Keeping It Heel
Fansided

UNC Basketball: Tar Heels’ game against Tennessee sold out

By Blake Cockrum

PITTSBURGH, PA - MARCH 19: Head coach Rick Barnes of the Texas Longhorns reacts in the second half against the Butler Bulldogs during the second round of the 2015 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Consol Energy Center on March 19, 2015 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Jared Wickerham/Getty Images)
PITTSBURGH, PA - MARCH 19: Head coach Rick Barnes of the Texas Longhorns reacts in the second half against the Butler Bulldogs during the second round of the 2015 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Consol Energy Center on March 19, 2015 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Jared Wickerham/Getty Images) /
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North Carolina to play Tennessee in front of sold out crowd

The University of North Carolina men’s basketball program will continue the non-conference portion of its schedule next Sunday when the No. 11 Tar Heels travel to Knoxville to play the No. 24 Tennessee Volunteers.

Newcomers to the top-25, Tennessee is 7-1 on the young season with a win over then-No. 18 Purdue and a close loss to fifth-ranked Villanova. The Volunteers are winners of four straight and will look to continue their hot start before entering conference play against Arkansas in the final week of December.

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North Carolina is in the midst of an 11-day layoff after a 43-point victory over the Western Carolina Catamounts on Wednesday. The 9-1 Tar Heels had convincing wins over Stanford, Arkansas and Michigan, but a lopsided loss over then-No. 4 Michigan State.

Despite their blowout loss to the Spartans, which resulted from the poorest shooting performance in North Carolina history, the Tar Heels have looked good to start the season. A game on the road against Tennessee should be a good barometer for the Tar Heels.

A big game got seemingly bigger when the University of Tennessee announced that its bout with North Carolina had officially sold out.

It’s the first sellout at Thompson-Boling Arena since February 17th, 2015 when the top-ranked Kentucky Wildcats traveled to Knoxville to play the Volunteers the season before Rick Barnes became head coach.

The nearly-22,000 seat arena will no doubt be rocking when ACC powerhouse and defending national champion North Carolina comes to town.

In the two-plus seasons since Barnes took over at Tennessee, he has a 38-36 record, including a 14-22 mark in conference play. This season, though, looks to be the one that Barnes and the Volunteers turn it around and return to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2014.

It’ll be interesting to see how both teams play, coming off of a long layoff in which players have had busy school schedules and end-of-semester final exams.

Next: Marcus Paige and Justin Jackson face off

The Tar Heels and Volunteers will tip off at 3:00 PM ET on Sunday, November 17th.

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