University of North Carolina Athletics
Photo by: DALTON T WAINSCOTT
Lucas: 500
January 11, 2026 | Men's Basketball, Featured Writers, Adam Lucas
Carolina's 500th win in the Smith Center was a reminder of everything that has happened there.
By Adam Lucas
Of course it was a little warm in there.
Carolina won the program's 500th game in the Dean Smith Center on Saturday evening, outlasting Wake Forest, 87-84.
It happened on an unseasonably warm day when the high temperature reached 75 degrees. Pack 21,750 people into the Smith Center—as the Tar Heels consistently do for these weekend home games, and Saturday was another sellout—and it felt more like one of those winter nights at Carmichael Auditorium when Lefty Driesell would accuse Smith of turning up the heat. It was the perfect salute to the man whose name has adorned the building since the night before it opened on Jan. 18, 1986, when it officially was renamed from the Student Activities Center to the Dean E. Smith Center.
As the Carmichael era came to an end, Smith was increasingly worried about the fact that students were beginning to sleep outside the arena in order to secure tickets. The bleacher seating meant that 10,180 fans could squeeze inside if the fire marshal looked the other way, and that wasn't nearly enough capacity to satisfy the growing passion for Tar Heel basketball.
Smith knew the program needed to go bigger, and with the assistance of Skipper Bowles and Bob Eubanks and Ernie Williamson and Maurice Koury, plus thousands of Tar Heel fans who pledged from pennies to millions to privately fund the entire venture, Carolina didn't just go bigger. They went majestically bigger, more than doubling capacity and suddenly allowing access to twice as many fans. In the early 1980s, many UNC fans just accepted they would never see the Tar Heels play a home basketball game. It was too tough to get tickets.
The Smith Center changed the equation. Suddenly it wasn't easy…but it was possible. The over 20,000 seat capacity wasn't just unusual in 1986. It's still unusual four decades later.
There were eight other Atlantic Coast Conference games played on Saturday. None of them had attendance of even 15,000. Put the Miami, Virginia Tech and Duke crowds together and you'd have 19,965…or over 1,500 fewer fans than attended the game in Chapel Hill.
The increase in capacity sparked by the move to the Smith Center suddenly enabled families to attempt to attend games together. That's families like, oh, Jaydon Young's family. Growing up in Goldsboro, Young would watch Carolina play with his dad and his brother. Maybe they'd call his grandfather ("the world's biggest Tar Heel fan" according to Young) if Harrison Barnes made a big shot or Marcus Paige hit another game-winner.
Eventually, Young's dad began taking him to Late Night with Roy Williams and even an occasional game. "I always wanted to be part of it," Young said.
Maybe it's not a coincidence that his best game as a Tar Heel—12 points off the bench in a game when the Heels needed perimeter firepower—happened in the 500th win.
There is no one on the current team who more clearly understands what Carolina Basketball has been in this building. This one, then, was for all of it. For the players, sure. For the Jet and JR and Eric and Jerry and Rasheed and Vince and Antawn and Raymond and Tyler and big Z and Joel and Luuuuuuke and Mondo and RJ.
Reading those names, it's no wonder that the Tar Heels have won 84.7 percent of their games in the Smith Center. Put that talent with the roar of 22,000 people and it's a formidable combination.
The last 40 years and 500 wins have included those of us who can't hit a three-pointer but do still have our "I was there for the first game" t-shirts in our closet. And the Blues Brothers and the giant flag and the dot matrix boards reading "Thanks…for the pass" and a handful of ushers who were there for the first game and were also there on Saturday and that guy you only see at home games but you've become friends and you don't know what he does outside of those 15 or 16 days a year but you've watched his kids grow up. And the troughs. Always, the troughs.
Every single day, cars stop outside so visitors can take photos of the big building with the white dome. They press their noses against the glass doors just to see a glimpse in person of all that blue they've seen on television, or maybe see the jerseys fluttering overhead. Birthdays have happened here. Ashes have been scattered here. Engagements have happened here (of this, I have first-hand knowledge).
All of you—millions of you—have made it happen. The ones who value Carolina basketball enough to commit their Saturday to it, to eat a late lunch on Franklin Street and then walk to the arena in time to mill around a full two hours before tip-off, or to pack the Basketball Museum where they are greeted by Bob Ward (one of those 40-year ushers) and then wander down Letterman's Lane, reading the names of every player from every decade and remembering all the great shots and big dunks and—don't forget about this part—the people who watched all those games with them.
Jaydon Young and his dad. Rhoda Osterneck and her stuffed ram. My grandmother beaming with pride and softly saying, "Go, Garner!" every time Donald Williams sank another three-pointer. You and whoever brought you to your first game or let you stay out late on a school night or pointed out the former lettermen behind the scorer's table and told you stories about their greatness or waited in the parking lot just five more minutes to get an autograph from your favorite player.
I recently asked my father how he made his pledge to the Smith Center building fund. "I went down to the bank," he said, "and took out a loan." Other people take out a loan for life necessities like cars or houses. Tar Heels take out a loan for life necessities like Carolina Basketball.
All of the above: that's how you get to 500 wins.
"It's more than 500 wins," Hubert Davis said after the game on the Tar Heel Sports Network. "I don't know any stats from those 500 wins. You talk about the experiences, the conversations, the relationships, the friendships that have happened at this place. Those are the things that are so special to us as former players and what's so special about this place."
Of course it was a little warm in there.
Carolina won the program's 500th game in the Dean Smith Center on Saturday evening, outlasting Wake Forest, 87-84.
It happened on an unseasonably warm day when the high temperature reached 75 degrees. Pack 21,750 people into the Smith Center—as the Tar Heels consistently do for these weekend home games, and Saturday was another sellout—and it felt more like one of those winter nights at Carmichael Auditorium when Lefty Driesell would accuse Smith of turning up the heat. It was the perfect salute to the man whose name has adorned the building since the night before it opened on Jan. 18, 1986, when it officially was renamed from the Student Activities Center to the Dean E. Smith Center.
As the Carmichael era came to an end, Smith was increasingly worried about the fact that students were beginning to sleep outside the arena in order to secure tickets. The bleacher seating meant that 10,180 fans could squeeze inside if the fire marshal looked the other way, and that wasn't nearly enough capacity to satisfy the growing passion for Tar Heel basketball.
Smith knew the program needed to go bigger, and with the assistance of Skipper Bowles and Bob Eubanks and Ernie Williamson and Maurice Koury, plus thousands of Tar Heel fans who pledged from pennies to millions to privately fund the entire venture, Carolina didn't just go bigger. They went majestically bigger, more than doubling capacity and suddenly allowing access to twice as many fans. In the early 1980s, many UNC fans just accepted they would never see the Tar Heels play a home basketball game. It was too tough to get tickets.
The Smith Center changed the equation. Suddenly it wasn't easy…but it was possible. The over 20,000 seat capacity wasn't just unusual in 1986. It's still unusual four decades later.
There were eight other Atlantic Coast Conference games played on Saturday. None of them had attendance of even 15,000. Put the Miami, Virginia Tech and Duke crowds together and you'd have 19,965…or over 1,500 fewer fans than attended the game in Chapel Hill.
The increase in capacity sparked by the move to the Smith Center suddenly enabled families to attempt to attend games together. That's families like, oh, Jaydon Young's family. Growing up in Goldsboro, Young would watch Carolina play with his dad and his brother. Maybe they'd call his grandfather ("the world's biggest Tar Heel fan" according to Young) if Harrison Barnes made a big shot or Marcus Paige hit another game-winner.
Eventually, Young's dad began taking him to Late Night with Roy Williams and even an occasional game. "I always wanted to be part of it," Young said.
Maybe it's not a coincidence that his best game as a Tar Heel—12 points off the bench in a game when the Heels needed perimeter firepower—happened in the 500th win.
There is no one on the current team who more clearly understands what Carolina Basketball has been in this building. This one, then, was for all of it. For the players, sure. For the Jet and JR and Eric and Jerry and Rasheed and Vince and Antawn and Raymond and Tyler and big Z and Joel and Luuuuuuke and Mondo and RJ.
Reading those names, it's no wonder that the Tar Heels have won 84.7 percent of their games in the Smith Center. Put that talent with the roar of 22,000 people and it's a formidable combination.
The last 40 years and 500 wins have included those of us who can't hit a three-pointer but do still have our "I was there for the first game" t-shirts in our closet. And the Blues Brothers and the giant flag and the dot matrix boards reading "Thanks…for the pass" and a handful of ushers who were there for the first game and were also there on Saturday and that guy you only see at home games but you've become friends and you don't know what he does outside of those 15 or 16 days a year but you've watched his kids grow up. And the troughs. Always, the troughs.
Every single day, cars stop outside so visitors can take photos of the big building with the white dome. They press their noses against the glass doors just to see a glimpse in person of all that blue they've seen on television, or maybe see the jerseys fluttering overhead. Birthdays have happened here. Ashes have been scattered here. Engagements have happened here (of this, I have first-hand knowledge).
All of you—millions of you—have made it happen. The ones who value Carolina basketball enough to commit their Saturday to it, to eat a late lunch on Franklin Street and then walk to the arena in time to mill around a full two hours before tip-off, or to pack the Basketball Museum where they are greeted by Bob Ward (one of those 40-year ushers) and then wander down Letterman's Lane, reading the names of every player from every decade and remembering all the great shots and big dunks and—don't forget about this part—the people who watched all those games with them.
Jaydon Young and his dad. Rhoda Osterneck and her stuffed ram. My grandmother beaming with pride and softly saying, "Go, Garner!" every time Donald Williams sank another three-pointer. You and whoever brought you to your first game or let you stay out late on a school night or pointed out the former lettermen behind the scorer's table and told you stories about their greatness or waited in the parking lot just five more minutes to get an autograph from your favorite player.
I recently asked my father how he made his pledge to the Smith Center building fund. "I went down to the bank," he said, "and took out a loan." Other people take out a loan for life necessities like cars or houses. Tar Heels take out a loan for life necessities like Carolina Basketball.
All of the above: that's how you get to 500 wins.
"It's more than 500 wins," Hubert Davis said after the game on the Tar Heel Sports Network. "I don't know any stats from those 500 wins. You talk about the experiences, the conversations, the relationships, the friendships that have happened at this place. Those are the things that are so special to us as former players and what's so special about this place."
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