| Sport: | basketball |
| Year: | 1978–79 |
| Team: | North Carolina Tar Heels |
| Conference: | Atlantic Coast Conference |
| Short Conf: | ACC |
| Coachrank: | 3 |
| Aprank: | 9 |
| Record: | 23–6 |
| Conf Record: | 9–3 |
| Head Coach: | Dean Smith |
| Hc Year: | 18th |
| Asst Coach1: | Bill Guthridge |
| Ac1 Year: | 12th |
| Asst Coach2: | Eddie Fogler |
| Ac2 Year: | 8th |
| Asst Coach3: | Roy Williams |
| Ac3 Year: | 1st |
| Arena: | Carmichael Auditorium |
| Champion: | ACC Tournament champions ACC regular season champions |
| Tourney: | NCAA tournament |
| Tourney Result: | Second Round |
The 1978–79 North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball team represented the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
|-!colspan=12 style=| Regular season|-!colspan=9 style=| ACC Tournament|-!colspan=9 style=| NCAA Tournament[1]
See main article: 1978–79 NCAA Division I men's basketball rankings. ^Coaches did not release Week 1 or Week 2 polls.