UNC basketball will be a part of the First Four in Dayton to tip off the 2025 men’s NCAA Tournament. 

The 11th-seeded Tar Heels (22-13) will face No. 11 San Diego State (21-9) on Tuesday in Ohio. The game will be televised on CBS/TNT/TBS/truTV. The winner will face No. 6 Ole Miss (22-11) in the round of 64 on Friday.

UNC, which lost to No. 1 Duke (31-3) in the semifinals of the ACC Tournament, is 36th in the NET rankings and 33rd in KenPom’s metrics. Ultimately, the Tar Heels’ 1-12 record in Quad 1 games wasn’t enough to keep them from earning a bid. 

Buy UNC First Four ticketsThe Tar Heels beat UCLA, an NCAA Tournament team, in New York City and had one of the toughest non-conference schedules in the nation. UNC played 10 teams inside the top 25 on KenPom, including games against three of the top seeds in March Madness – Duke, Auburn and Florida.

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UNC also passed the eye test by finishing with wins in eight of its final 10 games of the season, winning by an average of 17 points. Fifth-year guard RJ Davis, who helped the Heels get to the 2022 national championship game, will have one more March Madness experience.

Rodd Baxley covers Duke, North Carolina and N.C. State for The Fayetteville Observer as part of the USA TODAY Network. Follow his ACC coverage on X/Twitter or Bluesky: @RoddBaxley. Got questions regarding those teams? Send them to[email protected].