Skip to main content

UNC, NC State to meet in first regular-season Greensboro game since 1979

By CNN

RAW: NC: TOBACCO ROAD CLASSIC WILL CONTINUE

Click here for updates on this story

    GREENSBORO, North Carolina (WRAL) — NC State and North Carolina will play two nonconference men’s basketball games in Greensboro over the next two seasons, ensuring that the longtime rivals will have multiple regular-season meetings after the ACC ended their annual home-and-home meetings.

The inaugural Tobacco Road Classic presented by Old Dominion Freight Line will be played Dec. 15 at First Horizon Coliseum (formerly Greensboro Coliseum). WRAL reported in June that the teams were working on the game. Tickets go on sale Sept. 10.

It will be the first regular-season meeting between the rivals in Greensboro since Nov. 30, 1979 when the teams met in the Big Four tournament. Greensboro, the former longtime home of the ACC’s conference offices and men’s basketball tournament, will host the 2027 ACC Tournament.

“If you’re a traditionalist, Greensboro is the heart of the ACC basketball world,” said Chip Overbey, a senior vice president at Old Dominion.

State lawmakers approved $30 million for capital improvements for the Coliseum in its recently passed and enacted budget. The game could also qualify for money from the state’s Major Events, Games, and Attractions Fund, funded by tax revenues from legal online sports betting in the state.

“The fans have spoken, the administrators have spoken, the legislators have spoken that this game matters,” first-year UNC coach Michael Malone said Wednesday in Greensboro. “This game means something to everybody in this room, and I’m really just excited to be a part of that.”

The rivals met just once during the 2025-26 season, the first time since 1919 that they played just one time. The teams were scheduled to play just once — in Chapel Hill – during the 2026-27 ACC regular season.

The ACC, which expanded to 18 men’s basketball teams for the 2024-25 season, moved from 20 conference games to 18 league games last season. As a result, the team’s played just once. North Carolina’s annual rival is Duke, while NC State’s is Wake Forest. Each team plays another ACC foe two times, but that opponent changes year to year. ACC teams also miss one conference team altogether.

“It’s really important because the landscape is changing,” said Malone, a former NBA championship coach who is set to begin his first season at UNC. “We have to make sure, as caretakers of this game, that we’re finding ways to give back to the fans and give them what they want.”

NC State first-year coach Justin Gainey, who grew up in High Point and played high school basketball in Greensboro, said he jumped at the chance to play the game.

“It’s great,” said Gainey, who played for the Wolfpack. “I grew up watching when NC State played ‘em twice, when I was a player we played them twice. When I was away and I looked back and I saw what happened with the expansion of the league, it didn’t make sense. I see why you can’t play everybody twice. The ACC did what they had to do.

He continued: “I’m glad that Coach [Malone], although he’s never been a part of it, that he saw the value in it and he saw how much it meant to a lot of people. For me, it was a no-brainer. As soon as I got the call, I said, ‘Absolutely, I want to do it.’ And then they said it’d be in Greensboro, I was even more excited.”

Please note: This story was provided to CNN Wire by an affiliate and does not contain original CNN reporting. This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.

Pentagon moves to fire publisher and editor of Stars and Stripes

▶ Watch Video: New details in firing of Stars and Stripes journalists amid "woke distractions" Washington — The Pentagon on Friday moved to fire the publisher and the editor in chief of Stars and Stripes, the U.S. military news outlet partly funded by American taxpayers, as well as a reporter who covers the Middle East, according to people familiar with the matter.The separation notices, delivered Friday, gave Publisher Max Lederer and Editor-in-Chief Erik Slavin five days to appeal their dismissals. Reporter Lara Korte also said she received notice that she was being fired.The cause cited was insubordination. Slavin and Korte said the alleged insubordination was related to interviews they gave to CBS News for a piece on "CBS Sunday Morning" that aired in July.In a statement to CBS News, Slavin said he will respond to the firing notice through the required process. "According to the notice, I am being fired for stating in a CBS interview that censorship of news for service members would constitute a red line. The Pentagon's public affairs office has charged me with insubordination," Slavin said. "I stand by the principle that Stars and Stripes must remain editorially independent, as required by law and by the department's own policies."Slavin spoke publicly about disagreements with Pentagon leaders in the "Sunday Morning" story. In that piece, Slavin was asked if he had any red lines he would not cross. He replied, "'Don't run a perfectly accurate story, run this instead. Here it is, written by the Pentagon.' That would be a red line."In a statement, Korte called the firings "a shame for the institution and service members, who swore to defend the Constitution and deserve the right to a free and independent press.""I'm proud of the work my colleagues and I do at Stars and Stripes, especially the last six months covering the protracted conflict in Iran. Military families and service members have trusted us to share their experience with the world and I don't take that lightly," she said.Korte was also featured in the July "Sunday Morning" story, in which she said: "I'm working for Stars and Stripes. Not for the Pentagon, not for any administration, not for any policymaker. I'm here to cover the military community."A Defense Department spokesman declined to comment when contacted on Friday afternoon by CBS News, which first reported the firings of Slavin and Lederer.When asked Friday by CBS News chief White House correspondent Nancy Cordes about the reported firings at Stars and Stripes, White House adviser Stephen Miller said he's confident that "if anybody was fired, it was for just cause." Shortly after the firings were reported, Stars and Stripes published an open letter by Capt. William Urban, who said he had been tapped two weeks ago to help lead the outlet in a new role as military deputy to the publisher. The document included a memo of recommendations that Urban sent to Lederer on Aug. 17. Urban said he did not receive a response. "As I settle into the job, I am not going to dwell on the past," Urban said in his open letter. "In the spirit of looking to the future and striving together for a better Stripes, I believe we should be focused on three priorities."Those priorities, he wrote, are to produce "the highest quality of editorially independent reporting," to "leverage our great reporting and our increased focus on digital content to increase revenue through advertising" and to "embrace a culture of change as we extensively modernize our operations." Lederer had served as the outlet's publisher for 19 years and told colleagues this week that he would retire on Sept. 30, citing fundamental differences with the Trump administration.CBS News reported on Wednesday that Pentagon officials had discussed dismissing Lederer before his scheduled retirement.In a note to staff earlier this week that was obtained by CBS News, Lederer wrote: "It has become clear that my philosophy of leadership, and my understanding of the value and mission of Stars and Stripes, differ in fundamental ways from the direction the leadership of the Department of Defense has for the organization." But he added he would "do everything I can to make sure the transition is smooth for each of you" before his retirement.Stars and Stripes has been a source of critical information for members of the military and their families for decades, and has prided itself on editorial independence. Recently, Stars and Stripes, along with the Military Times, reported on challenging conditions aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, writing that family members of service members aboard the aircraft carrier were concerned about their loved ones' mental health and risk of self-harm. Acting Secretary of the Navy Hung Cao, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and President Trump downplayed or denied those reports, but the ship left the Middle East this week to begin the journey home to the U.S. after a nine-month deployment.Roughly half of Stars and Stripes' $29 million annual budget comes from taxpayers, a person familiar with the newspaper's operations said. Readership has declined since its peaks during the Vietnam War, the Cold War and World War II, according to two U.S. officials, but an average of 1.4 million people see Stars and Stripes each day. Print editions overseas also reach service members in remote locations where internet access is spotty and unreliable. Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell has talked about "bringing Stars and Stripes into the 21st century" and efforts to "refocus its content away from woke distractions that syphon morale, and adapt it to serve a new generation of service members." 
Read Next Story

Related Stories

Latest News
Justice Department reaches $400 million settlement with TikTok over child privacy case
30 minutes ago

Justice Department reaches $400 million settlement with TikTok over child privacy case

Qué sabemos del plazo de Trump para un acuerdo comercial con Canadá que está a pocas horas de vencer

Reports of sexual assault in the military decline for third straight year: Pentagon

Trump defends pause on beef tariffs amid criticism from US cattle producers

Fue consultor clave en elecciones de América Latina. Ahora, la Fiscalía de Bolivia lo investiga tras un ataque a su expareja