The North Carolina Tar Heels are headed to the NCAA Tournament as a No. 6 seed in the South Region, facing off against No. 11 VCU in Greenville. This matchup is set to take place on Thursday, March 19, at 6:50 p.m. ET, and will be broadcast on TNT.
The Tar Heels, who finished the regular season with a 24-8 record and 12-6 in the ACC, are looking to bounce back from a disappointing 2025 tournament appearance, where they fell to No. 6 seed Ole Miss in the second round. UNC has been a No. 6 seed three times before (1996, 2004, 2014), but has failed to advance past the second round in each of those instances.
VCU, on the other hand, is coming off a strong finish to the season, winning the Atlantic 10 Tournament and securing an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. The Rams are 27-7 overall and have won 16 of their last 17 games. If North Carolina wins its first-round matchup, it will face the winner of No. 3 Illinois and No. 14 Penn in the second round. The South Region final is set to take place in Houston.
The Tar Heels will be without star freshman Caleb Wilson, who is dealing with a broken thumb. Despite this, UNC is still considered a slight favorite to win the matchup against VCU, with BetMGM Sportsbook listing them as a 2.5-point favorite.
