PREVIEW: Kentucky WBB faces No. 16 North Carolina in first true road test in SEC/ACC Challenge

Kentucky just faced their most difficult challenge of the season (or, we thought it would be) when they had to take on Illinois on a neutral court. However, that doesn’t quite compare to what the Cats have coming at them tonight. Kentucky will square off against No. 16 North Carolina on the road in the SEC/ACC Challenge.

Read up on the Tar Heels and get to know the next opponent of the Kenny Brooks era.

Bio Blast

Just eight games into the season, Kentucky Women’s Basketball is playing its third top 20 matchup the year. Not only that, but this game against North Carolina is Kentucky’s first true road test. While the ‘Cats played in Nashville over the week of Thanksgiving, those games were neutral site games, so no team had a real home-court advantage. Now, Kentucky is heading to Chapel Hill, North Carolina to take on one of Kenny Brooks’s old foes: the No. 16 Tar Heels.

Last season, North Carolina finished 20-13 (11-7 ACC), and 14-2 at home. One of those home losses came from Kenny Brooks’s Virginia Tech team, in a 70-61 overtime thriller. This season, the Tar Heels are picked to finish sixth in the ACC, and are currently 7-1. North Carolina’s only loss came from No. 2 UConn in Greensboro, North Carolina. The neutral court game ended in regulation with a score of 69-58 in favor of the Huskies.

Last week, the Tar Heels defeated NC Central by 76 points, in a 119-43 point victory at home. However, the plus-100 finish was an anomaly. North Carolina hadn’t surpassed more than 70 points since November 7 against UNC Wilmington, where the Tar Heels scored 77.

Fifth-year senior guard Alyssa Ustby was named to the Preseason All-ACC team, and is currently averaging a double-double. Both the ‘Cats and Tar Heels are strong defensive teams, and will definitely put the “challenge” in the SEC/ACC Challenge.

Scouting Report

Ustby leads the charge for Courtney Banghart’s team, averaging 11.8 points, 10.1 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game — all team-bests. She’s a tremendous all-around player, and perhaps the most notable thing about her is her versatility. It’s evident in the stat sheet, but she’s a do-it-all player. On offense and defense, she can find ways to hurt you, inside and out on the perimeter.

The Tar Heels also have two more guards in Lexi Donarski and Indya Nivar who are very valuable contributors. Donarski averaged 10.5 points, 2.1 rebounds and 1.3 assists per game, while Nivar averages 10.4 points, 4.8 rebound and 3.2 steals per game. Reniya Kelly, Laila Hull and Lanie Grant, three more guards, all shoot at least 40% from three-point range as well.

Clearly, North Carolina is a very guard-centric team, and it certainly doesn’t help Kentucky that there are 11 Tar Heels that average more than 10 minutes per game. Kentucky has run a much smaller rotation, so it’ll be interesting to see how much conditioning and fatigue will play a factor late in the game.

Projected Kentucky Starters

#3 – Georgia Amoore

5-FOOT-6 – GUARD – GRADUATE STUDENT

15.0 PPG – 8.3 APG – 2.9 RPG

#7 – Teonni Key

6-FOOT-4 – FORWARD – JUNIOR

12.3 PPG – 9.6 RPG – 3.6 BPG

#10 – Dazia Lawrence

5-FOOT-8 – GUARD – REDSHIRT SENIOR

13.3 PPG – 1.3 RPG – 1.1 APG

#13 – Clara Strack

6-FOOT-5 – CENTER – SOPHOMORE

18.3 PPG – 11.0 RPG – 4.0 APG

#32 – Amelia Hassett

6-FOOT-3 – FORWARD – JUNIOR

7.7 PPG – 10.0 RPG – 1.6 APG

How to Watch/Listen

Arizona State

Place	Tipoff	TV	Radio	Live Stats
Carmichael Arena (Chapel Hill, NC)	5 p.m. EST	ESPN2 (Debbie Antonelli, Beth Mowins)	630 WLAP, 790 WKRD, SiriusXM Channel 119 or 190 (Darren Headrick)	StatBroadcast

Follow Along with KSR’s LIVE BLOG

Unable to watch the game? Don’t worry — we’ll be providing real-time updates throughout to keep you informed on the action. Follow along with KSR’s LIVE BLOG, which will get rolling on the website an hour before the game starts.

Join The Discussion on KSBoard

Want to interact with the KSR crew during tonight’s game? Consider joining the conversation on KSBoard, where we’ll be sharing live updates while also answering questions and providing real-time analysis (and probably complaining about the officiating).