1978–79 North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball team

American college basketball season

1978–79 North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball
ACC Tournament champions ACC regular season champions
NCAA tournament, Second Round
Conference	Atlantic Coast Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 3
AP	No. 9
Record	23–6 (9–3 ACC)
Head coach	Dean Smith (18th season)
Assistant coaches	Bill Guthridge (12th season) Eddie Fogler (8th season) Roy Williams (1st season)
Home arena	Carmichael Auditorium
Seasons← 1977–78 1979–80 →

1978–79 ACC men's basketball standings
v t e	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
No. 9 North Carolina †	9	–	3	.750	23	–	6	.793
No. 11 Duke	9	–	3	.750	22	–	8	.733
Virginia	7	–	5	.583	19	–	10	.655
Maryland	6	–	6	.500	19	–	11	.633
Clemson	5	–	7	.417	19	–	10	.655
NC State	3	–	9	.250	18	–	12	.600
Wake Forest	3	–	9	.250	12	–	15	.444

† 1979 ACC tournament winner Rankings from AP Poll

The 1978–79 North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball team represented the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Schedule

Date time, TV	Rank	Opponent	Result	Record	Site city, state
Regular season
November 29*	No. 14	at Northwestern	W 97–67	1–0	Welsh–Ryan Arena Evanston, IL
December 1*	No. 14	vs. Wake Forest Big Four Tournament	W 73–55	2–0	Greensboro Coliseum Greensboro, NC
December 2*	No. 14	vs. No. 1 Duke Big Four Tournament	L 68–78	2–1	Greensboro Coliseum Greensboro, NC
December 4*	No. 14	Detroit	W 93–76	3–1	Carmichael Auditorium Chapel Hill, NC
December 9*	No. 14	Jacksonville	W 85–56	4–1	Carmichael Auditorium Chapel Hill, NC
December 16*	No. 13	No. 3 Michigan State	W 70–69	5–1	Carmichael Auditorium Chapel Hill, NC
December 22*	No. 6	at Cincinnati	W 62–59	6–1	Riverfront Coliseum Cincinnati, OH
December 29*	No. 5	vs. Dartmouth Kodak Classic	W 86–67	7–1	War Memorial Coliseum Rochester, NY
December 30*	No. 5	vs. Niagara Kodak Classic	W 121–69	8–1	War Memorial Coliseum Rochester, NY
January 3	No. 5	vs. Clemson	W 90–68	9–1 (1–0)	Greensboro Coliseum Greensboro, NC
January 6	No. 3	Virginia	W 86–74	10–1 (2–0)	Carmichael Auditorium Chapel Hill, NC
January 10	No. 3	at Wake Forest	L 56–59	10–2 (2–1)	Winston–Salem Memorial Coliseum Winston-Salem, NC
January 13	No. 3	No. 7 Duke	W 74–68	11–2 (3–1)	Carmichael Auditorium Chapel Hill, NC
January 14*	No. 3	vs. No. 10 Arkansas	W 63–57	12–2	Greensboro Coliseum Greensboro, NC
January 17	No. 2	at No. 14 NC State	W 70–69	13–2 (4–1)	Reynolds Coliseum Raleigh, NC
January 20	No. 2	at No. 19 Maryland	W 54–53	14–2 (5–1)	Cole Fieldhouse College Park, MD
January 25	No. 2	Wake Forest	W 76–69	15–2 (6–1)	Carmichael Auditorium Chapel Hill, NC
January 27	No. 2	at Clemson	L 61–66	15–3 (6–2)	Littlejohn Coliseum Clemson, SC
February 2*	No. 4	vs. Furman North-South Doubleheader	L 70–83	15–4	Charlotte Coliseum Charlotte, NC
February 3*	No. 4	vs. Virginia Tech North-South Doubleheader	W 92–80	16–4	Charlotte Coliseum Charlotte, NC
February 7	No. 6	Maryland	W 76–67	17–4 (7–2)	Carmichael Auditorium Chapel Hill, NC
February 10*	No. 6	vs. Providence	W 89–55	18–4	Charlotte Coliseum Charlotte, NC
February 14*	No. 4	William & Mary	W 85–60	19–4	Carmichael Auditorium Chapel Hill, NC
February 17	No. 4	at Virginia	W 66–57	20–4 (8–2)	University Hall Charlottesville, VA
February 22	No. 4	NC State	W 71–56	21–4 (9–2)	Carmichael Auditorium Chapel Hill, NC
February 24	No. 4	at No. 6 Duke	L 40–47	21–5 (9–3)	Cameron Indoor Stadium Durham, NC
ACC Tournament
March 2*	(1) No. 7	vs. (4) Maryland Semifinals	W 102–79	22–5	Greensboro Coliseum Greensboro, NC
March 3*	(1) No. 7	vs. (2) No. 5 Duke Championship	W 71–63	23–5	Greensboro Coliseum Greensboro, NC
NCAA Tournament
March 11*	(1 E) No. 3	vs. (9 E) Pennsylvania NCAA tournament	L 71–72	23–6	Reynolds Coliseum Raleigh, NC
*Non-conference game. Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. E=East.

Rankings

Main article: 1978–79 NCAA Division I men's basketball rankings

Ranking movements
**Legend:** ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
— = Not ranked
	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	Final
AP	16	14	14	13	6	5	3	3	2	2	4	6	4	4	7	3	9
Coaches	12	—	—	12	6	6	4	4	3	2	6	6	4	4	7	3	Not released

^Coaches did not release Week 1 or Week 2 polls.

References

2014-15 North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball record book Archived 2015-02-22 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2015-Jun-14.

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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