The 2011–12 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 ...

in the 2011–2012

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

season. The team's

head coach A head coach, senior coach, or manager is a professional responsible for training and developing athletes within a sports team. This role often has a higher public profile and salary than other coaching positions. In some sports, such as associat ...

was Roy Williams, who was in his 9th season as UNC's head men's basketball coach. The 2011–12 North Carolina team finished the regular season with a final record of 32–6, and with a 14–2 record in ACC regular season play, winning the conference regular season championship outright. They were invited to the 2012 ACC men's basketball tournament, where they beat Maryland and North Carolina State before falling to Florida State in the championship game. They were also invited to the

2012 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament The 2012 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament involved 68 teams playing in a single-elimination tournament that determined the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I men's basketball national champion for the 2011-12 ...

reaching the Elite Eight where they were defeated by Kansas. This was the second time UNC lost to Kansas in the NCAA Tournament with Roy Williams as UNC head coach. Roy Williams previously coached Kansas from 1988–2003. Kansas later fell to Kentucky 59–67 in the National Championship Game. The Tar Heels won their previous three games in the NCAA Tournament by an average of 13.7 points. In the second-round game versus Creighton, starting UNC point guard Kendall Marshall broke his right wrist with 10:56 remaining in the second half. Kendall Marshall did not play in UNC's two following games in the NCAA Tournament, a 73–65 overtime win over Ohio in the Sweet 16 and a 80–67 loss to Kansas in the Elite Eight. The loss to Kansas was UNC's second straight loss in the Elite Eight, after losing to Kentucky the year before.

Pre-season

Departures

Class of 2011 Signees

Roster

*Note that the roster is subject to change.

Season

Non-conference play

The Tar Heels started out as a near-unanimous #1 in all major polls. They opened the season against

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 inaugural

Carrier Classic The Carrier Classic was a series of college basketball games that were played on the deck of a U. S. Navy aircraft carrier. The first game was held on November 11, 2011, aboard , between Michigan State and North Carolina. President Barack Ob ...

, which they won handily 67–55. They were not seriously tested until the finals of the 2011 Las Vegas Invitational, in which they were upset by

UNLV The University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) is a public land-grant research university in Paradise, Nevada, United States. The campus is about east of the Las Vegas Strip. It was formerly part of the University of Nevada from 1957 to 1969. ...

90–80. After a close win over

Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

and an equally close loss to

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 made it relatively unscathed through the rest of the nonconference slate, with the only close game being against

Long Beach State California State University, Long Beach (CSULB), also known in athletics as Long Beach State University (LBSU), is a public teaching-focused institution in Long Beach, California, United States. The 322-acre campus is the second largest in the ...

Conference play

The ACC schedule opened with dominating wins over

Boston College Boston College (BC) is a private university, private Catholic Jesuits, Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1863 by the Society of Jesus, a Catholic Religious order (Catholic), religious order, t ...

and

Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

. However, in their third conference game, the Tar Heels suffered a 90–57 flogging at the hands of

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 ...

— easily the worst loss Williams had suffered in his nine years in Chapel Hill. They quickly rebounded and won their next five games with relative ease. They were well on their way to making

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 ...

their sixth straight victim, but Duke came back from 10 points down with two minutes to go to win the game on an

Austin Rivers Austin James Rivers (born August 1, 1992) is an American former professional basketball player who is currently a sports analyst for ESPN. He played for 11 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA). In the 2012 NBA draft, Rivers was se ...

3-pointer at the buzzer. The Tar Heels would not lose again for the rest of the season, though they got a scare from

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

before hanging on for a 54–51 win. An easy win over

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

set up the seventh winner-take-all game in the 93-year history of the Carolina-Duke rivalry, with the winner clinching the ACC regular-season title and the number-one seed in the 2012 ACC tournament. The Tar Heels dominated from start to finish, leading by as much as 26 before going on to an 88–70 win—in the process, winning their 29th ACC regular season title and their fifth outright title in eight years.

Schedule

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Rankings

Team players drafted into the NBA

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2011-12 North Carolina Tar Heels Men's Basketball Team

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 seasons

Tar Tar is a dark brown or black viscous liquid of hydrocarbons and free carbon, obtained from a wide variety of organic materials through destructive distillation. Tar can be produced from coal, wood, petroleum, or peat. "a dark brown or black b ...