WBB Notebook: 'Battle-Tested' Tar Heels Gear Up For ACC Opener

North Carolina will play the bulk of its ACC schedule in the new year, but it will get an early contest against a familiar foe when the Cardinals come to town.

The Tar Heels will face No. 22 Louisville on Sunday after playing 11 non-conference games, going 9-2 in those outings. Their two losses came against AP Top 25 teams — UCLA and Texas. UNC had its best stretch of wins when it went 3-0 in the Cancun Challenge with victories against South Dakota State, Kansas State and Columbia.

The on-court results in the first month of the season have been productive for a North Carolina team that’s dealt with injuries early on, though it could still use a high-quality win. Sunday’s matchup against Jeff Walz’s top-25 Louisville team will be UNC’s first opportunity at one.

“It’s a league that will continue to get better throughout the year,” Courtney Banghart said on Sunday. “Coaches are too good for their teams not to. Players are too good to not find their rhythm. Jeff had some turnover, so he had to find his rhythm with his new group. But the ACC schedules, so we’ve scheduled well, so we’re a little more battle-tested. We have a lot of respect for what Louisville has done. We’ve had great battles with them, year after year after year.”

UNC was tied for fourth in ACC play last season with a 13-5 conference record. North Carolina defeated Louisville on the road last season, 79-75. 

The Tar Heels last won the conference in 2008, when they went 14-0 in the ACC.

“I’m excited for the rivalry games,” freshman forward Taliyah Henderson said on Sunday. “Everybody talks about like, it’s in our fight song, we don’t like Duke. We don’t like (N.C.) State. Those kinds of rivalry games, I’m excited to be a part of them, because you can tell that every Carolina team bands together against our rivals.”

Louisville is the latest of North Carolina’s ranked opponents this season. The team lost to UCLA in Las Vegas in November and dropped its ACC/SEC Challenge game to Texas last week in Austin, losing 79-64.

The Tar Heels led by five after the first quarter, but the No. 2 Longhorns took over from there. North Carolina initially lost traction in the second quarter, shooting 3-11 from the field. And in the third, Texas used a mid-quarter 8-0 run to go ahead by double digits for the first time.

Texas found most of its success through UNC’s mistakes, as it scored 24 points off of 20 UNC turnovers.

“​​I think it’s two good teams,” Banghart said on Thursday. “If you’re a Carolina fan, you say you had a good first and fourth quarter. You’re a Texas fan, you say you liked the second and third. It’s just two good teams. When you have two heavyweights going at it, and, obviously, the home environment is helpful, and so everything they do well feels really good, and everything you don’t do well feels really bad.

“It’s just fun to play the really good teams. This is fun, and it’ll make us better, for sure. Of course, we wish we would have been better during stretches in the second and third, because you can learn by winning, too. But we just weren’t sharp enough and the film will help this team a lot.”

North Carolina was successful in a quick turnaround against Boston University, winning 82-40. The team found the range, shooting 11-25 from three on the day.

Heading into its first ACC game of the season, the Tar Heels will seek to build on lessons learned from their previous games against elite teams and take on a stretch of games with more consequence.

“I’m excited for the competitiveness, and how you have to prepare for every game the same way and be ready to play, and you have to show up every day, and then your results are going to be good,” Elina Aarnisalo said on Sunday.

UNC Rests Reniya Kelly

Reniya Kelly missed Sunday’s game against Boston University, making Sunday the first game she’s missed all year. When asked, Banghart confirmed that the team was resting her coming off the quick turnaround and going into next week’s game against Louisville.

Kelly said at ACC Tipoff in October that keeping her knees healthy was a goal of hers, and Banghart noted that same day that the team was being careful with her before the start of the season.

“Fortunately, I trust a lot of our young guys so they can kind of shoulder some extra load and let some of our veterans have some rest,” Banghart said on Sunday. “We rested Nyla Harris before the three games in three days. I think that that’s really important, and thankfully, we feel like we can do that without losing any sleep.”

Kelly’s played with various minute restrictions this season in dealing with her injuries. Her playing time started to increase in Mexico, as she played a season-high 32 minutes against Kansas State and scored a season-best eight points.

She hasn’t found the groove in her first 10 games yet, averaging just three points and shooting 18.4% from the field in 20.4 minutes per game. Last season, she averaged 9.6 points per game. 

“She’s got to be frustrated, and she’s so team-oriented that she doesn’t let on to that, but she’s got to be frustrated,” Banghart said. “She has her hands and feet- she has just her soul all into our program, whether she’s playing or not. I’m sure these guys feel that way. So even though she wasn’t in uniform today, she has her imprint on us. For a kid that’s done it, you just know it’s going to be all right.”

UNC’s Statistical Leaders

PPG: Indya Nivar — 12.6
RPG: Ciera Toomey — 7.0
APG: Indya Nivar — 3.7
SPG: Indya Nivar — 3.9
BPG: Ciera Toomey — 1.5

FG%: Taliyah Henderson — 63.2%
3PT%: Nyla Brooks — 43.2%
FT%: Lanie Grant — 81.3%

Recent Results

Texas: L 64-79

Indya Nivar: 17 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals, 1 block
Elina Aarnisalo: 16 points (6-7 FG), 3 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal
Ciera Toomey: 10 points, 8 rebounds, 3 blocks, 1 steal

FG: 46.9% (23-49)
3PT: 18.2% (2-11)
FT: 80% (16-20)

Boston University: W 82-40

Elina Aarnisalo: 14 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists
Indya Nivar: 13 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 steal, 1 block
Taliyah Henderson: 11 points (5-5 FG), 5 rebounds, 4 steals
Ciera Toomey: 7 points, 7 rebounds, 5 blocks

FG: 44.4% (32-72)
3PT: 44% (11-25)
FT: 77.8% (7-9)

Up Next

Sunday: Home vs. Louisville, 4 p.m.