1985–86 North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball team

1985–86 North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball
1985–86 North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball
Great Alaska Shootout Champions
NCAA tournament, Sweet Sixteen
Conference	Atlantic Coast Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 8
AP	No. 8
Record	28–6 (10–4 ACC)
Head coach	Dean Smith (24th season);
Assistant coaches	Bill Guthridge (18th season); Eddie Fogler (15th season); Roy Williams (8th season);
Home arena	Carmichael Auditorium; Dean Smith Center
	Seasons ← 1984–85 1986–87 →

1985–86 ACC men's basketball standings
v t e	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
No. 1 Duke†	12	–	2	.857	37	–	3	.925
No. 6 Georgia Tech	11	–	3	.786	27	–	7	.794
No. 8 North Carolina	10	–	4	.714	28	–	6	.824
NC State	7	–	7	.500	21	–	13	.618
Virginia	7	–	7	.500	19	–	11	.633
Maryland	6	–	8	.429	19	–	14	.576
Clemson	3	–	11	.214	19	–	15	.559
Wake Forest	0	–	14	.000	8	–	21	.276

† 1986 ACC tournament winner Rankings from AP Poll

The 1985–86 North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball team represented the University of North Carolina from Chapel Hill, North Carolina during the 1985–86 NCAA Division I men's basketball season.

Led by head coach Dean Smith, the Tar Heels completed yet another in a long line of impressive seasons, holding the #1 ranking in the AP poll for 13 consecutive weeks, and reaching the Sweet Sixteen in the NCAA tournament before falling to eventual national champion, Louisville.^[1]

On January 18, 1986, #1 North Carolina defeated #3 Duke 95–92 in the first game played at the Dean Smith Center.

Roster

^[2]

Schedule and results

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site city, state
Regular Season
Nov 24, 1985*	No. 2	UCLA	W 107–70	1–0	Carmichael Auditorium (10,000) Chapel Hill, NC
Nov 25, 1985*	No. 1	Iona	W 110–67	2–0	Carmichael Auditorium Chapel Hill, NC
Nov 29, 1985*	No. 1	vs. Missouri Great Alaska Shootout	W 84–63	3–0	Sullivan Arena Anchorage, AK
Nov 30, 1985*	No. 1	vs. Purdue Great Alaska Shootout	W 73–62	4–0	Sullivan Arena Anchorage, AK
Dec 1, 1985*	No. 1	vs. No. 16 UNLV Great Alaska Shootout	W 65–60	5–0	Sullivan Arena Anchorage, AK
Dec 7, 1985*	No. 1	vs. Rutgers	W 114–71	6–0	Greensboro Coliseum Greensboro, NC
Dec 14, 1985*	No. 1	Ohio	W 99–57	7–0	Carmichael Auditorium Chapel Hill, NC
Dec 17, 1985*	No. 1	at Jacksonville	W 69–65	8–0	Jacksonville Memorial Coliseum Jacksonville, FL
Dec 20, 1985*	No. 1	Stanford	W 89–55	9–0	Carmichael Auditorium Chapel Hill, NC
Dec 22, 1985*	No. 1	vs. The Citadel	W 104–51	10–0	Charlotte Coliseum Charlotte, NC
Dec 27, 1985*	No. 1	vs. Manhattan Orange Bowl Tournament	W 129–45	11–0	Knight Center Miami, FL
Dec 28, 1985*	No. 1	vs. Brown Orange Bowl Tournament	W 115–63	12–0	Knight Center Miami, FL
Dec 31, 1985*	No. 1	vs. Florida State	W 109–64	13–0	Charlotte Coliseum Charlotte, NC
Jan 4, 1986	No. 1	NC State Rivalry	W 90–79	14–0 (1–0)	Carmichael Auditorium Chapel Hill, NC
Jan 9, 1986*	No. 1	vs. Fordham	W 92–68	15–0	Madison Square Garden New York, NY
Jan 11, 1986	No. 1	at Wake Forest	W 89–65	16–0 (2–0)	Winston-Salem Memorial Coliseum Winston-Salem, NC
Jan 14, 1986	No. 1	at Maryland	W 71–67	17–0 (3–0)	Cole Fieldhouse College Park, MD
Jan 18, 1986	No. 1	No. 3 Duke Rivalry	W 95–92	18–0 (4–0)	Dean Smith Center (21,444) Chapel Hill, NC
Jan 19, 1986*	No. 1	at Marquette	W 66–64	19–0	MECCA Arena Milwaukee, WI
Jan 25, 1986	No. 1	No. 4 Georgia Tech	W 85–77	20–0 (5–0)	Dean Smith Center Chapel Hill, NC
Jan 26, 1986*	No. 1	No. 16 Notre Dame	W 73–61	21–0	Dean Smith Center Chapel Hill, NC
Jan 30, 1986	No. 1	at Virginia	L 73–86	21–1 (5–1)	University Hall Charlottesville, VA
Feb 1, 1986	No. 1	Clemson	W 85–67	22–1 (6–1)	Dean Smith Center Chapel Hill, NC
Feb 4, 1986	No. 1	at No. 2 Georgia Tech	W 78–77	23–1 (7–1)	Omni Coliseum Atlanta, GA
Feb 8, 1986	No. 1	Wake Forest	W 91–62	24–1 (8–1)	Dean Smith Center Chapel Hill, NC
Feb 12, 1986	No. 1	at Clemson	W 79–64	25–1 (9–1)	Littlejohn Coliseum Clemson, SC
Feb 20, 1986	No. 1	Maryland	L 72–77	25–2 (9–2)	Dean Smith Center Chapel Hill, NC
Feb 23, 1986	No. 1	at No. 20 NC State Rivalry	L 65–76	25–3 (9–3)	Reynolds Coliseum Raleigh, NC
Feb 26, 1986	No. 3	Virginia	W 85–79	26–3 (10–3)	Dean Smith Center Chapel Hill, NC
Mar 2, 1986	No. 3	at No. 1 Duke Rivalry	L 74–82	26–4 (10–4)	Cameron Indoor Stadium Durham, NC
ACC Tournament
Mar 7, 1986*	No. 4	Maryland ACC tournament Quarterfinal	L 75–85	26–5	Greensboro Coliseum Greensboro, NC
NCAA Tournament
Mar 13, 1986*	(3) No. 8	vs. (14) Utah First round	W 84–72	27–5	Dee Events Center Ogden, UT
Mar 15, 1986*	(3) No. 8	vs. (6) UAB Second Round	W 77–59	28–5	Dee Events Center Ogden, UT
Mar 20, 1986*	(3) No. 8	vs. (2) No. 7 Louisville Regional semifinal	L 79–94^[3]	28–6	The Summit Houston, TX
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. W=West region. All times are in Eastern Time.

Rankings

References

^ "1985-86 UNC Tar Heels Schedule and Results | College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com". sports-reference.com. Retrieved March 12, 2019.
^ "North Carolina Tar Heels 1985-1986 Basketball Roster". Tar Heel Times. Retrieved March 12, 2019.
^ "LOUISVILLE TOPS NORTH CAROLINA, 94-79; AUBURN GAINS". New York Times. Retrieved March 12, 2019.

[sports-reference-1] "1985-86 UNC Tar Heels Schedule and Results | College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com". sports-reference.com. Retrieved March 12, 2019.

[tarheeltimes-2] "North Carolina Tar Heels 1985-1986 Basketball Roster". Tar Heel Times. Retrieved March 12, 2019.

[louisville-3] "LOUISVILLE TOPS NORTH CAROLINA, 94-79; AUBURN GAINS". New York Times. Retrieved March 12, 2019.

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[2]

[3]

v t e North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball
Venues	Bynum Gymnasium (1910–1923) Tin Can (1924–1938) Woollen Gymnasium (1938–1965) Carmichael Auditorium (1965–1986) Dean Smith Center (1986–present)
Rivalries	Duke (Carlyle Cup) Kentucky NC State Wake Forest
Culture & lore	Rameses The Marching Tar Heels Junior varsity team Inside Carolina Four corners offense Blue blood status Dixie Classic/Big Four Jumpman Invitational Tobacco Road Academic-athletic scandal Gambling scandal
People	Head coaches Honorees Honored players NBA draftees Statistical leaders
Seasons	List of seasons 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25
Helms and Premo-Porretta national championships in bold; NCAA Final Four appearances in italics; NCAA championships in bolded italics