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Kansas vs. North Carolina: College basketball blue bloods agree to two-game series starting in 2024 – CBS Sports
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Few things benefit the regular season in college basketball like blue-blood matchups in on-campus venues.
Kansas and North Carolina have announced just that for the 2024-25 and 2025-26 seasons. On Monday, the schools jointly released their agreement to play a home-and-home in the years to come. Kansas’ Allen Fieldhouse gets the first matchup (Friday, Nov. 8, 2024), then the Dean E. Smith Center on UNC’s campus will host the following season (Friday, Nov. 14, 2025).
Despite the programs combining for more than 4,700 wins, 103 NCAA Tournament showings, 37 Final Fours and 10 national championships, here is something of a stunner: the schools have only met 12 times (the series is 6-6). They’ve only played once before in Lawrence, Kansas, and never before on the campus of the University of North Carolina.
Despite that, there are deep ties that bind the schools. For starters, the two greatest coaches in Carolina history — Dean Smith and Roy Williams — have connections to KU.
The programs first met in 1957, in one of the biggest NCAA Tournament games of all time: a 54-53 three-overtime win in the national championship game for UNC. Their most recent matchup was the 2022 national championship game, a 72-69 KU win after the Jayhawks set a Final Four record by erasing a 15-point deficit to take the title. Seven of the schools’ 12 games against each other have come in the NCAAs.
“These will be two great games from programs whose rich histories are intertwined so much,” Kansas coach Bill Self said in a statement. “It will be a special day in both Chapel Hill and Lawrence when we play and I am looking forward to it.”
The last time North Carolina played in Lawrence? 1960. UNC won 78-70. At the time, Dean Smith was a third-year assistant coach for the Tar Heels.
Just how much history is here? No school has more NCAA tourney wins or Final Fours than North Carolina, while Kansas is fourth in wins and third in NCAA Tournament showings.
“These two games should be exciting for players and coaches on both teams and a win for fans of college basketball,” Tar Heels coach Hubert Davis said. “It’s an opportunity for two great programs to play in each other’s home arenas, which are among the best and most historic in our game.”
Kansas has won the past four games vs. UNC, all of them in the NCAA Tournament. At a time when neutral-site matchups are becoming even more populated on the November and December calendar in college basketball, it’s all the more refreshing to see some of the biggest brands in college hoops elect to play each other in on-campus environments near the start of the season. These are the matchups that offer the best of the sport, in the most intense environments, in the lead-up to conference play.
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