UNC Basketball Adds USC Exhibition, Giving Tar Heels Two High-Major Preseason Tests

North Carolina basketball is taking full advantage of its preseason opportunities in 2026.

The Tar Heels will face USC in an exhibition game on Friday, October 9, at First Horizon Coliseum in Greensboro, giving Michael Malone’s team a second high-major opponent before the regular season even begins. The newly announced “Preseason Premiere” will tip at 7 p.m., with tickets scheduled to go on sale Friday, August 14.

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That matchup joins UNC’s previously announced exhibition against Indiana on Sunday, October 18, at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.

It represents a notable shift in how Carolina is utilizing the relatively new freedom to schedule multiple Division I preseason opponents.

In 2024-25, the Tar Heels traveled to face Memphis in their first major exhibition before returning home to play Division II Johnson C. Smith. Carolina beat Memphis 84-76 and Johnson C. Smith 127-63.

UNC followed essentially the same blueprint last season. The Tar Heels traveled west to face BYU at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City before hosting Division II Winston-Salem State in their second exhibition.

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This time around, there will be no lower-division opponent, signaling a shift from the exhibition scheduling philosophy of Hubert Davis.

Instead, Malone and the Tar Heels will get two opportunities to test themselves against high-major competition before the games begin counting: USC in Greensboro followed nine days later by Indiana in Indianapolis.

For a team entering its first season under Malone, that should provide two valuable measuring sticks. Rather than learning about the roster against an overmatched exhibition opponent, Carolina will have two chances to see how its rotations, lineups, and schemes hold up against legitimate Division I competition.

The USC announcement also creates an interesting Greensboro subplot for the 2026-27 season.

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Carolina will now make two trips to First Horizon Coliseum, first for the October 9 exhibition and again on…

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Publish date : 2026-08-11 03:05:00

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