KU-UNC home-and-home deal expires Friday. Future of bluebloods’ series unclear
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Kansas and North Carolina closed a two-game home-and-home series Friday.
- Bill Self supports continuing the matchup but cites scheduling and conflicts.
- Roy Williams historically opposed regular-season home-and-homes; emotions drove restraint.
Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame coaches Bill Self and Roy Williams never attempted to schedule a regular-season home-and-home series between bluebloods Kansas and North Carolina during former KU coach Williams’ 18 seasons in Chapel Hill, N.C.
Williams, who directed KU’s hoops program from 1988 to 2003, had made it clear during interviews throughout his stay at UNC that he had no desire to compete against his former school — unless it was a game mandated in the postseason by the NCAA Tournament committee.
“I don’t know that that would’ve been the right thing to do anyway. It would (stink) for him and it would (stink) for me. So if that’s the case, probably not a great combination to decide to play home-and-home,” Self, KU’s 23rd-year coach and successor to Williams in Lawrence, said Wednesday during a news conference held in advance of Friday’s KU-UNC game.
Tipoff is set for 6 p.m. Central Time inside the Dean E. Smith Center. It’s the second and final game of a home-and-home series.
KU won last year’s thriller 92-89 at Allen Fieldhouse.
Said Self of Friday’s matchup: “I do think it is different with Hubert (Davis, fifth-year UNC coach) and I think the fact that we met up a couple of years ago in a big game (2022 NCAA title game) adds to it a little bit, because that was a coin-flip game, as everybody knows. And so it certainly maybe adds to the intrigue of the game.”
After last year’s game, Self had said of a possible KU-UNC regular-season series between teams coached by Williams and Self: “There was too much emotion going on to have it be a good game.”
Self, who went 3-0 in NCAA Tournament games against Williams’ Heels, said he’d like for the KU-UNC series to continue with perhaps another home-and-home.
“I would love to (play). We’ve talked about that,” Self said of discussions between the schools. “I think that would be great, but it’s also got to fit for them.
“You know … how many games is the Big 12 going to play in the league next year? I know our league, but I don’t know how many the ACC plays and you have all the other games, and you’ve got the Player’s Era (tourney in Las Vegas) and you’ve got so many different things going on that the true home-and-homes are important for our sport, but you can’t play them all.
“You can’t play many of them,” Self continued. “If in fact you know your schedule is playing seven games already, that only leaves you six games, let’s say, to actually schedule on your own. Then there’s the Player’s Era, the Champions Classic, the Missouri series and a Connecticut return (game next season). There are so many different things going on that it kind of limits you. But this would be one that I would love for this to continue, regardless of our scheduling situation.”
Self was asked if there are any places he’d like to coach a game in the future, now that he’s about to work a game at the Smith Center for the first time.
“We haven’t been to Cameron,” Self said of Duke’s Cameron Indoor Stadium. “I’ve never been to Chapel Hill. So those would be two bucket-list things and we get to mark one of them off this year, obviously.”
After KU’s win over North Carolina last Nov. 8, Self noted that “for the first time in a long time, it is not emotional if Hubert and I play. It was emotional for Roy. It was emotional for coach Smith (Dean, who played at KU from 1949-53 and was head coach at UNC from 1961-97). It was emotional for Larry (Brown, who played at Carolina from 1960-63 and coached at KU from 1984-88).
“Now it’s a good game, and I think in large part because those emotional ties don’t exist anymore. But there’s nothing but respect for each other. At least, I assume that’s how they feel, too.”
Self was pleased with the atmosphere at last year’s on-campus game in Lawrence against the Tar Heels.
“The atmosphere ... it was a 10,” he said. “I don’t know that it can be turned up much more than what it was for 40 minutes.”
Of course, the Smith Center figures to be as loud or louder for the return game of the home-and-home series on Friday.
“I could be wrong on this, so North Carolina people tell me different if I’m wrong,” Self said. “It was total class on both sides (for last year’s game at Allen Fieldhouse). It was cheer your team but not get after the other team. I think there’s a mutual respect, because North Carolina and Kansas do not exist without the other one.
“I mean, Dean Smith came from here. Larry Brown came from Carolina. Roy Williams came from Carolina and Kansas.”
A year ago, a reporter mentioned to UNC coach Davis that the KU-UNC game had the intensity of a postseason-tourney contest. Davis agreed.
“I mean, any time that you bring two unbelievable programs that have terrific kids and talented kids, competitive kids, it doesn’t matter whether it’s in March or November,” he said. “It’s going to be highly competitive.
“I mean, when you run through the tunnel, because the last time Carolina played (at Allen) was 1960, you run through that tunnel and you see that crowd, and you see Kansas across the court, if you can’t be fired up to compete and play in this type of atmosphere against that type of team, then something is wrong with you. And I think we bring the same thing out as opponents, and I thought we brought the same thing out in Kansas, as well.”
KU has played UNC twice at Allen Fieldhouse. But the Jayhawks, like Self, have never played in Chapel Hill.
Asked why he wanted to play the home-and-home, Davis said a year ago: “Because I love playing basketball. I love competing. They’ve got to come to our place (Friday). A game is a game. I just love competing.”
When asked about scheduling KU, Williams back in March 2012, said: “I don’t think (facing KU) will ever feel good for me, regardless of the outcome. It was 15 years of my life that I felt like that I gave my heart and my body and my soul. And the people were wonderful to me.”
This story was originally published November 5, 2025 at 1:47 PM.
