UNC Basketball National Champion Returning to Chapel Hill

Former UNC basketball wing Jackie Manuel will be on the opposing bench for the first time.

UNC basketball head coach Hubert Davis and former Tar Heel wing Jackie Manuel / Bob Donnan-Imagn Images

One week after falling on the road to the No. 1-ranked Kansas Jayhawks, 92-89, UNC basketball is set to host the American Eagles (1-2, 0-0 Patriot League) in the Dean E. Smith Center at 8 p.m. ET Friday (ACC Network).

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Interestingly, the matchup will mark the return of 2005 Tar Heel national champion Jackie Manuel, now in his second season as an assistant coach on Duane Simpkins' American staff.

The 41-year-old Manuel, a two-time All-ACC defender and tri-captain as a senior for the 2004-05 Tar Heels, served as the director of team and player development for the UNC basketball program across the first two seasons of the Hubert Davis era in Chapel Hill.

That included Manuel's trip to the Final Four with the 2021-22 Tar Heels.

He previously spent one season on the staff of UNC basketball women's head coach Courtney Banghart. Plus, following his five-year professional career as a player, Jackie Manuel was the Tar Heels' assistant strength and conditioning coach in 2011-12 before joining former UNC basketball guard Wes Miller's staff at UNC Greensboro for four seasons.

Following the bout against Jackie Manuel and the Eagles, Davis' fourth batch of Tar Heels (1-1, 0-0 ACC), No. 10 in this week's AP Top 25, will have another week off before its road battle against the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors at 12:30 a.m. ET Saturday, Nov. 23 (ESPN2).

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Stay tuned to North Carolina Tar Heels On SI for more UNC basketball news.