North Carolina and NC State will meet just once during the regular season in the 2025-26 basketball season.
NC State will host the Tar Heels in Will Wade’s debut season, but he won’t bring his squad to Chapel Hill. It is the first time since 1919 that the Tar Heels won’t play a home game against NC State.
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The ACC announced conference matchups Wednesday. The league recently shrunk the number of conference games from 20 to 18 in a bid to earn more berths in the NCAA Tournament. At that point, UNC and NC State were not guaranteed to play twice every season.
“The decision reflects our on-going prioritization to do what’s best for ACC men’s basketball,” ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips said in a statement at the time.
The 18-team league received just four bids, including North Carolina in the First Four, in this year’s tournament. Duke reached the Final Four, continuing the league’s success at deep runs despite fewer bids.
Under the new 18-game schedule, each league member will play two opponents twice. One is a “primary partner” and one is determined on a year-by-year basis or a “variable partner.” Each will play seven other opponents at home and seven others on the road. All teams will miss one school in conference play.
Dates, times and television networks were not announced. They will be announced in September.
The ACC previously announced the primary partners.
NC State’s primary partner is Wake Forest. NC State’s variable partner for 2025-26 is Virginia. Both teams have new coaches with Wade and Virginia’s Ryan Odom. NC State doesn’t play Cal.
North Carolina’s primary partner is Duke. North Carolina’s variable partner for 2025-26 is Syracuse. North Carolina doesn’t play Boston College.
Duke’s primary partner is North Carolina. Duke’s variable partner for 2025-26 is Louisville. Duke, the league’s regular season and tournament champions, finished 19-1 in ACC regular-season play in 2024-25, while Louisville went 18-2 and tied for second with Clemson. Duke doesn’t play Miami, which will be coached by former Duke assistant Jai Lucas.
The league, which was smaller then, played an 18-game schedule from 2012-13 to 2018-19. The move to 20 conference games coincided with the launch of the ESPN-backed ACC Network in 2019-20.
The Big 12 is also moving from 20 to 18 league games next season. The Big 12 played 20 conference games for the 2024-25 season, but is switching back after just one year.
Primary partners:
Boston College-Notre Dame
Clemson-Georgia Tech
California-Stanford
Duke-North Carolina
Florida State-Miami
Louisville-SMU
NC State-Wake Forest
Pitt-Syracuse
Virginia Tech-Virginia
Variable partners for 2025-26 season:
Boston College-Miami
California-Georgia Tech
Clemson-Pitt
Duke-Louisville
Florida State-SMU
North Carolina-Syracuse
NC State-Virginia
Notre Dame-Stanford
Virginia Tech-Wake Forest
Duke’s conference opponents
North Carolina/at North Carolina
Louisville/at Louisville
Boston College
Clemson
Georgia Tech
SMU
Syracuse
Virginia
Wake Forest
at California
at Florida State
at NC State
at Notre Dame
at Pitt
at Stanford
at Virginia Tech
North Carolina conference opponents
Duke/at Duke
Syracuse/at Syracuse
Clemson
Florida State
Louisville
Notre Dame
Pitt
Virginia Tech
Wake Forest
at California
at Georgia Tech
at Miami
at NC State
at SMU
at Stanford
at Virginia
NC State conference opponents
Wake Forest/at Wake Forest
Virginia/at Virginia
Duke
Georgia Tech
Miami
North Carolina
Stanford
Syracuse
Virginia Tech
at Boston College
at Clemson
at Florida State
at Louisville
at Notre Dame
at Pitt
at SMU