Earlier this week, UNC announced that they will host Johnson C. Smith in their annual exhibition at the Smith Center, ahead of the 2024-25 season, which starts in November. The date for that game is Sunday, October 27th, with a tip time of 2 PM. This continues the tradition of UNC bringing in a small, local school, to not only scrimmage but help them out financially, as Carolina typically gives the opponent, a significant amount of money. The interesting part was that when they announced that exhibition, they made it known that there was more preseason news to come, hinting at another exhibition to be played before the regular season got underway.
Schools are allowed to participate in two exhibitions in the preseason if one of them is deemed a charity event. In years past, UNC has opted to have a closed, controlled scrimmage against an opponent, where they have played the likes of Villanova in recent years. The charity exhibitions took off last year, with multiple, high-profile programs participating, including Tennessee, and Michigan State. Like college football, college basketball doesn’t have an official preseason, but these charity exhibitions offer a way to get the college basketball product on TV, during the heart of football season, something that hasn’t been possible until very recently.
Earlier today, the program announced that they will travel to the FedEx Forum, where they’ll take on the Memphis Tigers, on October 15th, in a charity exhibition, that will benefit St. Jude’s. The Memphis program is still led by Penny Hardaway, who has enjoyed uneven success as the head coach of his alma mater, and just recently, fired multiple assistant coaches, two months before the season gets underway.
The matchup with the Tigers will be our first glance at this year’s team, which will feature, fifth-year senior, R.J. Davis, and multiple high-profile freshmen in Ian Jackson, and Drake Powell.
Tip time is set for 7 PM, on ESPNU.
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