UNC Basketball: 2016-17 schedule officially released

Are you ready for some North Carolina Basketball? Well you won’t have to wait a whole lot longer.

The 2016-17 college basketball season kicks off in just a few months but on Monday, we got a look at the full Tar Heels schedule including ACC games.

UNC finalized its non-conference schedule just a few weeks back but now we have the entire 2016-17 schedule and it’s getting us pretty excited for the season.

The Tar Heels will open the season in New Orleans on November 11 when they take on Tulane.

Just two days later, they will play their first home game in the Dean Dome as they host Chattanooga in the Maui Invitational on November 13. They will play one more home game, Nov. 15 against Long Beach State, before heading to Hawaii.

In Hawaii, the Tar Heels will play the University of Hawaii and then open the invitational by playing Chaminade. The Tar Heels can play two more games if they continue to advance in the tournament.

The non-conference schedule is highlighted by their matchup in Indiana against the Hoosiers in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge on November 30th. They also play Kentucky in Las Vegas in the CBS Sports Classic on December 17th.

Sandwiched in between those two games are home contests against Radford (Dec. 4), Davidson (Dec. 7) and Tennessee (Dec. 11).

The ACC schedule features UNC playing three of its first four games on the road, including the opener against Georgia Tech in Atlanta on Dec. 31. The Tar Heels end the season with a tough 7-game stretch that includes two games against Duke and Virginia, as well as games against Louisville, NC State and Pittsburgh.

Below is the full UNC schedule:

That 7-game stretch at the end of the schedule could be big for the Tar Heels seeding-wise in the NCAA Tournament. It could also have a big impact on the ACC standings as the games are against Virginia, Duke and Louisville.

At first glance, the three out of four on the road sucks a little bit but the Tar Heels would like to get those road tests out of the way quickly. It would also be big if they could win those three early on in conference play.