Unpacking History Between UCLA, North Carolina Ahead of Sweet 16 Blue Blood Matchup

Throughout both of the programs' storied histories, the Bruins and Tar Heels have crossed paths on and off the court.

Whether it’s UCLA men’s basketball and North Carolina taking part in recent CBS Sports Classics or them vying for the commitment of NBA legends, the blue blood programs have had their fair share of clashes over the past seven decades. The Bruins lead all college basketball programs with 11 national championships, but the Tar Heels are not far behind with six of their own. Despite having five fewer championships, North Carolina actually has 16 more tournament wins, boasting 126 compared to UCLA’s 110.

Come 2022, the Bruins and Tar Heels will meet in the Sweet 16 in Philadelphia. But for all of their combined history, Friday’s fight to advance to the Elite Eight will be only the third time that the teams have met in March.

The first-ever matchup between UCLA and North Carolina also happened to be the first March pairing between the two.

In the 1968 National Championship game between the Bruins and Tar Heels, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar – who then went by the name Lew Alcindor – led the blue and gold to their fourth NCAA title. Alcindor scored 34 points while tallying 16 rebounds, helping defeat North Carolina and guard/forward Larry Miller by a score of 78-55.

Current Tar Heels coach Hubert Davis earned his March Madness revenge in 1989 as a freshman reserve, knocking off the Bruins in the second round of the tournament.

UCLA dropped the contest 88-81 despite having four players score in double figures – Trevor Wilson, Pooh Richardson, Don MacLean and Kevin Walker — though none of them could lift the Bruins over the Rick Fox-led North Carolina squad.

From 1987 to 1999, the Bruins were unable to knock off the Tar Heels in the four regular season games they played during the 12-year period.

That losing trend halted in 2000. The victory came in the Dean Smith Center, which also happens to be the last time UCLA had traveled to Chapel Hill. The Bruins won 71-68 over the No. 13-ranked Tar Heels thanks to Ryan Bailey’s late free throws with 13 seconds left in the affair.

Since 2000, however, the Bruins have not won against their East Coast foes. Dropping five straight contests, UCLA has been on the wrong side of the recent run of nationally televised results.

The Bruins fell in 2015, 2018 and 2019 in the CBS Sports Classic against the Tar Heels, losing by more than 10 points in each matchup. Earlier in this campaign, UCLA was supposed to play North Carolina on Dec. 18, but due to COVID-19 issues within the Bruins’ program, the game was scrapped.

Now, the teams have happened to reschedule the game for March Madness in primetime on Friday night.

The history between the Bruins and Tar Heels goes far beyond the hardwood, though.

The recruitment battle for Michael Jordan – the six-time NBA champion and five-time NBA MVP – won a national championship at North Carolina. However, in a 1992 Playboy interview, Jordan revealed his affinity for Westwood.

“I always wanted to go to UCLA,” Jordan said in 1992. “That was my dream school… When I was growing up, they were a great team. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Bill Walton, John Wooden. But I never got recruited by UCLA.”

There is always a “what if” factor that comes with the recruitment of all-time greats, but now UCLA and North Carolina both boast the Jordan brand, with both institutions sitting beside the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame member's name.

No matter who comes out on top in the battle of Jumpman blue bloods, another chapter of the Bruins versus Tar Heels will be written Friday night.

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