Looking at Carolina’s ACC schedule, I’m not sure there’s anything that would have better fit the blah vibes that always hang over the early days of January than a road trip to SMU.
That isn’t meant to be
dismissive of the matchup. As our own Akil Guruparan broke down yesterday, SMU is a solid team and should give the Tar Heels a tough game. But, for me at least, it’s a bit difficult to find as much pleasure in watching Carolina face the Mustangs as most other ACC teams. I think that’s mainly because they just aren’t familiar enough to truly register as a conference rival yet. When they joined the ACC last season, UNC hadn’t played them since the 1987-88 campaign. Even Dallas itself is strange territory for Carolina; the Tar Heels haven’t played there since the 1990 NCAA Tournament.
I realize the same can be said about the other ACC newcomers (although UNC’s three games against Stanford from 2017-2020 made the Cardinal not completely foreign), so maybe it’s just my own post-holiday letdown putting a damper on what the metrics suggest will be a quality matchup.
Or maybe it’s the fact that it tips off at 2:15 PM ET on The CW. Blah.
Here are the full details:
- Time: 2:15 PM ET
- Location: Moody Coliseum – Dallas, TX
- TV: The CW with Thom Brennaman and Mike Gminski
- Radio: Tar Heel Sports Network with Jones Angell, Tyler Hansbrough or Tyler Zeller, and Adam Lucas. Here’s a list of affiliates airing the THSN broadcast. You can also listen to them on GoHeels.com, The Varsity Network, Tune In, and Sirius XM on channel 193.
- Streaming: Fubo
- Line: UNC -1.5
