1988–89 North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball team

The 1988–89 North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball team represented the University of North Carolina from Chapel Hill, North Carolina.^[1]

1988–89 North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball
ACC tournament champions
NCAA tournament, Sweet 16
Conference	Atlantic Coast Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 4
AP	No. 5
Record	29–8 (9–5 ACC)
Head coach	Dean Smith (27th season)
Assistant coaches	Bill Guthridge (21st season) Dick Harp (3rd season)
Captain	Steve Bucknall Jeff Lebo
Home arena	Dean Smith Center
Seasons ← 1987–88 1989–90 →

1988–89 ACC men's basketball standings

v t e	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
No. 19 NC State	10	–	4		.714			22	–	9		.710
No. 9 Duke	9	–	5		.643			28	–	8		.778
Virginia	9	–	5		.643			22	–	11		.667
No. 5 North Carolina †	9	–	5		.643			29	–	8		.784
Georgia Tech	8	–	6		.571			20	–	12		.625
Clemson	7	–	7		.500			19	–	11		.633
Wake Forest	3	–	11		.214			13	–	15		.464
Maryland	1	–	13		.071			9	–	20		.310
† 1989 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 29 wins, a top ten ranking, and a Sweet 16 appearance in the NCAA tournament. ^[2]

Roster

1988–89 North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball team
Players	Coaches
Pos. # Name Height Weight Year Hometown F 34 J. R. Reid 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 245 lb (111 kg) Jr Virginia Beach, Virginia G 40 Hubert Davis 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 180 lb (82 kg) Fr F 44 Rick Fox 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 225 lb (102 kg) So	Head coach Dean Smith (Kansas) Assistant coach(es) Bill Guthridge (Kansas State) 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 (attendance) city, state
Regular Season
Nov 18, 1988*	No. 6	Chattanooga Preseason NIT	W 111–84	1–0	Dean Smith Center  Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Nov 19, 1988*	No. 6	Georgia Preseason NIT	W 99–91	2–0	Dean Smith Center  Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Nov 20, 1988*	No. 5	vs. No. 14 Missouri Preseason NIT	L 81–91	2–1	Madison Square Garden  New York, New York
Nov 25, 1988*	No. 5	vs. No. 20 Indiana Preseason NIT Consolation	W 106–92	3–1	Madison Square Garden  New York, New York
Nov 28, 1988*	No. 5	Stanford	W 87–76	4–1	Dean Smith Center  Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Dec 2, 1988*	No. 10	vs. No. 11 Arizona Diet Pepsi Tournament of Champions	W 79–72	5–1	Charlotte Coliseum  Charlotte, North Carolina
Dec 3, 1988*	No. 10	vs. No. 8 Missouri Diet Pepsi Tournament of Champions	W 76–60	6–1	Charlotte Coliseum  Charlotte, North Carolina
Dec 7, 1988*	No. 8	Vanderbilt	W 89–77	7–1	Dean Smith Center  Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Dec 10, 1988*	No. 8	vs. Richmond	W 76–68	8–1	Greensboro Coliseum  Greensboro, North Carolina
Dec 17, 1988*	No. 8	No. 20 UCLA	W 104–78	9–1	Dean Smith Center  Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Dec 22, 1988*	No. 8	vs. Towson State	W 102–74	10–1	HersheyPark Arena  Hershey, PA
Dec 29, 1988*	No. 7	at San Diego State	W 103–92	11–1	Peterson Gym  San Diego, California
Jan 3, 1989*	No. 6	at Pepperdine	W 102–80	12–1	Firestone Fieldhouse  Malibu, California
Jan 5, 1989*	No. 6	at DePaul	W 87–67	13–1	Rosemont Horizon  Rosemont, Illinois
Jan 7, 1989*	No. 6	No. 9 Iowa	L 97–98^[3]	13–2	Dean Smith Center  Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Jan 11, 1989	No. 8	Maryland	W 88–72	14–2 (1–0)	Dean Smith Center  Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Jan 15, 1989	No. 8	at Virginia	L 83–106	14–3 (1–1)	University Hall  Charlottesville, Virginia
Jan 18, 1989	No. 13	at No. 1 Duke	W 91–71	15–3 (2–1)	Cameron Indoor Stadium  Durham, North Carolina
Jan 21, 1989	No. 13	No. 15 NC State	W 84–81	16–3 (3–1)	Dean Smith Center  Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Jan 25, 1989	No. 7	at Wake Forest	W 88–74	17–3 (4–1)	Winston-Salem Memorial Coliseum  Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Jan 28, 1989	No. 7	Georgia Tech	W 92–85	18–3 (5–1)	Dean Smith Center  Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Feb 1, 1989	No. 3	at Clemson	L 82–85	18–4 (5–2)	Littlejohn Coliseum  Clemson, South Carolina
Feb 9, 1989	No. 6	at No. 17 NC State	L 88–98	18–5 (5–3)	Reynolds Coliseum  Raleigh, North Carolina
Feb 12, 1989	No. 6	Virginia	W 85–67	19–5 (6–3)	Dean Smith Center  Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Feb 14, 1989*	No. 8	at Old Dominion	W 87–77	20–5	Norfolk Scope  Norfolk, Virginia
Feb 16, 1989	No. 8	Wake Forest	W 99–76	21–5 (7–3)	Dean Smith Center  Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Feb 19, 1989	No. 8	at Maryland	W 86–75	22–5 (8–3)	Cole Fieldhouse  College Park, Maryland
Feb 21, 1989*	No. 5	Nevada	W 109–86	23–5	Dean Smith Center  Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Feb 25, 1989	No. 5	Clemson	W 100–86	24–5 (9–3)	Dean Smith Center  Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Mar 1, 1989	No. 5	at Georgia Tech	L 74–76	24–6 (9–4)	Alexander Memorial Coliseum  Atlanta, Georgia
Mar 5, 1989	No. 5	No. 9 Duke	L 86–88	24–7 (9–5)	Dean Smith Center  Chapel Hill, North Carolina
ACC Tournament
Mar 10, 1989*	No. 9	at Georgia Tech ACC Tournament Quarterfinal	W 77–62	25–7	Omni Coliseum  Atlanta, Georgia
Mar 11, 1989*	No. 9	vs. Maryland ACC Tournament Semifinal	W 88–58	26–7	Omni Coliseum  Atlanta, Georgia
Mar 12, 1989*	No. 9	vs. No. 7 Duke ACC tournament championship	W 77–74	27–7	Omni Coliseum  Atlanta, Georgia
NCAA tournament
Mar 17, 1989*	(2 SE) No. 5	vs. (15 SE) Southern First round	W 93–79	28–7	Omni Coliseum  Atlanta, Georgia
Mar 19, 1989*	(2 SE) No. 5	vs. (7 SE) UCLA Second Round	W 88–81	29–7	Omni Coliseum  Atlanta, Georgia
Mar 23, 1989*	(2 SE) No. 5	vs. (3 SE) No. 10 Michigan Southeast Regional semifinal – Sweet Sixteen	L 87–92	29–8	Rupp Arena  Lexington, Kentucky
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. SE=Southeast. All times are in Eastern Time.

^[4]

Rankings

Main article: 1988–89 NCAA Division I men's basketball rankings

NBA draft

Main article: 1989 NBA draft

Round	Pick	Player	NBA Club
1	5	J. R. Reid	Charlotte Hornets

^[5]

References

1. "1988-89 UNC Tar Heels Schedule and Results | College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com". sports-reference.com. Retrieved June 1, 2018.
2. "North Carolina Tar Heels 1988-1989 Basketball Roster". Tar Heel Times. Retrieved March 15, 2019.
3. "N. Carolina Upset by Iowa On Free Throw by Marble". The New York Times. January 8, 1989. Retrieved September 13, 2020.
4. "2019–20 North Carolina Men's Basketball Media Guide" (PDF). University of North Carolina Athletics. Retrieved April 18, 2020.
5. "1989 NBA Draft". Basketball-reference.com. Retrieved April 18, 2020.