College basketball is finally back. On Monday night, the North Carolina Tar Heels welcomed Western Carolina to Chapel Hill for their season opener.
Monday was a little more special than your typical opener, with Michael Malone officially making his UNC head-coaching debut. Malone led North Carolina to a pair of preseason wins in three tries, with plenty to like and plenty to fix.
Monday was ugly, but the Tar Heels found a way to win. Anchored by strong second-half free throw shooting and a balanced scoring attack, UNC withstood multiple Catamount charges for an 80-72 victory.
North Carolina (1-0) shot 25-of-35 from the charity stripe, making 17 attempts in the second half alone, including five straight that extended a 64-62 advantage to seven points.
Utah transfer Terrence Brown, who finished his Tar Heel debut with 14, made a game-high eight free throws.
Matt Able (18), Neo Avdalas (13) and Maximo Adams (10) each scored in double-figures, showcasing the depth Malone praised after UNC's preseason opener. This helped counter a horrific night on the glass for North Carolina, out-rebounded by nine against a much-smaller Western Carolina (0-1) team.
Season opener dub. 🐏 pic.twitter.com/ELHeVuEcr7
— Carolina Basketball (@UNC_Basketball) November 3, 2026
The Tar Heels aren't known for their perimeter defense, which struggled again on Monday night. The Catamounts nailed 42% of their attempts from deep, with star guard Jaeden Roberts making four before fouling out late. UNC held Western to just two field goals on its final 10 attempts, though, closing a near-shocker on Night One.
How'd social media reacts to North Carolina's win in its season-opener? Take a look below...are they any different from yours?
Well-deserved firsts!
You'll never forget your first chaining day! @terrencetbrown is your #DefensivePlayerOfTheGame. pic.twitter.com/hilz2ILH5w
— Carolina Basketball (@UNC_Basketball) November 3, 2026
Steve Newmark and Roy Williams present Michael Malone with the game ball after his first win as #UNC head coach 80-72 over Western Carolina. pic.twitter.com/peu3fNqzlu
— Pat Welter WRAL (@PatrickWelter) November 3, 2026
Michael Malone says Roy Williams sent him a touching text last night before his first game. But adds that RW could also see the unease in his face when he handed Malone his first game ball.
— Brendan Marks (@BrendanRMarks) November 3, 2026
"I'm glad we won, but there's so many things we have to get better at in a hurry."
UNC basketball is back..good or stressful?
The good news: UNC basketball is back 🥳
— Vαℓαrie ♛ (@LeeenaBellle87) November 3, 2026
The bad news: UNC basketball is back 😪
Can we not, at least on the first night??? pic.twitter.com/6Pr2ZVwiLL
— Matt Norlander (@MattNorlander) November 3, 2026
Postgame thoughts
We won! Thoughts? Let it out
— William McCallister (@WilliamMcCall_) November 3, 2026
WCU game thoughts. #UNC #GoHeels #CollegeBasketball pic.twitter.com/1WSmnf5mTA
— Andy Bagwell 🏀 (@ncbags) November 3, 2026
Initial UNC/Western Carolina takeaways:
— Josh "Fitty" Marlow (@HTB_Josh) November 3, 2026
-For the first time under MM we saw UNC start fast but maintaining that level of intensity is a challenge right now
-Matt Able is Carolina’s best source of offense, both in transition and in the half court. Needs to be more involved…
Watching UNC is so frustrating even if it’s early. You get 4 total rebounds from your starting 4/5 vs Western Carolina. That’s not a good recipe for success
— Jay (@Jayy_Hardyy252) November 3, 2026
Mike Malone should pull a reverse Coach Carter: lock the library and force the players to practice more.
— UNC Barstool (@UNCBarstool) November 3, 2026
Karma is a...
No offense to any “normal” WCU grads out there, but I’m old enough to remember when one Western Carolina grad had the nerve to tell me that I have “fake degrees” which is ironic considering she knows how hard I worked to get my 2 degrees from UNC. Hope you enjoyed the game. ✌🏻
— Countesses of UNC (@CountessesofUNC) November 3, 2026
Matt Able needs to be more involved
Able needs the ball in his hands way more, thus Neo shit I can’t watch
— HubertsBurner (@UNCballTalk) November 3, 2026
Able just so smooth man. Excited to see where he is at by March
— Christian🐏 (@MERKE15) November 3, 2026
These fans not happy
This is a nightmare. People turning on Malone on game 1. I’m sick.
— William McCallister (@WilliamMcCall_) November 3, 2026
We look like an absolute joke
— UNC Barstool (@UNCBarstool) November 3, 2026
Anyone else miss Seth Trimble?
There are some potentially seriously likeable guys on this team but, man, it immediately switching over to Seth in red and white is such a bummer.
— Susie (@ponyace) November 3, 2026
Fist-bumps all around!
i got my traditional roy fistbump at least
— Jordan (@heelsrule1988) November 3, 2026
Not the type of stat...or flashback...you want
Western Carolina outrebounded UNC, 41-32.
— Greg Barnes (@GSBarnes23) November 3, 2026
The last time a mid-major program outrebounded UNC at the Dean E. Smith Center by that large a margin was Winthrop (40-31) on Nov. 10, 2000.
That was Matt Doherty's first game as head coach.
Winning combos?
These early games will be important for figuring out which lineup combos work and which combos fall flat.
— Trevor William Marks (@twmarks_) November 3, 2026
Some frontcourt combos:
Jarin-Keita: +16 in 19:13
Maxi-Samo: +13 in 9:44
Maxi-Jarin: -14 in 8:50
Jarin-Samo: -5 in 1:20
Samo-Keita: -2 in 0:53
You love the honesty from UNC players.
Terrence Brown: "That was a nasty game."
— Michael Koh (@michaelkohwchl) November 3, 2026
This article originally appeared on Tar Heels Wire: How social media reacted to UNC surviving Western Carolina in opener
