Just like old times: the University of North Carolina and North Carolina State University will be playing a men’s college basketball game in Greensboro, N.C., this year. The date is set for Dec. 15. Tip-off is at 7 p.m.
The seating capacity is 22,000, and tickets go on sale to the public on Sept. 10. (Arrangements to televise the game are pending.)
Officially, the matchup is a “nonconference game” between the two Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) foes.
The respective athletic departments put the game together because league schedulers have sadly eliminated the traditional home-and-home series between the long-time, in-state rivals.
The only regular conference game during this upcoming season between the UNC Tar Heels and the N.C. State Wolfpack will be played in Chapel Hill. (The ACC will announce its full calendar of games in September.)
With 18 teams now competing in the ACC, and with the regular season consisting of just 18 conference games, it’s become a scheduling nightmare.
Consider this: UNC plays its “partner teams” twice – Duke and Louisville – but doesn’t play Clemson.
N.C. State plays its “partner teams” twice – Wake Forest and California – but doesn’t play Syracuse.
Do the “match makers” need a lesson in geography?
Deserving more respect are the six ACC institutions that have been a part of the league since its very beginning in 1953:
Clemson, Duke, North Carolina, North Carolina State, Virginia and Wake Forest.
They should always play each other during the season, and ideally twice.
We could go on and on about how ACC basketball “ain’t what it used to be,” ruined by expansion of the league that was driven by greed associated with college football and so forth.
The last time Carolina and N.C. State met on the hardwood for a nonconference game in Greensboro was in 1979. UNC won 97-84.
Noteworthy players from those teams included Al Wood, Mike O’Koren, James Worthy, Rich Yonakor and Jimmy Black in their Carolina jerseys. The team was coached by Dean Smith.
Coach Smith with key players Jimmy Black and James Worthy in the background.
Wolfpack players in 1979 included Charles “Hawkeye” Whitney, Sidney Lowe, Thurl Bailey, Chuck Nevitt and Clyde “The Glide” Austin. The coach was Norm Sloan.
The
2026 UNC v. N.C. State game is being promoted as the “Tobacco Road Classic
presented by Old Dominion Freight Line.”
The Old Dominion trucking company was founded in 1934 in Richmond, Va., but its headquarters moved to High Point, N.C., in 1962.
Old Dominion relocated its
offices into a new building that was constructed nearby in Thomasville, N.C.,
in 2003.
Chip
Overbey, an Old Dominion corporate executive, said: “Few rivalries in college
sports carry the history, passion and pride of UNC v. N.C. State. The Tobacco
Road Classic brings that tradition center stage and gives fans an opportunity
to experience…college basketball in a new and exciting way. We’re incredibly
proud to be part of this event that celebrates these two historic schools as
their drive for excellence aligns with our winning culture at OD.”
No
stranger to college sports, Old Dominion partners with mascots from 44 universities
– including Carolina’s “Rameses” the ram and the Wolfpack’s “Mr. Wuf” – who
appear in Old Dominion commercials that are aired during the fall on ESPN’s
popular “College GameDay” football show. Old Dominion is a major sponsor.
The
program is hosted by Rece Davis and features analysts Kirk Herbstreit, Desmond
Howard, Pat McAfee and others.
Basketball
fans should take note, the Greensboro Coliseum is now called First Horizon
Coliseum, as naming rights were obtained by First Horizon Corp. of Memphis,
Tenn., in 2024.
The
financial services company has $84.4 billion in assets and operates banks in 12
states, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Louisiana,
North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Washington.
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