Tar Heels' nonconference slate coming together

North Carolina still is "working out the details" with a couple more potential nonconference opponents for next basketball season, associate athletics director Larry Gallo said. But the majority of the Tar Heels' nonconference ACC foes are set:

• UNC last season extended its series with Kentucky for two more years, meaning the early-season showdown will continue through 2011-12, at least. This year's game will return to the Smith Center.

• Junior forward Tyler Zeller's "home" game will be at Evansville, while sophomore Dexter Strickland will travel close to home again, when the Tar Heels play Rutgers at Madison Square Garden.

• UNC will play Texas at Greensboro Coliseum, plus home games against Charleston and Long Beach State. (The latter is a three-game deal, which would have allowed the Wear twins to eventually play a game near their home, had they not transferred.) Carolina also will travel to Illinois for the ACC/Big Ten Challenge.

• The Tar Heels also face a solid field at the Puerto Rico Tip-Off, Nov. 18-21. Joining them: Davidson, Hofstra, Minnesota, Nebraska, Vanderbilt, Western Kentucky and West Virginia.

The ACC usually announces its full schedule in late summer.

-- Robbi Pickeral