1976–77 North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball team

1976–77 North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball
1976–77 North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball
NCAA tournament, runner-up; ACC Tournament Champions; ACC Regular Season Champions
National Championship Game, ; L 59-67 vs. Marquette
Conference	Atlantic Coast Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 3
AP	No. 5
Record	28–5 (9–3 ACC)
Head coach	Dean Smith (16th season);
Assistant coaches	Bill Guthridge (10th season); Eddie Fogler (6th season);
Home arena	Carmichael Auditorium
	Seasons ← 1975–76 1977–78 →

1976–77 ACC men's basketball standings
v t e	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
No. 5 North Carolina†	9	–	3	.750	28	–	5	.848
No. 9 Wake Forest	8	–	4	.667	22	–	8	.733
Clemson	8	–	4	.667	22	–	6	.786
Maryland	7	–	5	.583	19	–	8	.704
NC State	6	–	6	.500	17	–	11	.607
Virginia	2	–	10	.167	12	–	17	.414
Duke	2	–	10	.167	14	–	13	.519

† 1977 ACC tournament winner Rankings from AP Poll

The 1976–77 North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball team represented the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in the 1976–77 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Tar Heels were coached by Dean Smith in his 16th season at North Carolina. They played their home games in Carmichael Auditorium as members of the Atlantic Coast Conference. They finished the season 28–5, 9–3 in ACC play to win the ACC regular season championship. They defeated NC State and Virginia to win the ACC Tournament. As a result, the received the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. There, they defeated Purdue, Notre Dame, and Kentucky to advance to the Final Four. At the Final Four, they defeated UNLV before losing to Marquette in the National Championship game.

Schedule and results

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site city, state
Regular season
November 26*	No. 3	vs. No. 15 NC State Big Four Tournament/Rivalry	W 78–66	1–0	Greensboro Coliseum Greensboro, NC
November 27*	No. 3	vs. Wake Forest Big Four Tournament	L 96–97 ^OT	1–1	Greensboro Coliseum Greensboro, NC
December 1*	No. 9	Marshall	W 90–70	2–1	Carmichael Auditorium Chapel Hill, NC
December 6*	No. 9	at Michigan State	W 81–58	3–1	Jenison Fieldhouse East Lansing, MI
December 11*	No. 12	vs. Virginia Tech	W 81–77	4–1	Carmichael Auditorium Roanoke, VA
December 20*	No. 20	BYU	W 113–93	5–1	Carmichael Auditorium Chapel Hill, NC
December 27*	No. 10	vs. Oral Roberts Far West Classic quarterfinals	W 100–84	6–1	Veterans Memorial Coliseum Portland, OR
December 29*	No. 9	vs. Oregon Far West Classic semifinals	W 86–60	7–1	Veterans Memorial Coliseum Portland, OR
December 30*	No. 9	vs. Weber St Far West Classic championship	W 75–54	8–1	Veterans Memorial Coliseum Portland, OR
January 5	No. 6	vs. No. 16 Clemson	W 91–63	9–1 (1–0)	Greensboro Coliseum Greensboro, NC
January 8	No. 6	Virginia	W 91–67	10–1 (2–0)	Carmichael Auditorium Chapel Hill, NC
January 13	No. 5	at No. 7 Wake Forest	W 77–75	11–1 (3–0)	Winston-Salem Memorial Coliseum Winston-Salem, NC
January 15	No. 5	Duke Rivalry	W 77–68	12–1 (4–0)	Carmichael Auditorium Chapel Hill, NC
January 19	No. 4	at NC State	L 73–75	12–2 (4–1)	Reynolds Coliseum Raleigh, NC
January 22	No. 4	at No. 13 Maryland	W 71–68	13–2 (5–1)	Cole Field House College Park, MD
January 26	No. 4	No. 10 Wake Forest	L 66–67	13–3 (5–2)	Carmichael Auditorium Chapel Hill, NC
January 29	No. 4	at No. 19 Clemson	L 73–93	13–4 (5–3)	Littlejohn Coliseum Clemson, SC
February 4*	No. 13	vs. Georgia Tech North-South Doubleheader	W 98–74	14–4	Charlotte Coliseum Charlotte, NC
February 5*	No. 13	vs. Furman North-South Doubleheader	W 88–71	15–4	Charlotte Coliseum Charlotte, NC
February 9	No. 14	Maryland	W 97–70	16–4 (6–3)	Carmichael Auditorium Chapel Hill, NC
February 12*	No. 14	vs. Tulane	W 106–94	17–4	Greensboro Coliseum Greensboro, NC
February 16*	No. 13	South Florida	W 100–65	18–4	Carmichael Auditorium Chapel Hill, NC
February 20	No. 13	at Virginia	W 66–64	19–4 (7–3)	University Hall Charlottesville, VA
February 23	No. 9	NC State	W 90–73	20–4 (8–3)	Carmichael Auditorium Chapel Hill, NC
February 26	No. 9	at Duke Rivalry	W 84–71	21–4 (9–3)	Cameron Indoor Stadium Durham, NC
February 27*	No. 9	vs. No. 10 Louisville	W 96–89	22–4	Charlotte Coliseum Chapel Hill, NC
ACC Tournament
March 4*	No. 5	vs. NC State Semifinals	W 70–56	23–4	Greensboro Coliseum Greensboro, NC
March 5*	No. 6	vs. Virginia Championship	W 75–69	24–4	Greensboro Coliseum Greensboro, NC
NCAA Tournament
March 12*	No. 4	vs. Purdue First round	W 69–66	25–4	Reynolds Coliseum Raleigh, NC
March 17*	No. 5	vs. No. 10 Notre Dame Regional semifinal	W 79–77	26–4	Cole Field House College Park, MD
March 19*	No. 5	vs. No. 13 Kentucky Regional final	W 79–72	27–4	Cole Field House College Park, MD
March 26*	No. 5	vs. No. 4 UNLV Final Four	W 84–83	28–4	The Omni Atlanta, GA
March 28*	No. 5	vs. No. 7 Marquette National Championship	L 59–67	28–5	The Omni Atlanta, GA
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses.

^[1]

Roster

1976–77 North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball team

Players

Coaches

Pos.	#	Name	Height	Weight	Year	Hometown
F	22	Dudley Bradley	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	195 lb (88 kg)	So	Edgewood, Maryland
F	40	Bruce Buckley (C)	6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)	180 lb (82 kg)	Sr	Bladensburg, Maryland
G	20	Dave Colescott	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)	175 lb (79 kg)	Fr	Marion, Indiana
F	30	Woody Coley (C)	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)	—	Sr	Lumberton, North Carolina
F	24	Walter Davis (C)	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	190 lb (86 kg)	Sr	Pineville, North Carolina
G	23	Ged Doughton	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)	162 lb (73 kg)	So	Winston-Salem, North Carolina
G	12	Phil Ford	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)	170 lb (77 kg)	Jr	Rocky Mount, North Carolina
F/C	54	Steve Krafcisin	6 ft 9 in (2.06 m)	225 lb (102 kg)	Fr	Chicago Ridge, Illinois
G	15	John Kuester (C)	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)	170 lb (77 kg)	Sr	Richmond, Virginia
F/C	45	Tommy LaGarde (C)	6 ft 10 in (2.08 m)	230 lb (104 kg)	Sr	Detroit, Michigan
G/F	31	Mike O'Koren	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)	205 lb (93 kg)	Fr	Jersey City, New Jersey
G	43	John Virgil	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	175 lb (79 kg)	Fr	Elm City, North Carolina
F	25	Randy Wiel	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	195 lb (88 kg)	So	Curaçao, Netherlands Antilles
C	42	Jeff Wolf	6 ft 10 in (2.08 m)	210 lb (95 kg)	Fr	Kohler, Wisconsin
F/C	50	Rich Yonakor	6 ft 9 in (2.06 m)	205 lb (93 kg)	Fr	Euclid, Ohio
G/F	32	Tom Zagliagiris	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	190 lb (86 kg)	Jr	Livonia, Michigan

Head coach

Dean Smith

Assistant coach(es)

Legend

(C) Team captain
(S) Suspended
(I) Ineligible
(W) Walk-on

Injured
Current redshirt

References

^ 2014-15 North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball record book Archived 2015-02-22 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2015-May-02.

[1] 2014-15 North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball record book Archived 2015-02-22 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2015-May-02.

[1]

v t e North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball
Venues	Bynum Gymnasium (1910–1923) Tin Can (1924–1938) Woollen Gymnasium (1938–1965) Carmichael Auditorium (1965–1986) Dean Smith Center (1986–present)
Rivalries	Duke (Carlyle Cup) Kentucky NC State Wake Forest
Culture & lore	Rameses The Marching Tar Heels Junior varsity team Inside Carolina Four corners offense Blue blood status Dixie Classic/Big Four Jumpman Invitational Tobacco Road Academic-athletic scandal Gambling scandal
People	Head coaches Honorees Honored players NBA draftees Statistical leaders
Seasons	List of seasons 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25
Helms and Premo-Porretta national championships in bold; NCAA Final Four appearances in italics; NCAA championships in bolded italics