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

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

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 (26th season)
Assistant coaches	Bill Guthridge (20th season) Roy Williams (10th season) Dick Harp (2nd season)
Home arena	Dean Smith Center
Seasons ← 1986–87 1988–89 →

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

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) Bill Guthridge (Kansas State) Roy Williams (North Carolina) 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	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.

Rankings

Main article: 1987–88 NCAA Division I men's basketball rankings