Today, the ACC released schedules for the 2014-15 basketball season. For North Carolina, that includes an 18-game conference schedule with nine home games and nine on the road.
This season, the Tar Heels have home-and-home games against Louisville, N.C. State, Duke and Georgia Tech.
Conference play starts Saturday, Jan. 3 in Clemson, S.C. against the Tigers for UNC, and ends Saturday, March 7 in Chapel Hill when the Tar Heels host the Blue Devils.
According to coach Roy Williams, this year's schedule is one of the better ones that he's seen in his 12 years with North Carolina.
"We want a great schedule," said coach Roy Williams in a GoHeels.com release from today. "This is my 12th year (as head coach at UNC). In our previous 11 years our schedule has been in the top 50 in the country every year and in 10 it's been in the top 25 according to strength of schedule.
"This one may be a little off the charts."
Much of what makes the schedule so impressive are the non-conference matchups against quality non-ACC teams. UNC will play Iowa at home, Kentucky on the road and Ohio State at a neutral-site in Chicago. In addition, the Tar Heels will take on one of Oklahoma/UCLA in the Bahamas depending on what happens during their first game against Butler in the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament, starting Nov. 26.
Arguably the toughest stretch of the schedule for North Carolina starts Jan. 31 when the Tar Heels travel to Kentucky to face Louisville on the road. After that, the team heads back home for a game against Virginia before going back on the road for three straight games — Boston College Feb. 7, Pitt Feb. 14 and Duke Feb. 18.
This is the first time since 1997 that UNC has played a stretch of ACC games where four of five were on the road.
After taking on the Blue Devils in Cameron Indoor, the Tar Heels play three of their final five conference games at home.
You can check out the full schedule here.
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