In SMU’s first basketball visit to Chapel Hill as an ACC member, the Mustangs arrived leading their new conference in scoring and 3-point shooting, but UNC had plenty to say about that Tuesday.

Throughout their college basketball season, the North Carolina Tar Heels have largely struggled to do two things: play solid defense and good basketball in the first half. On Tuesday night against SMU in a late-night ACC basketball batle,

Powell hit three triples in four minutes to fuel a 10-point lead in what became a 17-point performance for the rookie. With seven minutes remaining in the first half, forwards Ven-Allen Lubin and Jae'Lyn Withers double-teamed SMU's Samet Yiğitoğlu to force the turnover. On the fast break, Cadeau laid it in. The Mustangs called a timeout.

UNC will host ACC newcomer SMU for a late, 9 p.m. ET tip-off. North Carolina is coming off a close, 74-73 win over Notre Dame on Saturday, while the visiting Mustangs lost by 27 – at home – to Duke on Saturday.

The UNC men's basketball team (10-6, 3-1 ACC) dominated the SMU Mustangs (11-4, 2-2 ACC), 82-67, on Tuesday evening at the Dean E. Smith Center.

After opening the 2025 calendar year with a loss to Louisville last week, North Carolina needed to find a way to get wins o