Looking back on Kansas’ 17-year winning streak against North Carolina

For the first time in program history, the Kansas Jayhawks will head to Chapel Hill, North Carolina, to take on the North Carolina Tar Heels inside Dean E. Smith Center this Friday in a star-studded matchup between two college basketball blue bloods.

This will be the 14th matchup between the two schools dating back to the infamous triple-overtime NCAA Championship game in 1957 when the Tar Heels defeated Wilt Chamberlain and the Kansas Jayhawks by a score of 54-53.

UNC dominated the series from that point on, winning six out of eight contests from 1957 to 2002. Since then, it’s been all KU as the Jayhawks own a five-game winning streak versus the Tar Heels and lead the all-time series 7-6 heading into Friday’s game.

Memorable matchups

There have been a bevy of memorable games and moments over the course of KU’s current five-game winning streak against North Carolina, starting with the 2008 Final Four game.

Not only did the game determine who would go on to play for the national championship, it was the first time that Kansas had faced off against Roy Williams since he left to take the North Carolina job in the spring of 2003.

It was also Bill Self’s first trip to the Final Four as a head coach, and Jayhawk fans wanted a win in the worst way. Luckily, they got their wish.

KU dominated the Tar Heels in the first half, jumping out to a 40-to-12 lead midway through the half before North Carolina mounted a furious comeback. KU then pulled ahead again in the second half to win handily 84-66.

Self and Williams would meet twice more in the NCAA Tournament in 2012 (Elite Eight) and 2013 (Second Round) – both resulting in double-digit wins for the Jayhawks.

But no game was bigger than when the two teams faced off once again for college basketball’s biggest crown in the 2022 NCAA Championship game.

The No. 1 seed Kansas – led by Big 12 Player of the Year and First Team All-American Ochai Agbaji – defeated No. 8 seed North Carolina despite trailing by 15 points at half time. The lead eventually grew to 16 in the second half before KU came back to win 72-69.

It was the largest comeback ever in the championship game and it gave Self his much-coveted second national championship – placing him in rare company among coaches who have won multiple NCAA titles. Even the legendary Forrest “Phog” Allen never accomplished that.

These two schools share so much history, and the next chapter is about to be written on Friday night. The game tips off at 6 p.m. CT on ESPN.