Sport Football and Basketball First meeting 1888 (football)
1910 (men's basketball) | ||
The North Carolina–Wake Forest rivalry is a series of athletic contests between in-state rivals, the University of North Carolina Tar Heels and the Wake Forest University Demon Deacons. The first game was played in 1888 between the two institutions. Wake Forest was originally located in Wake Forest, North Carolina until it moved its campus across the state of North Carolina to Winston-Salem, North Carolina in 1956. Since ACC expansion the two schools cannot play the yearly rivalry due to scheduling and being in separate divisions. UNC is a Coastal Division member and Wake Forest, an Atlantic Division member respectively.
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The football rivalry, first meeting in 1888, is the oldest intercollegiate football rivalry in the American state of North Carolina As of fall 2015, there have been 106 games between the two teams. Currently UNC have 69 wins, Wake 35 wins and 2 games ended in a tie. The 2019 & 2021 games will officially be non-conference games and thus will not be counted in the ACC standings. This unusual occurrence of a non-conference regular season game between teams in the same conference has only occurred once before in the recent history of the major FBS conferences.
Men's basketball
Carolina currently leads the series 158–66.
The rivalry dates back to when Wake Forest was in Wake Forest, NC, and was only a short distance from UNC's campus. The rivalry that grew between the two schools became very heated and intense, with fights breaking out on the court in certain match ups. Their rivalry eventually expanded into the Big Four with NC State and Duke, which are recognized as being some of the fiercest rivalries in NCAA men's basketball.
Over the years there have been many classic and exciting games in this series. In 1983, UNC came back from behind to win 80–78 at the Greensboro Coliseum. In 1995, the two teams faced each other in the ACC Tournament Championship game. Wake won behind center Tim Duncan and shooting guard Randolph Childress who made the go-ahead basket in an 82–80 overtime win.