On Friday, Carolina unveiled their complete non-conference schedule for the 2025–26 season. While the ACC portion is still to be announced, it’s expected to include 18 games—two matchups each with Duke and Syracuse, and none against Boston College. Although we don’t know the exact dates yet, the non-conference slate already hints at one clear takeaway:
Hubert Davis seems to have learned from experience.
In his first season as head coach in 2021–22, Davis didn’t have much say over the schedule since many of the major non-conference games were set before he took over. Ironically, that year’s schedule turned out to be the most manageable, outside of trips to Mohegan Sun and Las Vegas. The rest of the early games were in Chapel Hill, allowing the team to build chemistry. When Carolina struggled to win marquee matchups (other than Michigan), that softer schedule gave them room to grow without compounding setbacks. A team still adjusting to life without Roy Williams wasn’t forced to face constant defeats.
Since then, the Tar Heels have faced some of the country’s toughest non-conference gauntlets. In 2022–23, the combination of the Phil Knight Invitational, the CBS Sports Classic, and a road trip to Indiana proved brutal. The following year, the schedule included the Battle 4 Atlantis, Tennessee, UConn, Kentucky, and Oklahoma—with only Tennessee visiting Chapel Hill. Last season wasn’t any easier: games at Kansas, the Maui Invitational in Hawaii, Florida in Charlotte, and UCLA in New York, with Alabama the only marquee home opponent—and even that ended poorly.
The consequence was a battered team heading into the ACC grind. Facing elite competition so early meant Davis had little room to experiment with rotations or lineups without risking losses that could damage NCAA Tournament hopes. As a result, the team often didn’t hit its stride until late in the year, risking low seeds or missing the tournament entirely. You could even argue that the successful 2023–24 season included so many high-profile games that it exposed Carolina’s weaknesses—weaknesses Alabama later exploited in the Sweet 16.
Another issue was simply the lack of home games. By constantly playing at neutral sites for big paydays and national exposure, Carolina spent long stretches away from Chapel Hill and its fanbase. That time on the road hurt both team chemistry and the chance to build momentum in familiar surroundings.
This year’s schedule appears to be a different story. With most of last season’s roster gone—either to the NBA or the transfer portal—only Seth Trimble returns as a familiar face. Nearly the entire team is new, and expecting such a group to endure the same brutal slate would be setting them up to fail.
The travel demands have been dramatically reduced. The neutral site games are only in Fort Myers and Atlanta, and the big road trip for the ACC–SEC Challenge is to Lexington, Kentucky. High-profile opponents remain—Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan State, Georgetown, and Ohio State—but this time, both Kansas and Georgetown will come to Chapel Hill, and the rest of the schedule is filled with more winnable matchups.
In total, Carolina will play five home games in November and four in December. There’s still a marquee test and a couple of other notable games, but plenty of opportunities to rack up wins against teams like Navy and ETSU.
For perspective: last season, Carolina had just two November home games and four in December (with an ACC contest and Alabama included). In 2023, they had four home games in November but only two in December.
Having more home games doesn’t just help with record padding—it gives the team a chance to build rhythm, test lineups, and establish an identity without the constant pressure of must-win games against elite competition. When ACC play starts, Davis and his staff should have a much clearer sense of what works and what doesn’t. And with challenges like Kentucky and Kansas still on the schedule, the team will still be tested.
If Hubert Davis truly has absorbed this lesson, it could be a very encouraging sign—not just for this season’s success, but for his ability to adapt to the realities of modern college basketball.
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