All Tar Heels

UNC Women’s Hoops Heads to Cancun for Thanksgiving Showdown

North Carolina returns to the Cancun Challenge for the first time since 2019, eyeing early-season momentum with a three-game slate in Mexico.
Grant Chachere|
Mar 27, 2025; Birmingham, AL, USA; UNC Tar Heels head coach Courtney Banghart talks with the media before her team works out during practice day at Legacy Arena. Mandatory Credit: Vasha Hunt-Imagn Images
Mar 27, 2025; Birmingham, AL, USA; UNC Tar Heels head coach Courtney Banghart talks with the media before her team works out during practice day at Legacy Arena. Mandatory Credit: Vasha Hunt-Imagn Images | Vasha Hunt-Imagn Images

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North Carolina Tar Heels

Whenever you hear “Cancun,” you probably picture a beach vacation, sun blazing, and a strawberry margarita in hand. North Carolina’s women’s basketball team is indeed heading south for Thanksgiving — but this trip is strictly business.

UNC will play in the 2025 Cancun Challenge from Nov. 27–29 at the Hard Rock Hotel Riviera Maya in Mexico. The Tar Heels are slated to face Columbia, Kansas State and South Dakota State in a three-game, three-day round-robin as part of the event’s Mayan Division. Game times have not yet been announced.

The appearance marks Carolina’s second international venture in as many seasons. Last season, UNC traveled to the Bahamas and captured the Battle 4 Atlantis crown with wins over Ball State, Villanova and Indiana, using that November momentum to springboard into one of the program’s most successful campaigns under head coach Courtney Banghart.

The Kansas State game will be a rematch of the 2023 Fort Myers Tip-Off, where the Wildcats edged UNC 63–56 in a tight contest. Meanwhile, meetings with Columbia and South Dakota State will be first-time matchups for the Tar Heels, adding two new opponents to the program’s record book and offering varied stylistic tests before ACC play ramps up.

This will also be North Carolina’s first return to the Cancun Challenge since 2019, Banghart’s debut season in Chapel Hill. That year, the Tar Heels left Mexico with the trophy after defeating Temple and Missouri, a result that helped set the tone for Banghart’s tenure and established a standard for early-season neutral-site success.

More information, including television assignments and a finalized schedule for the tournament, will be released at a later date.

The Tar Heels are coming off a 29–8 season — the best record of the Banghart era — and a tie for fourth place in the ACC. They won multiple games in the ACC Tournament for the first time under Banghart, advancing to the semifinals before falling to longtime archrival NC State. As a No. 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament, UNC hosted the first two rounds at the Carmichael Arena in Chapel Hill and advanced to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2022, ultimately bowing out to rival Duke, 47–38, in a defensive grinder.

With another season and the schedule starting to be revealed piece-by-piece, UNC turns its attention to another high-profile November stage. The sun will be out in Cancun — but the Tar Heels will be chasing wins, not waves.

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Grant Chachere
GRANT CHACHERE

Grant Chachere holds a B.A. in Mass Communication from Louisiana State University and has a passion for college sports. He has served as a reporter and beat writer for various outlets, including Crescent City Sports and TigerBait.com. Now, he brings that passion and experience to his role as the North Carolina Tar Heels beat reporter On SI.

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