The 2025–26 North Carolina Tar Heels women's basketball team represented the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill during the 2025–26 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The Tar Heels, led by seventh-year head coach Courtney Banghart, played their home games at Carmichael Arena in Chapel Hill, North Carolina as members of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC).
The Tar Heels began the season by winning two games while being the eleventh-ranked team in the nation before traveling to Paradise, Nevada to participate in the WBCA Challenge. They lost the opening game there by eighteen points to third-ranked, and eventual national champion UCLA. They won their consolation game against Fairfield to leave Nevada with a 1–1 record. The results saw them fall to fourteenth in the rankings. They won two further non-conference games and rebounded to twevlfth in the rankings before travelling to Cancún to participate in the Cancún Challenge. They won all three of their games in Mexico to finish as the Mayan Tournament champions; the wins saw them bounce back to eleventh in the polls. They then travelled to face second-ranked Texas, where they lost their ACC–SEC Challenge matchup. Combined with a forty-two point victory over Boston University, the Tar Heels only fell one spot to twelfth for their opening ACC game against twenty-second ranked Louisville. The Cardinals prevailed in overtime. They loss saw them fall back to eighteenth in the polls. Four straight wins, including ACC victories over Boston College and California saw the Tar Heels rise to sixteenth in the polls. However, an overtime loss to Stanford and a road loss by twenty-three points to Notre Dame saw the team fall out of the rankings. They went on a streak of eight straight wins. The stretch included an overtime win over Syracuse, a two-point rivalry win at NC State and a fifty-two point victory over SMU. Their winning streak was broken with a rivalry loss to eleventh-ranked Duke. The Tar Heels re-entered the rankings over this stretch, rising to twenty first at the time of their loss to Duke. An overtime victory over Virginia Tech and a win over Pittsburgh saw them climb back to twenty-first, where they defeated Virginia on the road and won their rematch with Duke to end the regular season.
The Tar Heels finished the regular season 25–6 overall and 14–4 in ACC play to finish in third place. As the third seed in the ACC tournament, earned a double-bye into the quarterfinals, where they defeated sixth seed Virginia Tech 85–68. They lost to second seed and twelfth-ranked Louisville 57–65 in the semifinals. They received an at-large invitation to the NCAA tournament and were the four-seed in the Forth Worth 1 region. They defeated thirteen-seed Western Illinois in the first round and five-seed and seventeenth-ranked Maryland in the second round. The Tar Heels hosted both games, before traveling to a neutral site to face first seed, top-ranked, UConn. The Tar Heels lost 42–63 to end their season. They finished with a 28–8 overall record.
Previous season
The Tar Heels finished the regular season 25–6 overall and 13–5 in ACC play to finish in a three-way tie for fourth place. As the fifth seed in the ACC tournament, earned a bye into the second round, where they defeated Boston College 78–71. They avenged a regular season loss to Florida State, who was ranked twenty-second at the time of this meeting, in the quarterfinals 60–56. They lost in the semifinals to first seed and seventh-ranked rival NC State 66–55 to end their tournament run. They received an at-large invitation to the NCAA tournament and were the three-seed in the Birmingham 2 region. They defeated fourteen seed Oregon State in the first round and six-seed and sixteenth-ranked West Virginia in the second round. The Tar Heels hosted both games, before traveling to a neutral site to face second seed, seventh-ranked, rival Duke for a third time this season. After splitting the regular season series, Duke won the post-season matchup 47–38 to end the Tar Heels' season. They finished with an overall record of 29–8. Their 29 wins was the highest since the 2012–13 season.
Offseason
Departures Departures 1 G/F 6'1" Rochester, Minnesota Graduated 2 G 5'5" Midlothian, Virginia Graduated 5 F/C 6'3" Lanham, Maryland Graduated 11 G 5'8" Hull, Georgia Retired from basketball 14 G 5'8" Goodyear, Arizona Transferred to Mississippi State 20 G 6'0" La Crosse, Wisconsin Graduated
Additions Incoming transfers Incoming transfers 2 F 6'2" Windermere, Florida Louisville 17 G 5'10" Helsinki, Finland UCLA
Recruiting class
Sources:
Roster
Schedule and results
Source
!colspan=9 style=""| Exhibition
!colspan=9 style=""| Regular season
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Rankings
*AP did not release a week 8 poll.
References