LAWRENCE, Kan. – Men’s basketball bluebloods Kansas and North Carolina will meet in a home-and-home series starting in the 2024-25 season, the two schools announced today.
The first meeting will be in historic Allen Fieldhouse in Lawrence, Kansas, on Friday, Nov. 8, 2024. The following year the two teams will meet at The Dean E. Smith Center in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, on Friday, Nov. 14, 2025. In the 12-game series between the two schools that dates back to 1957 NCAA title game, this will be just the second meeting in Allen Fieldhouse and the first in the Dean Smith Center.
Kansas is the winningest program in college basketball history entering the 2023-24 season with 2,385 all-time victories. North Carolina is third on the list with 2,347 wins.
“These will be two great games from programs whose rich histories are intertwined so much,” Kansas head coach Bill Self said. “It will be a special day in both Chapel Hill and Lawrence when we play and I am looking forward to it.”
The KU-UNC series is tied at 6-6 and Kansas has won the last four matchups, all during the KU head coach Bill Self era and all in the NCAA Tournament. Kansas won the last meeting, 72-69, in the 2022 NCAA National Championship game on April 4, at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans.
The two teams have met seven times in the NCAA Tournament, including two NCAA titles games in 1957, a UNC triple overtime 54-53 win, and 2022. Kansas is 5-2 against North Carolina in NCAA Tournament contests.
Both schools have a rich history with much crossover, including:
- UNC Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame coach Dean Smith is a Kansas graduate who was a member of KU’s 1952 NCAA National Championship team. Smith, who was from Emporia, Kansas, coached 36 seasons at UNC with two national titles and an 879-254 career record.
- Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame coach Roy Williams’ first head coaching stop was a Kansas from 1988-89 to 2002-03. While at KU, Williams was 418-101 with four Final Fours, nine league regular-season championships and four conference tournament titles. After Kansas, Williams coached 18 seasons at UNC, his alma mater, where he guided the Tar Heels to three NCAA titles and concluded with a 903-264 all-time record.
- Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame coach Larry Brown was head coach at Kansas for five seasons (1983-84 to 1987-88) and guided KU to the 1988 NCAA title. Brown played at UNC and recommended Williams for the KU job in 1988.
- Kansas Director of Basketball Operations, Fred Quartlebaum, was an assistant coach for former KU assistant Matt Doherty at UNC from 2000-03.
- UNC assistant coach Brad Frederick is the son of the late Bob Frederick. Bob Frederick played basketball at KU was the Kansas Athletics Director from 1987-2001.
- UNC head coach Hubert Davis scored 25 points against Kansas in the 1991 NCAA Tournament national semifinals in Indianapolis. KU won the contest 79-73.
Kansas-North Carolina Series (Tied, 6-6)
Date (location), KU W-L, Score
03/23/1957 (Kansas City, Mo.#/!), L, 53-54 (3OT)
12/11/1959 (Raleigh, N.C), L, 49-60
12/17/1960 (Lawrence), L, 70-78
01/03/1981 (Kansas City, Mo.), W, 56-55
11/28/1981 (Charlotte, N.C.), L, 67-74
03/30/1991 (Indianapolis#), W, 79-73
04/03/1993 (New Orleans#), L, .68-78
11/27/2002 (New York$), L, 56-67
04/05/2008 (San Antonio#), W, 84-66
03/25/2012 (St. Louis&), W, 80-67
03/24/2013 (Kansas City, Mo.&), W, 70-58
04/04/2022 (New Orleans#/!), W, 72-69
$Preseason NIT; &NCAA Midwest Regional; %NCAA South Regional; #NCAA Final Four; !NCAA finals
