University of North Carolina Athletics

• Carolina returns to the Dean E. Smith Center for the first time in nearly three weeks when the Tar Heels host Alabama in the ACC-SEC Challenge on Wednesday night at 7:15 p.m. on ESPN.
• The Tar Heels are 4-3 after splitting four games in Hawaii between Nov. 22 and 27. They won in Hawaii in Honolulu and went 1-2 at the Maui Invitational.
• Alabama is 6-2 after an 83-81 loss to Oregon in Las Vegas on Saturday.
• Carolina is 8-6 all-time against the Crimson Tide, including 2-0 in Chapel Hill. These include home wins at Woolen Gym on December 14, 1955 and at the Smith Center on December 15, 1990.
• This is the Tar Heels’ third straight season playing Alabama. The Crimson Tide won 103-101 in four overtimes on November 27, 2022 in Portland, Oregon and 89-87 in the 2024 NCAA Sweet 16 (West Regional) in Los Angeles on March 28 of last year.
• Carolina lost 85-72 to Auburn on Nov. 26 in Maui. This is the first time the Tar Heels have played Alabama and Auburn in the same season, let alone over an eight-day period.
• Carolina fell eight spots to No. 20 in this week’s Associated Press poll. Alabama is ranked No. 10. This is the seventh time in the last nine UNC-Alabama games that both teams have been ranked in the AP poll.
• Alabama is the Tar Heels’ third-ranked top-10 opponent through their first eight games (also No. 1 Kansas and No. 4 Auburn). It is the first time since 1967–68 that UNC has played at least three top-10 teams in its first eight games (four in 1967–68 and three in 1955–56 and 1958–59).