UNC Basketball: Tar Heels heading back to Maui in 2020

The UNC Basketball program will head to Hawaii to play in the 2020-21 Maui Invitational as the field was announced on Thursday

Pack your swimsuits, sunglasses and start making plans now because the North Carolina Tar Heels are going back to Maui.

On Thursday, the full field for the 2020 Maui Invitational was officially released despite a leak earlier in the week that was since taken down. The 8-team field will consist of UNC, Alabama, Davidson, Providence, Indiana, Stanford, Texas and UNLV and will take place the week of Thanksgiving.

This will mark the eighth time the Tar Heels have participated in the Maui Invitational, breaking a tie with Arizona for the most appearances.

While it’s still over a year and a half away, it’s hard to gauge just how good each program will be when they enter the tournament. A lot can happen leading up to the tournament recruiting-wise but it does feature both UNC and Indiana, two traditional college blue blood programs.

The Maui Invitational has been very kind to the Tar Heels over the years. In their eight appearances, UNC has won the tournament a total of four times which is one short of the all-time lead by Duke who has 5. The Tar Heels will have the chance to tie the Blue Devils in that category after Duke lost in 2018 to Gonzaga.

The past three times the Tar Heels have won the tournament (2004, 2008, 2016) they have gone on to win the national championship.

The 2020 field will combined for 214 NCAA tournament appearances, 39 Final Fours and 13 National Championships.

In addition to playing in Maui, UNC will also have a true road game in Honolulu to play the University of Hawaii on Friday Nov. 20th. They will then make the trip over to Maui to play in the tournament.

This season, UNC will play in the Battle 4 Atlantis in late November.

For more on the UNC Basketball program, please check back with Keeping It Heel.