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As the Tar Heels secured their spot in the NCAA men’s basketball National Championship game, North Carolina fans stormed the streets of Chapel Hill on Saturday night.
At least 10 people were injured in the postgame festivities, according to Chapel Hill town manager Maurice Jones. Four people were transported to a local hospital with minor injuries.
The intersection of Franklin and Columbia streets was a hotspot for the Tar Heels celebration.
Time-lapse footage shared on social media captured fans turning the near desolate intersection into a frenzied block party.
Town officials had shut down the street in advance of North Carolina’s victory to accommodate the massive crowd.
Jones estimates about 35,000 to 40,000 people arrived in downtown Chapel Hill to celebrate the Tar Heels’ 81-77 win over rival Duke in the Final Four. The streets were reopened to normal traffic at 1 a.m.
Chapel Hill officials reported that people ignited multiple bonfires street during “one of the largest celebrations” in the town’s history.
North Carolina’s celebration carried over two miles down the road at Dean E. Smith Center, the Tar Heels basketball team’s arena, where fans stormed the court in the final seconds during a watch party.
North Carolina will face the Kansas Jayhawks in the National Championship game on Monday at 9:20 pm EST.
Jones said Chapel Hill will be ready for another round of celebrations if North Carolina were to win in New Orleans.
“While all of us will be cheering Carolina on to its seventh national title, we ask again, that fans who join us on Franklin Street after the game celebrate in a safe and appropriate manner,” Jones said in a statement.
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