1977–78 North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball team

American college basketball season

1977–78 North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball
ACC Regular Season Champions
NCAA tournament, First Round, L 64–68 vs. San Francisco
Conference	Atlantic Coast Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 10
AP	No. 16
Record	23–8 (9–3 ACC)
Head coach	Dean Smith (17th season)
Assistant coaches	Bill Guthridge (11th season) Eddie Fogler (7th season)
Captain	Phil Ford Tom Zaliagiris
Home arena	Carmichael Auditorium
Seasons← 1976–77 1978–79 →

1977–78 ACC men's basketball standings
v t e	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
No. 16 North Carolina	9	–	3	.750	23	–	8	.742
No. 7 Duke †	8	–	4	.667	27	–	7	.794
NC State	7	–	5	.583	21	–	10	.677
Virginia	6	–	6	.500	20	–	8	.714
Wake Forest	6	–	6	.500	19	–	10	.655
Maryland	3	–	9	.250	15	–	13	.536
Clemson	3	–	9	.250	15	–	12	.556

† 1978 ACC tournament winner Rankings from AP Poll

The 1977–78 North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball team represented the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill during the 1977–78 college basketball season.

Schedule

Date time, TV	Rank	Opponent	Result	Record	Site (attendance) city, state
November 28*	No. 1	vs. Oregon State	W 94–63	1-0	(11,666) Charlotte, North Carolina
November 30*	No. 2	Oregon State	W 90–64	2-0	Carmichael Auditorium (10,000) Chapel Hill, North Carolina
December 2*	No. 2	vs. Duke Big Four Tournament	W 79–66	3-0	(15,564) Greensboro, North Carolina
December 3*	No. 2	NC State Big Four Tournament	W 87–82	4-0	(15,564) Greensboro, North Carolina
December 7*	No. 2	at William & Mary	L 75–78	4-1	Kaplan Arena (10,000) Williamsburg, Virginia
December 10*	No. 2	Rochester	W 101–43	5-1	Carmichael Auditorium (10,000) Chapel Hill, North Carolina
December 17*	No. 5	vs. No. 6 Cincinnati	W 67–59	6-1	(15,100) Greensboro, North Carolina
December 23*	No. 3	at Tulane	W 108–103	7-1	(4,100) New Orleans, Louisiana
December 28*	No. 2	vs. BYU Rainbow Classic	W 94–81	8-1	(4,794) Honolulu, HI
December 29*	No. 2	vs. Texas Tech Rainbow Classic	W 88–76	9-1	(4,257) Honolulu, HI
December 30*	No. 2	vs. Stanford Rainbow Classic	W 92–61	10-1	(5,811) Honolulu, HI
January 4	No. 2	at Clemson	W 79-77	11-1 (1-0)	(10,488) Clemson, South Carolina
January 7	No. 2	at No. 13 Virginia	W 76–61	12-1 (2-0)	(8,500) Charlottesville, Virginia
January 14	No. 2	at Duke Carolina–Duke rivalry	L 84–92	12-2 (2-1)	Cameron Indoor Stadium (8,564) Durham, North Carolina
January 15	No. 2	Wake Forest	W 71–69	13-2 (3-1)	Carmichael Auditorium (10,000) Chapel Hill, North Carolina
January 18	No. 5	NC State North Carolina-NC State rivalry	W 69–64	14-2 (4-1)	Carmichael Auditorium (10,000) Chapel Hill, North Carolina
January 21	No. 5	Maryland	W 85–71	15-2 (5-1)	Carmichael Auditorium (10,000) Chapel Hill, North Carolina
January 26	No. 3	at Wake Forest	L 62–71	15-3 (5-2)	(8,250) Winston-Salem, North Carolina
January 28	No. 3	Clemson	W 98–64	16-3 (6-2)	Carmichael Auditorium (10,000) Chapel Hill, North Carolina
January 30*	No. 3	Mercer	W 73–70	17-3	Carmichael Auditorium (10,000) Chapel Hill, North Carolina
February 3*	No. 6	vs. Furman North–South Doubleheader	L 83–89	17-4	(11,666) Charlotte, North Carolina
February 4*	No. 6	vs. Virginia Tech North–South Doubleheader	W 101–88	18-4	(11,666) Charlotte, North Carolina
February 8	No. 7	at Maryland	W 66–64	19-4 (7-2)	(14,500) College Park, Maryland
February 11*	No. 7	vs. Rutgers	W 74–57	20-4	(19,694) New York City
February 12*	No. 7	at No. 20 Providence	L 59–61	20-5	(5,102) Providence, Rhode Island
February 15	No. 11	Kent State	W 92–59	21-5	Carmichael Auditorium (10,000) Chapel Hill, North Carolina
February 18	No. 11	Virginia	W 71–54	22-5 (8-2)	Carmichael Auditorium (10,000) Chapel Hill, North Carolina
February 23	No. 8	at NC State	L 67–72	22-6 (8-3)	(12,400) Raleigh, North Carolina
February 25	No. 8	No. 13 Duke	W 87–83	23-6 (9-3)	Carmichael Auditorium (10,000) Chapel Hill, North Carolina
March 2*	No. 10	vs. Wake Forest ACC tournament • Quarterfinals	L 77–82	23-7	(15,836) Greensboro, North Carolina
March 11*	No. 11	vs. No. 20 San Francisco NCAA tournament • First Round	L 64–68	23-8	ASU Activity Center (11,213) Tempe, Arizona
*Non-conference game. Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses.

Rankings

Main article: 1977–78 NCAA Division I men's basketball rankings

References

v t e North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball
Venues	Bynum Gymnasium (1910–1923) Tin Can (1924–1938) Woollen Gymnasium (1938–1965) Carmichael Auditorium (1965–1986) Dean Smith Center (1986–present)
Rivalries	Duke (Carlyle Cup) Kentucky NC State Wake Forest
Culture & lore	Rameses The Marching Tar Heels Junior varsity team Inside Carolina Four corners offense Blue blood status Dixie Classic/Big Four Jumpman Invitational Tobacco Road Academic-athletic scandal Gambling scandal
People	Head coaches Honorees Honored players NBA draftees Statistical leaders
Seasons	List of seasons 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25
Helms and Premo-Porretta national championships in bold; NCAA Final Four appearances in italics; NCAA championships in bolded italics

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