1985–86 North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball team

The 1985–86 North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball team represented the University of North Carolina from Chapel Hill, North Carolina during the 1985–86 NCAA Division I men's basketball season.

1985–86 North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball
Great Alaska Shootout Champions
NCAA tournament, Sweet Sixteen
Conference	Atlantic Coast Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 8
AP	No. 8
Record	28–6 (10–4 ACC)
Head coach	Dean Smith (24th season)
Assistant coaches	Bill Guthridge (18th season) Eddie Fogler (15th season) Roy Williams (8th season)
Home arena	Carmichael Auditorium Dean Smith Center
Seasons ← 1984–85 1986–87 →

1985–86 ACC men's basketball standings

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
No. 1 Duke†	12	–	2		.857			37	–	3		.925
No. 6 Georgia Tech	11	–	3		.786			27	–	7		.794
No. 8 North Carolina	10	–	4		.714			28	–	6		.824
NC State	7	–	7		.500			21	–	13		.618
Virginia	7	–	7		.500			19	–	11		.633
Maryland	6	–	8		.429			19	–	14		.576
Clemson	3	–	11		.214			19	–	15		.559
Wake Forest	0	–	14		.000			8	–	21		.276
† 1986 ACC tournament winner Rankings from AP Poll

Led by head coach Dean Smith, the Tar Heels completed yet another in a long line of impressive seasons, holding the #1 ranking in the AP poll for 13 consecutive weeks, and reaching the Sweet Sixteen in the NCAA tournament before falling to eventual national champion, Louisville.^[1]

On January 18, 1986, #1 North Carolina defeated #3 Duke 95–92 in the first game played at the Dean Smith Center.

Roster

^[2]

Schedule and results

Date time, TV	Rank#	Opponent#	Result	Record	Site city, state
Regular Season
Nov 24, 1985*	No. 2	UCLA	W 107–70	1–0	Carmichael Auditorium (10,000) Chapel Hill, NC
Nov 25, 1985*	No. 1	Iona	W 110–67	2–0	Carmichael Auditorium  Chapel Hill, NC
Nov 29, 1985*	No. 1	vs. Missouri Great Alaska Shootout	W 84–63	3–0	Sullivan Arena  Anchorage, AK
Nov 30, 1985*	No. 1	vs. Purdue Great Alaska Shootout	W 73–62	4–0	Sullivan Arena  Anchorage, AK
Dec 1, 1985*	No. 1	vs. No. 16 UNLV Great Alaska Shootout	W 65–60	5–0	Sullivan Arena  Anchorage, AK
Dec 7, 1985*	No. 1	vs. Rutgers	W 114–71	6–0	Greensboro Coliseum  Greensboro, NC
Dec 14, 1985*	No. 1	Ohio	W 99–57	7–0	Carmichael Auditorium  Chapel Hill, NC
Dec 17, 1985*	No. 1	at Jacksonville	W 69–65	8–0	Jacksonville Memorial Coliseum  Jacksonville, FL
Dec 20, 1985*	No. 1	Stanford	W 89–55	9–0	Carmichael Auditorium  Chapel Hill, NC
Dec 22, 1985*	No. 1	vs. The Citadel	W 104–51	10–0	Charlotte Coliseum  Charlotte, NC
Dec 27, 1985*	No. 1	vs. Manhattan Orange Bowl Tournament	W 129–45	11–0	Knight Center  Miami, FL
Dec 28, 1985*	No. 1	vs. Brown Orange Bowl Tournament	W 115–63	12–0	Knight Center  Miami, FL
Dec 31, 1985*	No. 1	vs. Florida State	W 109–64	13–0	Charlotte Coliseum  Charlotte, NC
Jan 4, 1986	No. 1	NC State Rivalry	W 90–79	14–0 (1–0)	Carmichael Auditorium  Chapel Hill, NC
Jan 9, 1986*	No. 1	vs. Fordham	W 92–68	15–0	Madison Square Garden  New York, NY
Jan 11, 1986	No. 1	at Wake Forest	W 89–65	16–0 (2–0)	Winston-Salem Memorial Coliseum  Winston-Salem, NC
Jan 14, 1986	No. 1	at Maryland	W 71–67	17–0 (3–0)	Cole Fieldhouse  College Park, MD
Jan 18, 1986	No. 1	No. 3 Duke Rivalry	W 95–92	18–0 (4–0)	Dean Smith Center (21,444) Chapel Hill, NC
Jan 19, 1986*	No. 1	at Marquette	W 66–64	19–0	MECCA Arena  Milwaukee, WI
Jan 25, 1986	No. 1	No. 4 Georgia Tech	W 85–77	20–0 (5–0)	Dean Smith Center  Chapel Hill, NC
Jan 26, 1986*	No. 1	No. 16 Notre Dame	W 73–61	21–0	Dean Smith Center  Chapel Hill, NC
Jan 30, 1986	No. 1	at Virginia	L 73–86	21–1 (5–1)	University Hall  Charlottesville, VA
Feb 1, 1986	No. 1	Clemson	W 85–67	22–1 (6–1)	Dean Smith Center  Chapel Hill, NC
Feb 4, 1986	No. 1	at No. 2 Georgia Tech	W 78–77	23–1 (7–1)	Omni Coliseum  Atlanta, GA
Feb 8, 1986	No. 1	Wake Forest	W 91–62	24–1 (8–1)	Dean Smith Center  Chapel Hill, NC
Feb 12, 1986	No. 1	at Clemson	W 79–64	25–1 (9–1)	Littlejohn Coliseum  Clemson, SC
Feb 20, 1986	No. 1	Maryland	L 72–77	25–2 (9–2)	Dean Smith Center  Chapel Hill, NC
Feb 23, 1986	No. 1	at No. 20 NC State Rivalry	L 65–76	25–3 (9–3)	Reynolds Coliseum  Raleigh, NC
Feb 26, 1986	No. 3	Virginia	W 85–79	26–3 (10–3)	Dean Smith Center  Chapel Hill, NC
Mar 2, 1986	No. 3	at No. 1 Duke Rivalry	L 74–82	26–4 (10–4)	Cameron Indoor Stadium  Durham, NC
ACC Tournament
Mar 7, 1986*	No. 4	Maryland ACC tournament Quarterfinal	L 75–85	26–5	Greensboro Coliseum  Greensboro, NC
NCAA Tournament
Mar 13, 1986*	(3) No. 8	vs. (14) Utah First round	W 84–72	27–5	Dee Events Center  Ogden, UT
Mar 15, 1986*	(3) No. 8	vs. (6) UAB Second Round	W 77–59	28–5	Dee Events Center  Ogden, UT
Mar 20, 1986*	(3) No. 8	vs. (2) No. 7 Louisville Regional semifinal	L 79–94[3]	28–6	The Summit  Houston, TX
*Non-conference game. #Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. W=West region. All times are in Eastern Time.

Rankings

Main article: 1985–86 NCAA Division I men's basketball rankings