivalry is the "against each other" spirit between two competing sides. The relationship itself may also be called "a rivalry", and each ...

, and seventh-ranked

Duke Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of Royal family, royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and above sovereign princes. As royalty or nobi ...

. The team won its last six games including rivalry re-matches with NC State and ninth-ranked Duke. The Tar Heels finished the season 29–8 and 17–3 in ACC play to finish as regular season champions. As the first seed in the ACC tournament, they earned a bye to the Quarterfinals, where they defeated ninth seed

. They defeated

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

in the Semifinals, but could not overcome NC State for a third time in the season in the Final. They lost 84–76 to finish as runner-up. They earned an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament and were placed as a first seed in the

West West is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some Romance langu ...

region. They defeated sixteenth-seed

Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, essayist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most o ...

in the First Round, and ninth-seed

Michigan State Michigan State University (Michigan State or MSU) is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan, United States. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the first of its kind in the ...

in the Second Round before falling to fourth-seed

Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...

in the Sweet Sixteen to end their season.

Previous season

After starters

Caleb Love Caleb Khristopher Love (born September 27, 2001) is an American basketball player. He played college basketball for the North Carolina Tar Heels and the Arizona Wildcats. High school career Love attended Christian Brothers College High School in ...

, R. J. Davis,

Armando Bacot Armando Linwood Bacot Jr. (born March 6, 2000) is an American professional basketball player for the Memphis Hustle of the NBA G League. He played college basketball for the North Carolina Tar Heels. He holds the program records for double-doubl ...

, and Leaky Black, who had been key pieces in the 2021–22 team's National Runner-Up finish, decided to return for the 2022–23 season, the Tar Heels earned the No. 1 ranking in the preseason AP Poll. Despite the lofty expectations and desires to win the championship that had narrowly eluded them the season prior, the 2022–23 Tar Heels struggled mightily, finishing the season 20–13 (11–9 in conference play) and missing the NCAA tournament altogether. The 2022–23 team became the first preseason No. 1 to miss the NCAA tournament since the field expanded to 64 teams in 1985. After missing the "big dance," the Tar Heels issued a statement declining a bid for the NIT. Bacot, despite battling ankle and shoulder injuries that caused him to miss some time, proved to be one of the lone bright spots on the season, as neither Love, Davis, nor Black returned to their form from the 2022 tournament run. Bacot set all-time program records for career double-doubles by passing

Billy Cunningham William John Cunningham (born June 3, 1943) is an American former professional basketball player and coach, who was nicknamed the Kangaroo Kid for his leaping and record-setting rebounding abilities. He spent a total of 17 seasons with the NBA' ...

's school record of 61, and he also became the all-time leading rebounder in program history by passing

Tyler Hansbrough Andrew Tyler Hansbrough (born November 3, 1985) is an American former professional basketball player. He played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for seven seasons, as well as internationally. In college, Hansbrough was a star with t ...

's record as well.

Offseason

After declining a bid to the NIT, the offseason began sooner than many in Chapel Hill had expected. On March 13, 2023, the Transfer Portal officially opened, and like many other programs, the Tar Heels immediately lost players, with first-year reserve forward Tyler Nickel and senior Justin McKoy both entering the portal. Nickel transferred to

Virginia Tech The Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, commonly referred to as Virginia Tech (VT), is a Public university, public Land-grant college, land-grant research university with its main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia, United States ...

, and McKoy chose to spend his final season of eligibility at

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

. Following Nickel and McKoy, sophomore guard/forward Dontrez Styles announced his intentions to leave the Tar Heels and enter the transfer portal. He committed to Georgetown in April.

Puff Johnson Ewanya "Puff" Johnson (December 10, 1972 – June 24, 2013) was an American R&B singer-songwriter. Born in Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situat ...

also entered his name into the transfer portal, on March 22, 2023. He later committed to

Penn State #Redirect Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with ca ...

. Leaky Black and

Pete Nance Pete Lucas Nance (born February 19, 2000) is an American professional basketball player for the Milwaukee Bucks of the National Basketball Association (NBA), on a two-way contract with the Wisconsin Herd of the NBA G League. He played college ba ...

, who had both used their extra year of eligibility provided by the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

for the 2022–23 season also left the team, as both had their eligibility expire after using their fifth-year options. Later that week, both R.J. Davis and Armando Bacot announced their decisions to return for another season in Chapel Hill. Reserve forward Will Shaver announced his intentions to enter the transfer portal on March 25, 2023. After originally committing to Belmont, Shaver announced in a tweet that he had reopened his transfer recruitment. He later committed to UAB, deciding to return to his hometown of

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

. After much speculation as to what his future would hold,

decided to enter the transfer portal and play his senior season elsewhere. Love originally committed to

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

, but decommitted after reported issues with transfer credits. He later announced his commitment to

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

, reuniting with former Tar Heel assistant Steve Robinson, who is currently an assistant at Arizona. The Tar Heels sought to fill these departures by utilizing the transfer portal to bring in new players. They received their first commitment when former

Brown Brown is a color. It can be considered a composite color, but it is mainly a darker shade of orange. In the CMYK color model used in printing and painting, brown is usually made by combining the colors Orange (colour), orange and black. In the ...

guard Paxson Wojcik committed to the Tar Heels for his final season of eligibility. He is the son of

Doug Wojcik Frederick Douglas Wojcik (pronounced WO-jick) (born April 12, 1964) is an American college basketball coach, former player, and former Naval officer. Currently, he is the Associate Head Coach for Tom Izzo at Michigan State University. An NCAA D ...

, who was an assistant coach for the Tar Heels from 2000–2003 under Matt Doherty. The team received its second transfer portal commitment in April, as former

Louisville Louisville is the most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeast, and the 27th-most-populous city in the United States. By land area, it is the country's 24th-largest city; however, by populatio ...

forward, and Charlotte native, Jae'Lyn Withers announced his decision to return to his home state and transfer to Carolina. Later in the month, former Notre Dame guard

Cormac Ryan Cormac Joseph Ryan (born October 26, 1998) is an American professional basketball player for the Oklahoma City Blue of the NBA G League. He played college basketball for the Stanford Cardinal men's basketball, Stanford Cardinal, Notre Dame Fightin ...

committed to the Tar Heels following an official visit to Chapel Hill. Coach Davis' Tar Heels received another portal commitment on April 22, when former

Stanford Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth governor of and th ...

wing Harrison Ingram, the 2022 Pac-12 Freshman of the Year, committed to the Tar Heels. On May 11, sophomore guard D'Marco Dunn entered the transfer portal. Also in May, guard Elliot Cadeau, who had been committed to the Tar Heels as part of their 2024 recruiting class, announced his intentions to reclassify and head to Chapel Hill for the 2023-24 season. After a few months of relative quiet, the Tar Heels received another transfer portal commitment in July, when former

West Virginia West Virginia is a mountainous U.S. state, state in the Southern United States, Southern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States.The United States Census Bureau, Census Bureau and the Association of American ...

reserve big man James Okonkwo committed to the team.

Departures

Additions

Incoming Transfers

Recruiting Class

Roster

Schedule and results

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Rankings

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2023-24 North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball team North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball seasons

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball The North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball program is a college basketball team of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The Tar Heels have won six NCAA championships (1957 NCAA University Division basketball tournament, 1957, 198 ...