The 2020–21 North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball team represented the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill during the 2020–21 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The team was coached by Roy Williams, who was in his 18th and final season as UNC's head men's basketball coach. The Tar Heels played their home games at the Dean Smith Center in Chapel Hill, North Carolina as members of the Atlantic Coast Conference. They finished the 18–11, 10–6 in ACC play to finish in a tie for fifth place. As the No. 6 seed in the ACC Tournament, they defeated Notre Dame and Virginia Tech, before losing to Florida State in the semifinals. North Carolina received an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament as the No. 8 seed in the Midwest region. They lost in the first round to 9th-seeded Wisconsin.
On February 27, 2021, Roy Williams won his 900th career game in a win over Florida State, becoming the 5th and fastest Division I men's head coach to reach the milestone. On March 6, 2021, UNC completed a season sweep over rival Duke in a 91–73 win. Following the win, Roy Williams kissed the Smith Center court, causing speculation of possible retirement. Williams later said it was because of the team's 10–1 home record.
Following the season, Williams announced he was retiring after 18 years as head coach of North Carolina and 33 years of coaching. Several days later, the school named assistant coach Hubert Davis as the team's new head coach.
Previous season The Tar Heels finished the 2019–20 season 14–19, 6–14 in ACC play to finish in three-way tie for last place. As the No. 14 seed in the ACC tournament, they defeated Virginia Tech before losing to Syracuse in the second round. All postseason tournaments, including the remainder of the ACC Tournament, the NCAA tournament, and NIT were canceled due to the pandemic.
Offseason
Departures Name Number Pos. Height Weight Year Hometown NotesCole Anthony 2 G 6'3" 190 Freshman New York, New York Declared for the 2020 NBA draft; selected 15th overall by the Orlando Magic. Brandon Robinson 4 G 6'5" 173 Senior Douglasville, Georgia Graduated Shea Rush 11 F 6'5" 210 Senior Fairway, Kansas Graduated Jeremiah Francis 13 G 6'0" 210 Freshman Reynoldsburg, Ohio Transferred to New Mexico Caleb Ellis 25 F 6'5" 190 Graduate Student Apex, North Carolina Completed athletic eligibility Justin Pierce 32 F 6'7" 210 Graduate Student Glen Ellyn, Illinois Completed athletic eligibility Robbie O'Han 34 G 6'2" 170 Senior Raleigh, North Carolina Graduated Brandon Huffman 42 F 6'10" 255 Junior Goldsboro, North Carolina Transferred to Jacksonville StateChristian Keeling 55 G 6'3" 180 Graduate Student Augusta, Georgia Completed athletic eligibility
2020 recruiting class
2021 recruiting class
Roster
Schedule and results
!colspan=12 style=| Non-conference regular season
!colspan=12 style=|ACC Regular Season
!colspan=12 style=|ACC tournament
!colspan=12 style=| NCAA tournament
Source:
Rankings
On January 18, 2021, Duke fell out of the AP Top 25 ranking for the first time since February 8, 2016. This broke a 59-year streak and marked the first time since December 25, 1961 that the powerhouse trio of Duke, Kentucky and North Carolina were all out of the Top 25 ranking.
^Coaches did not release a Week 1 poll.
References