1992–93 North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball | |
---|---|
National Champions
ACC Regular Season Champions |
|
Conference | Atlantic Coast Conference |
Ranking | |
Coaches | No. 2 |
AP | No. 4 |
1992–93 record | 34–4 (14–2, 1st ACC) |
Head coach | Dean Smith |
Assistant coach | Bill Guthridge |
Assistant coach | Phil Ford |
Assistant coach | Dave Hanners |
Home arena | Dean Smith Center |
The 1992–93 North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball team represented the University of North Carolina in the 1992-93 NCAA Division I men's basketball season as a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference. They finished the season 34-4 overall, won the ACC regular season title with a 14-2 record and won the 1993 national championship. They were coached by Dean Smith, who won his second national championship in his thirty-second season as head coach of the Tar Heels. They played their home games at the Dean Smith Center in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
The 1992-93 team was led by George Lynch, Eric Montross, Brian Reese, Donald Williams and Derrick Phelps. The Tar Heels started out with an 8-0 record and were ranked #5 in the country when they met #6 Michigan in the semi-finals of the Rainbow Classic. The Wolverines, led by the Fab Five in their sophomore season, won 79-78 to on a last-second shot. North Carolina bounced back with nine straight wins before losing back-to-back road games against unranked Wake Forest and #5 Duke. After seven more straight wins, the Tar Heels were ranked #1 heading into the last week of the regular season (their first #1 ranking since the start of the 1987-88 season). North Carolina beat #14 Wake Forest and #6 Duke to close out the regular season and clinch the top seed in the ACC tournament. North Carolina reached the tournament final, but they lost 77-75 to Georgia Tech without Derrick Phelps who was injured. Nonetheless, North Carolina was awarded the top seed in the East Regional of the NCAA Tournament, defeating #16-seed East Carolina (85-65), #8-seed Rhode Island (112-67), #4-seed Arkansas (80-74) and #2-seed Cincinnati (75-68) to reach the final four in New Orleans.