1987–88 North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball team

1987–88 North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball
1987–88 North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball
ACC regular season champions
NCAA tournament, Elite Eight
Conference	Atlantic Coast Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 7
AP	No. 7
Record	27–7 (11–3 ACC)
Head coach	Dean Smith (27th season);
Assistant coaches	Bill Guthridge (21st season); Roy Williams (10th season); Dick Harp (2nd season);
Home arena	Dean Smith Center
	Seasons ← 1986–87 1988–89 →

The 1987–88 North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball team represented the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.^[1]

ConferenceAtlantic Coast Conference

CoachesNo. 7

APNo. 7

Record27–7 (11–3 ACC)

Quick facts North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball, ACC regular season champions ...

Close

More information Conf., Overall ...

1987–88 ACC men's basketball standings
v t e	Conf.				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
No. 7 North Carolina	11	–	3	.786	27	–	7	.794
No. 14 NC State	10	–	4	.714	24	–	8	.750
No. 5 Duke †	9	–	5	.643	28	–	7	.800
Georgia Tech	8	–	6	.571	22	–	10	.688
Maryland	6	–	8	.429	18	–	13	.581
Virginia	5	–	9	.357	13	–	18	.419
Clemson	4	–	10	.286	14	–	15	.483
Wake Forest	3	–	11	.214	10	–	18	.357

† 1988 ACC tournament winner Rankings from AP Poll

Close

Led by head coach Dean Smith, the Tar Heels won the ACC regular season title, reached the Elite Eight of the NCAA tournament, and achieved a top-ten final ranking in the AP poll. After the season, longtime assistant coach Roy Williams would depart to become head coach of that season's national championship winners, the Kansas Jayhawks. Williams would eventually leave Kansas in 2003 to become the head coach of the Tar Heels and win national titles in 2005, 2009, and 2017. ^[2]

[1]

[2]

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site city, state
Non-conference Regular Season
Nov 21, 1987*	No. 3	vs. No. 1 Syracuse Hall of Fame Tip Off Classic	W 96–93	1–0	Springfield Civic Center Springfield, Massachusetts
Nov 27, 1987*	No. 3	vs. USC	W 82–77	2–0
Nov 28, 1987*	No. 3	at Richmond Central Fidelity Holiday Classic	W 87–76	3–0	Robins Center Richmond, Virginia
Dec 3, 1987*	No. 1	Stetson	W 86–74	4–0	Dean Smith Center Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Dec 5, 1987*	No. 1	at Vanderbilt	L 76–78	4–1	Memorial Gymnasium Nashville, Tennessee
Dec 12, 1987*	No. 5	SMU	W 90–74	5–1	Dean Smith Center Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Dec 17, 1987*	No. 4	The Citadel	W 98–74	6–1	Dean Smith Center Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Dec 19, 1987*	No. 4	at Illinois	W 85–74	7–1	Assembly Hall (16,712) Champaign, Illinois
Dec 30, 1987*	No. 4	at Nevada	W 115–91	8–1	Lawlor Events Center Reno, Nevada
Jan 2, 1988*	No. 4	at UCLA	W 80–73	9–1	Pauley Pavilion (12,544) Los Angeles, California
Jan 6, 1988*	No. 4	vs. Fordham	W 76–67	10–1	Greensboro Coliseum Greensboro, North Carolina
Jan 9, 1988*	No. 4	La Salle	W 96–82	11–1	Dean Smith Center Chapel Hill, North Carolina
ACC Regular season
Jan 14, 1988	No. 2	at Maryland	W 71–65	12–1 (1–0)	Cole Fieldhouse College Park, Maryland
Jan 16, 1988	No. 2	Virginia	W 87–62	13–1 (2–0)	Dean Smith Center Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Jan 21, 1988 8:00 p.m., ESPN	No. 2	No. 9 Duke Rivalry	L 69–70	13–2 (2–1)	Dean Smith Center (21,444) Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Jan 24, 1988	No. 2	at No. 20 NC State	W 77–73	14–2 (3–1)	Reynolds Coliseum Raleigh, North Carolina
Jan 28, 1988	No. 3	at Wake Forest	L 80–83	14–3 (4–1)	Winston-Salem Memorial Coliseum Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Jan 30, 1988	No. 3	Georgia Tech	W 73–71	15–3 (5–1)	Dean Smith Center Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Feb 4, 1988	No. 8	at Clemson	W 88–64	16–3 (6–1)	Littlejohn Coliseum Clemson, South Carolina
Feb 11, 1988	No. 6	No. 16 NC State	W 75–73	17–3 (7–1)	Dean Smith Center Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Feb 14, 1988	No. 6	at Virginia	W 64–58	18–3 (8–1)	University Hall Charlottesville, Virginia
Feb 17, 1988	No. 5	Wake Forest	W 80–62	19–3 (9–1)	Dean Smith Center Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Feb 20, 1988	No. 5	Maryland	W 74–73	20–3 (10–1)	Dean Smith Center Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Non-conference Regular season
Feb 21, 1988* NBC	No. 5	No. 1 Temple	L 66–83	20–4	Dean Smith Center (21,444) Chapel Hill, North Carolina
ACC Regular season
Feb 28, 1988	No. 9	Clemson	W 88–52	21–4 (10–2)	Dean Smith Center Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Mar 2, 1988	No. 6	at No. 13 Georgia Tech	W 97–80	22–4 (11–2)	Alexander Memorial Coliseum Atlanta, Georgia
Mar 6, 1988 1:00 p.m., NBC	No. 6	at No. 9 Duke Rivalry	L 81–96	22–5 (11–3)	Cameron Indoor Stadium (8,564) Durham, North Carolina
ACC Tournament
Mar 11, 1988*	No. 9	vs. Wake Forest Quarterfinals	W 83–62	23–5	Greensboro Coliseum Greensboro, North Carolina
Mar 12, 1988*	No. 9	Maryland Semifinals	W 74–64	24–5	Greensboro Coliseum Greensboro, North Carolina
Mar 13, 1988*	No. 9	vs. No. 8 Duke Championship game	L 61–65	24–6	Greensboro Coliseum Greensboro, North Carolina
1988 NCAA tournament
Mar 17, 1988*	(2 W) No. 7	vs. (15 W) North Texas State First round	W 83–65	25–6	Jon M. Huntsman Center Salt Lake City, Utah
Mar 19, 1988*	(2 W) No. 7	vs. (10 W) No. 15 Loyola Marymount Second round	W 123–97	26–6	Jon M. Huntsman Center Salt Lake City, Utah
Mar 25, 1988*	(2 W) No. 7	vs. (3 W) No. 10 Michigan West Regional semifinal – Sweet Sixteen	W 78–69	27–6	Kingdome Seattle, Washington
Mar 27, 1988*	(2 W) No. 7	vs. (1 W) No. 2 Arizona West Regional Final – Elite Eight	L 52–70	27–7	Kingdome Seattle, Washington
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. W=West.

1987–88 North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball team

Roster

Schedule and results

Rankings

References

Related Articles