Battle of Backbone Mountain

1987–88 ACC men's basketball standings
	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

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

Led by head coach Dean Smith, the Tar Heels completed yet another in a long line of impressive seasons, with an ACC Regular Season title, a top ten ranked team, and having reached all the way to the Elite Eight in the NCAA tournament. After the season, longtime assistant coach Roy Williams would depart to become head coach of that season's national championship, Kansas. Williams would eventually leave Kansas to become the head coach of the Tar Heels since 2003, Williams would win national Championships with the Tar Heels in 2005, 2009, and 2017, surpassing Smith as having the most national Championships at UNC with three. ^[2]

Roster

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

Players

Coaches

Pos.	#	Name	Height	Weight	Year	Hometown
G	3	Jeff Denny	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	—	GS	Rural Hall, North Carolina
G	11	Rodney Hyatt	5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)	—	So	Wadesboro, North Carolina
F	20	Steve Bucknall	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)	215 lb (98 kg)	Jr	London, England
G	21	King Rice	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)	—	Fr	Binghamton, New York
G/F	22	Kevin Madden	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)	—	So	Staunton, Virginia
G	24	Doug Elstun	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	—	Fr	Overland Park, Kansas
F	31	David May	6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)	—	Jr	Greensboro, North Carolina
F	32	Pete Chilcutt	6 ft 9 in (2.06 m)	—	Fr	Eutaw, Alabama
G	33	Ranzino Smith	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)	—	Sr	Chapel Hill, North Carolina
F	34	J. R. Reid	6 ft 9 in (2.06 m)	245 lb (111 kg)	So	Virginia Beach, Virginia
F	35	Joe Jenkins	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	—	Sr	Elizabeth City, North Carolina
C	42	Scott Williams	6 ft 11 in (2.11 m)	230 lb (104 kg)	So	Hacienda Heights, California
F	44	Rick Fox	6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)	225 lb (102 kg)	Fr	Nassau, Bahamas

Head coach

Dean Smith (Kansas)

Assistant coach(es)

Legend

(C) Team captain
(S) Suspended
(I) Ineligible
(W) Walk-on

Injured
Current redshirt

Schedule and results

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
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.

Rankings

References

^ "1987-88 UNC Tar Heels Schedule and Results | College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com". sports-reference.com. Retrieved June 1, 2018.
^ "North Carolina Tar Heels 1987-1988 Basketball Roster". Tar Heel Times. Retrieved June 1, 2018.

[sports-reference-1] "1987-88 UNC Tar Heels Schedule and Results | College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com". sports-reference.com. Retrieved June 1, 2018.

[tarheeltimes-2] "North Carolina Tar Heels 1987-1988 Basketball Roster". Tar Heel Times. Retrieved June 1, 2018.

[1]

[2]

North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball
Venues	Bynum Gymnasium (1910–1923) Tin Can (1924–1938) Woollen Gymnasium (1938–1965) Carmichael Auditorium (1965–1986) Dean Smith Center (1986–present)
Rivalries	Duke (Carlyle Cup) Kentucky NC State Wake Forest
Culture & lore	Rameses The Marching Tar Heels Junior varsity team Inside Carolina Four corners offense Blue blood status Dixie Classic/Big Four Jumpman Invitational Tobacco Road Scandal
People	Head coaches Honorees Honored players NBA draftees Statistical leaders
Seasons	List of seasons 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25
Helms and Premo-Porretta national championships in bold; NCAA Final Four appearances in italics; NCAA championships in bolded italics