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

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.

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

1976–77 ACC men's basketball standings

	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

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.

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) Bill Guthridge Eddie Fogler Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible (W) Walk-on Injured Current redshirt