North Carolina’s 90-69 win over Notre Dame on Wednesday night at the Dean Smith Center was the kind of response the Tar Heels desperately needed.
It snapped a two-game losing streak, eased some of the mounting pressure on Hubert Davis and, for at least one night, looked like a team that remembered how to defend. Yet even as the Smith Center finally felt like a refuge again, its future has never been more uncertain.
The victory played out against the backdrop of a growing push from the university to consider leaving the 40-year-old arena behind and building a new home for Tar Heels basketball at Carolina North, an off-campus, 230-acre expansion two miles from the main campus that will feature academic, research, residential and mixed-use retail space.
Earlier Wednesday, before the opening tip, UNC’s board of trustees moved ahead with the Carolina North project, approving $8 million in planning money and targeting a 2027 groundbreaking. Chancellor Lee Roberts has framed the development as both a necessity and an obligation, driven by surging demand for STEM degrees, the need for more housing and a projected enrollment increase of 5,000 students over the next decade.
“Carolina North represents both an opportunity and, I would argue, an obligation,” Roberts said in an interview with The Associated Press. “Most universities would give anything to have that kind of developable land this close to campus and with so much infrastructure ready in place. … We just feel really fortunate that we have this opportunity. But shame on us if we don’t use it to serve the people of the state.”
What Carolina North will ultimately mean for one of college basketball’s most iconic home courts remains unsettled. The university is weighing whether to pour tens of millions into renovating the on-campus Smith Center — simply bringing it up to modern standards could cost $80 million to $100 million — or to start fresh with a state-of-the-art arena at the new site. That decision comes as athletic departments nationwide face mounting financial pressures in the revenue-sharing era, with schools now cleared to pay athletes directly.
The idea of moving games away from the Smith Center has sparked intense pushback. On the eve of the Notre Dame game, Hall of Fame coach Roy Williams and former star Tyler Hansbrough released video messages urging the school to renovate and keep the arena on campus, invoking the wishes of Dean Smith and the tradition that has grown within those walls.
As the Tar Heels celebrated a much-needed win on the floor, the larger fight over where they will play in the years to come only intensified. Advisory groups will soon begin gathering input from across the Carolina community, Roberts said, promising to listen widely before making a decision about the program’s future home.
One thing, he added, is nonnegotiable: Carolina North will be built, with or without a new basketball arena at its heart.
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This article originally appeared on Tar Heels Wire: UNC Basketball: Tar Heels win, Smith Center future collide
