The North Carolina Tar Heels basketball team is apologizing for forcing the school to postpone a game after players were caught partying without COVID masks.
Here's the deal ... a bunch of UNC players celebrated Saturday night after beating Duke in a 91 to 87 victory -- and video of the after-party was posted on Snapchat, showing at least 2 star players turning up without masks on.
Obviously, we're still in the middle of a pandemic -- and large, maskless gatherings are strictly prohibited by the team.
The UNC vs. Duke rivalry is one of the most celebrated in all of sports -- and after UNC won this year, students flooded the streets of Chapel Hill to turn up.