UNC men’s basketball will face Indiana for an exhibition game this fall, once again hitting the road for a preseason tune-up.

In what may be the first live action under new head coach Michael Malone, the Tar Heels will suit up to play the Hoosiers in Indianapolis’ Gainbridge Fieldhouse, the home arena for the Indiana Pacers and Indiana Fever. The game is set for Sunday, Oct. 18 and does not yet have a tip-off time, according to an announcement shared by the UNC program on Monday.

The exhibition match is set to continue a recent trend for Power 4 basketball programs to turn their preseason work into a revenue-generating opportunity — and give teams a taste of more competitive atmospheres. With both players making money from name, image and likeness rights and programs seeking to earn more revenue, teams have begun holding more friendly competitions at neutral sites in addition to exhibition against mid-major schools at home. For Carolina, that means replacing the traditional “Late Night” or “Live Action” event held to introduce fans to both the men’s and women’s basketball teams ahead of intra-squad scrimmages that informally started the season.

Last season, UNC men’s basketball faced off against BYU for a preseason game in Salt Lake City, with the Tar Heels giving the No. 8 Cougars a tight contest before falling 78-76 in the final seconds. Both programs went on to make the NCAA Tournament before each were upset in the first weekend — with Carolina crashing out in the Round of 32 vs. 11-seed VCU and seeing head coach Hubert Davis fired after five seasons in charge. BYU, which was also a No. 6 seed, lost to No. 11 seed Texas in the first round. In 2024, Carolina traveled to Memphis and won an exhibition over the Tigers 84-76.

While Memphis and BYU are programs trying to crack into the upper-echelon of the sport, October’s exhibition is a meeting between two of college basketball’s most accomplished programs. Indiana has won five national titles and Carolina has won six, making them two of the six Division I programs to have at least five national championships to their name. The teams most recently met in Nov. 2022, when the Hoosiers beat the Tar Heels 77-65 in Assembly Hall, during a season where Carolina made history by becoming the first preseason No. 1 team to miss the NCAA Tournament.

Beyond welcoming a new head coach, the 2026-27 Tar Heels are set to look very different from the prior season. The only regular contributors set to return are rising seniors Jarin Stevenson and Jaydon Young, alongside rising sophomore Isiah Denis — with Malone and his revamped coaching staff bringing in six transfers from other college and international programs and three recent high school graduates to the roster.

Tickets for the exhibition vs. Indiana will go on sale through Ticketmaster in a pre-sale format Wednesday morning at 10 a.m., with UNC telling fans to use the code “GOHEELS” to access the pre-sale.

Featured image by Todd Melet/Chapel Hill Media Group.

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