Men's Basketball Hosting Wofford Friday Night - University of North Carolina Athletics

Friday, November 6

Chapel Hill

7 p.m.

North Carolina

Wofford

Tickets From $25 - $80

Sayon Keita
University of North Carolina Men’s Basketball v Western Carolina University; WCU
Dean E. Smith Center
Chapel Hill, NC
Monday, November 2, 2026

Freshman Sayon Keita

Photo by: Jeffrey A. Camarati

November 5, 2026 | Men's Basketball

UNC Notes Wofford Notes Live Stats Watch Listen Tickets

GAME 2: WOFFORD AT UNC
ROY WILLIAMS COURT AT THE
DEAN E. SMITH CENTER, CHAPEL HILL
7 P.M. – ACC NETWORK

• Carolina hosts Wofford in the second game of the regular season for both teams.
• The Tar Heels are 1-0 after an 80-72 win over Western Carolina, while the Terriers are 0-1 following a 90-59 loss at Tennessee. The Vols led 34-31 at the half but shot 61% from the floor in the second half to pull away for the win.
• The game will be broadcast on the ACC Network (Doug Sherman and Randolph Childress).
• UNC is under the direction of first-year head coach Michael Malone, a veteran of 12 seasons as an NBA head coach. Malone is the winningest coach in Denver Nuggets' history and led the Nuggets to an NBA championship in 2023.
• Malone is the first individual to lead UNC as head coach without having played for the Tar Heels or been an assistant coach with the program since Frank McGuire took the helm in 1952. McGuire came to Chapel Hill from the head coaching ranks at St. John's. McGuire was followed by Dean Smith (UNC assistant for three seasons), Bill Guthridge (Smith's assistant for 30 seasons), Matt Doherty (played for Smith from 1980-84), Roy Williams (Smith's assistant from 1978-88) and Hubert Davis (played for Smith from 1988-92 and spent nine seasons on Williams' staff from 2012-21).
• The Wofford game is the second of six consecutive home games, the first time ever Carolina opens a season with six straight home games.

LAST TIME OUT
• Matt Able led the Tar Heels with 18 points and Carolina led wire-to-wire in an 80-72 victory over Western Carolina.
• UNC scored the game's first 10 points and led by as many as 13 points in the opening half and again in the final minutes.
• The Catamounts closed within one at 58-57 with 9:35 to play.
• Carolina was 25 for 35 from the line and made nine threes, including two each by Able, Neo Avdalas, Terrence Brown and Jaydon Young.
• Sixty-six of Carolina's 80 points were by first-time Tar Heels (returnees Jarin Stevenson and Young scored eight and six points, respectively).
• The Tar Heels held WCU to 33.9% shooting from the floor. It was UNC's 29th-straight win when holding the opponent below 40%.
• It was Carolina's 22nd-straight win in a season opener and 25th-consecutive win in a home opener.

UNC-WOFFORD
• The Tar Heels are 4-2 all-time against Wofford, including 3-2 in Chapel Hill.
• Wofford has won two straight in Chapel Hill and two of the last three overall.
• The teams last played on 12/15/2019 in Carmichael Auditorium, a 68-64 Terrier victory.

UNC VS. Wofford (UNC LEADS, 4-2)
Date W–L NC W Site Rank Coach
2-2-1922 W 54 26 home, Bynum Gym –– none
1-14-1926 W 41 23 home, Indoor Athletic Court –– HS
11-18-2015 W 78 58 home, Smith Center 1/- RW
12-20-2017 L 75 79 home, Smith Center 5/- RW
11-6-2018 W 78 67 away, Richardson Indoor Stadium 8/- RW
12-15-2019 L 64 68 home, Carmichael Arena 17/- RW

DEAN E. SMITH CENTER
• This is the 42nd season the Tar Heels are playing in the Dean E. Smith Center.
• The Wofford game is UNC's 599th in the Smith Center.
• The Tar Heels are 508-90 (.849) in the Smith Center, including 242-19 (.927) against non-ACC teams.
• Carolina has won 19 in a row in the Smith Center.
• The Tar Heels have beaten 12-straight non-conference teams in the Smith Center.

SEASON NOTES
• Michael Malone was hired as UNC's 21st head coach on April 7, 2026.
• The Tar Heels' 16-player roster includes five returning players from last season and 11 newcomers. The incoming players include four freshmen (three domestic and one international), six collegiate transfers and one international player who enters as a junior.
• The five returning Tar Heels, all in-state products, include 6-10 senior forward Jarin Stevenson from Chapel Hill, 6-4 senior guard Jaydon Young from Goldsboro, 6-4 sophomore guard Isaiah Denis from Charlotte, 6-8 junior forward John Holbrook from Hickory and 6-1 senior guard Evan Smith from Charlotte.
• The freshmen include 6-7 forward Maximo Adams from Los Angeles, 7-1 center Sayon Keita from Mali, 6-6 swingman Kevin Thomas from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and 6-5 freshman guard Malloy Smith from Newport Beach, Calif.
• Alex Samodurov enters UNC as a junior. The 6-11 forward from Evosmos, Greece, played last year for Panathinaikos in the Greek Basketball League.
• The six college transfers include Matt Able, a 6-5 sophomore guard from Baltimore (NC State); Neo Avdalas, a 6-9 sophomore guard from Kalamata, Greece (Virginia Tech); Cade Bennerman, a 7-0 sophomore center from Nashville (Northwestern); Angelo Brizzi, a 6-3 graduate guard from Warrenton, Va. (Buffalo); Terrence Brown, a 6-3 senior guard from Minneapolis (Utah); and Cameron Fens, a 7-0 graduate center from Dubuque, Iowa (South Dakota).
• Stevenson, in his second year in the program, is the lone returning starter from last year's team that went 24-9 overall, 12-6 in the ACC. Stevenson is the leading returner in every statistical category, including scoring (8.1 per game), rebounding (4.4) and three-pointers (26).
• This is the first season UNC did not return a player who averaged double-digit scoring as a Tar Heel since 2019-20. However, four players on the roster did average double-figure scoring last season on other teams – Brown at Utah (19.9 ppg), Fens at South Dakota (14.4), Brizzi at Buffalo (14.4) and Avdalas at Virginia Tech (12.1).
• Carolina's six incoming transfers combined for 2,234 points last season (636 by Brown, 463 by Brizzi, 460 by Fens, 375 by Avdalas and 300 by Able). The five returning Tar Heels combined for 348, 266 of which came from Stevenson.
• Carolina's roster includes eight players who have made a combined 314 starts on the collegiate level (81 by Brown, 69 by Brizzi, 63 by Fens, 53 by Stevenson, 32 by Avdalas, 14 by Young and 1 each by Able and Keita).
• Three current Tar Heels have previously played against Carolina – Stevenson twice for Alabama, Young twice for Virginia Tech and Avdalas once for the Hokies. All three played one game against UNC in Chapel Hill. Last year, Avdalas scored 19 points and had five assists in Carolina's 89-82 win in the Smith Center.

VETERAN STAFF A BLEND OF COLLEGE/PRO EXPERIENCE
• Malone will direct a coaching and development group that includes several returning members of the Carolina basketball program (Sean May, Pat Sullivan, Eric Hoots), three coaches from other college teams (Chuck Martin, Bryan Tibaldi, Jorge Sanz) and two additional former Tar Heel standouts (Brandon Robinson, Deon Thompson).
• Assistant coaches Sean May and Pat Sullivan and director of basketball operations Eric Hoots have a combined 55 years with the program.
• Associate head coach Chuck Martin came to Chapel Hill after three seasons with John Calipari at Kentucky and, most recently, Arkansas.
• Assistant coach Bryan Tibaldi was an assistant coach for six seasons with the Cleveland Cavaliers. Last season, he coached at Providence.
• Assistant coach Jorge Sanz was on Mark Few's staff at Gonzaga for the last eight seasons.
• Assistant coach Brandon Robinson, who played at UNC from 2016-20, and was on Hubert Davis' staff in 2021-22, returns to Chapel Hill after four seasons on NBA staffs in Charlotte and Utah.
• Director of player development Deon Thompson retired in 2026 after playing 16 seasons of professional basketball. He was the starting power forward on UNC's 2009 national championship team.
• Every member of Malone's staff has played for and/or coached with a Naismith Hall of Famer, including Dean Smith, Bill Guthridge, Roy Williams, John Calipari, Tom Izzo and Mark Few.
• Sullivan (1993), May (2005), Thompson (2009) and Robinson (2017) won national championships as Tar Heel players.

MALONE AN NBA CHAMPION
• Michael Malone was head coach of the Denver Nuggets for 10 seasons (2015-25) and the Sacramento Kings for two seasons (2013-15). The Queens, N.Y., native is Denver's all-time winningest coach in the regular season (471 wins) and playoffs (44 wins).
• He led the Nuggets to an NBA title in 2023, the only NBA championship in franchise history. The Nuggets went 16-4 in the post-season that year, including 4-1 against Miami in the NBA Finals. Malone led Denver to nine playoff series wins.
• Malone spent 12 years as an assistant with the New York Knicks (2001-05), Cleveland Cavaliers (2005-10), New Orleans Hornets (2010-11) and Golden State Warriors (2011-13). He was the lead assistant at both New Orleans under Monty Williams and Golden State under Mark Jackson.
• He coached three-time NBA Most Valuable Player Nikola Jokic in Denver and all-time scoring leader LeBron James while an assistant in Cleveland. His 2023 NBA championship team featured Jokic, Jamal Murray, Aaron Gordon, Michael Porter Jr. and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope.
• Jokic averaged 23.0 points, 11.6 rebounds and 7.6 assists and was a seven-time all-star in 10 seasons playing for Malone. He made first-team All-NBA five times and second-team twice.
• Among other notable players Malone coached in the NBA include Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green, Harrison Barnes and Chris Paul. In addition to Barnes, he coached former Tar Heels Danny Green, Antawn Jamison and Jawad Williams. He coached 39 international players who represented 25 different nations.
• He also worked with some of the top coaches in the NBA, including Jeff Van Gundy, Lenny Wilkens, Mike Brown, Williams and Jackson.
• Malone's father, Brendan, was an NBA coach for nearly 30 seasons. He won NBA titles in 1989 and 1990 as a member of Chuck Daly's staff in Detroit.

TAR HEELS FIFTH IN
PRESEASON ACC POLL
• Carolina was voted fifth in the preseason ACC poll as selected by the media who attended the league's media days October 6-7.
• Duke, Virginia, Louisville, Miami and UNC were voted one through five, respectively.
• Maximo Adams received the fourth-most votes for Preseason ACC Rookie of the Year.

ABLE ON JERRY WEST WATCH LIST
• Sophomore Matt Able was named to the preseason watch list for the Jerry West Award, presented annually by the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame to the best shooting guard in the country.
• Able made 49 three-pointers and averaged 8.8 points last season while playing for NC State. He scored a season-high 19 points in the Wolfpack's win in Raleigh over the Tar Heels.
• Able did not play against Charlotte on October 27.

SCHEDULE NOTES
• In ACC play, the Tar Heels play home-and-home games against Duke and Louisville.
• Carolina hosts conference games against Cal, Georgia Tech, Miami, NC State, SMU, Stanford and Virginia and plays at Boston College, Florida State, Notre Dame, Pitt, Syracuse, Virginia Tech and Wake Forest.
• Clemson is the ACC team the Tar Heels are not scheduled to play in the regular season this year. This will be the first season UNC and Clemson aren't scheduled to play in the regular season since 1950-51, which predated the formation of the ACC.
• For the first time since 1979, the Tar Heels will play NC State in a non-conference game in the regular season, when the teams meet Dec. 15, 2026, in the Tobacco Road Classic presented by Old Dominion Freight Line in Greensboro's First Horizon Coliseum (formerly the Greensboro Coliseum).
• Last season was the first since 1919 UNC and NC State were scheduled to play only once. Beginning in 1920, the teams were scheduled to play home-and-home every year through 2025. The teams played once in Raleigh last season and were scheduled to play only in Chapel Hill this coming season in ACC play.
• Carolina and NC State will return to Greensboro for the second Tobacco Road Classic in December 2027.
• Arkansas comes to Chapel Hill on December 1 for the fourth edition of the ACC-SEC Challenge. The Tar Heels are 2-1 in the Challenge with a home win over Tennessee, home loss to Alabama (with Jarin Stevenson) and road win last season at Kentucky. This will be the 12th time the Tar Heels play the Razorbacks (UNC leads, 8-3) but the first time ever in Chapel Hill. The teams have played the previous 11 games in 11 different cities and never on the other team's campus.
• The Tar Heels return to Madison Square Garden in New York on December 19 to play Kentucky in the CBS Sports Classic. It is Carolina's fourth trip to the Garden in the last five seasons (beat Ohio State in 2022-23, lost to UConn in 2023-24 and beat UCLA in 2024-25). Carolina is 31-12 in MSG.
• On January 30, midway through ACC play (after nine of 18 conference games) the Tar Heels play Illinois, a Final Four team a year ago, in the Nashville Hoops Showdown.

NBA TAR HEELS
Harrison Barnes (San Antonio)
Leaky Black (Sacramento)
Tony Bradley (Utah)
Harrison Ingram (Utah)
Cameron Johnson (Denver)
Walker Kessler (Los Angeles Lakers)
Pete Nance (Milwaukee)
Drake Powell (Brooklyn)
Cormac Ryan (Milwaukee)
Day'Ron Sharpe (Brooklyn)
Coby White (Charlotte)
Caleb Wilson (Chicago)