WBB Opens Homestand Sunday At Noon Vs. Miami
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – After picking up a road win at Wake Forest on Thursday, the No. 24 North Carolina women’s basketball team returns home to Carmichael Arena on Sunday to host Miami. Tipoff is noon.
Carolina comes into the game, the first in a two-game homestand, at 17-4 overall and 7-4 in Atlantic Coast Conference play. Miami is 12-8 overall and 5-5 in ACC play coming off a homecourt win over Syracuse on Thursday.
The game will air live on the ACC Network. To watch online, click here. To listen to the radio broadcast, click here.
The Tar Heels are fifth in this week’s NET rankings, 23th in the coaches’ poll and 24th in the Associated Press poll.
THE RIVALRY
The Tar Heels and Hurricanes are meeting for the 27th time in a series that dates back to the 1980-81 season. Carolina leads the series 14-12, but the Hurricanes have won the last two and eight of the past 11.
The teams met twice last season, with Miami winning both.
Dec. 14, 2020 in Coral Gables: Miami led throughout en route to a 67-63 win, but the Tar Heels kept it close. Alyssa Ustby came off the bench for a then-career-high 17 points and Deja Kelly scored 16, including nine in the final 1:14 as the Tar Heels cut the margin to two points but couldn’t pull out the win.
Jan. 10, 2021 in Chapel Hill: Three games later, the teams met again with Carolina coming off three weeks without a game. Miami again came out on top in a close contest, 69-59. Janelle Bailey and Petra Holešínská were the only Tar Heels in double figures. Kelsey Marshall led Miami with 19 points.
• UNC won at home in the 2019-20 season, finishing with a 20-point victory (78-58) despite trailing by one at halftime. Current junior Malu Tshitenge contributed seven points and five rebounds.
NOTING THE TAR HEELS
• UNC coach Courtney Banghart, in her 15th season as a head coach and her third in Chapel Hill, recorded her 300th career win in Thursday’s game at Wake Forest. She’s the sixth among active ACC coaches to reach that milestone and has a career record of 300-132. Banghart will be honored prior to the start of the game.
• UNC currently ranks in the top three in the ACC in scoring (3), scoring defense (3), scoring margin (1), rebounds per game (2), offensive rebounds (2), field goal percentage defense (2), three-point percentage defense (1), steals (2) and turnover margin (1).
• Sophomore Deja Kelly leads UNC and is tied for third in the ACC in scoring with 15.7 points per game, up from 11.0 per game last season. She’s one of five players to have put up 30 points in an ACC game this season.
• Sophomore Alyssa Ustby leads UNC and ranks fourth in the ACC in rebounding with 4.29 per game. She’s tied for second in the ACC in double-doubles with eight this season.
• UNC has held all but two opponents this season to sub-40-percent field goal shooting. The only schools to top that have been ACC opponents BC (49.1 percent) and NC State (41.8 in the first meeting, 44.1 in the second). Opponents are shooting .338 and Carolina ranks second in the ACC and fifth in the NCAA in field goal percentage defense.
• The Carolina defense has forced all 20 opponents into double-digit turnovers and has forced 20+ 10 times this season, including on Thursday at Wake Forest. Opponents are averaging 19.9 turnovers per game vs. UNC.
