University of North Carolina Athletics
The Tar Heels are back at Carmichael on Sunday, hosting Virginia Tech for a 2 p.m. game.
Photo by: Dana Gentry
Tar Heels Host Virginia Tech Sunday For Rematch
February 8, 2020 | Women's Basketball
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – The North Carolina women's basketball team hosts Virginia Tech Sunday at Carmichael Arena looking to even the season series after the Hokies took the first matchup of the year, 76-70 on Jan. 5 in Blacksburg in UNC's first Atlantic Coast Conference loss of the year. The Tar Heels come into the game, the first of two in a row at home, at 16-7 (7-5 ACC), while the Hokies are 16-6 (6-5).
The Tar Heels are in the midst of six games in a row in the Triangle, with back-to-back home games against Virginia Tech and Syracuse (Feb. 13) remaining. The Tar Heels then face the season's only stretch of three-straight road games before hosting Duke to close the regular season on March 1.
Celebrating
• Sunday's game is UNC's annual Play4Kay game, supporting the fight against breast cancer. The first 375 students will get free pink jersey t-shirts and the first 250 fans will get pink jersey rally towels.
• It's also Alumni Weekend and the Tar Heels will recognize all alums in attendance at halftime.
By the Numbers
• All five UNC starters are scoring in double figures, led by junior Janelle Bailey with 15.3 points per game.
• UNC leads the ACC in assist/turnover ratio (1.26). The Tar Heels are also first in scoring (75.1 ppg), second in turnover margin (+2.91) and assists (15.2), and third in free throw percentage (.732) and three-point percentage (.348).
• Tshitenge leads the league in offensive rebounds (4.39 per game) and Bailey leads in defensive rebounds (7.8). Bennett remains first in assist/turnover ratio (2.12).
• UNC is the only team in the ACC with fewer than 300 turnovers this season. The Tar Heels come into Sunday's game with 277, 37 fewer than the next-lowest (FSU with 314).
• UNC and Louisville are the only teams in the top 10 in every ACC statistical category.
UNC vs. Va Tech
The Tar Heels and Hokies are meeting for the 27th time in a rivalry that dates back to the 1979-80 season.
• Sunday's matchup is the second of the season, following a meeting on Jan. 5 in Blacksburg. The Hokies won that one, 76-70.
• Va Tech also won the last matchup at Carmichael, 90-74 on Feb. 7, 2018. Janelle Bailey, then a freshman, had a double-double with 18 points and a team-high 13 rebounds in the Carolina loss.
Scouting the Hokies
Virginia Tech is 16-6 on the season and 6-5 in ACC play following a 71-59 homecourt loss to NC State on Thursday. Taja Cole led all players with 19 points in the loss. Dara Mabrey added 15 and Aisha Sheppard had 10 for the Hokies.
• Sheppard is the team's leading scorer, averaging 15.8 points per game this season. Mabrey averages 12.5 and Elizabeth Kitley 10.8. Trinity Baptiste is also in double figures with 10.2 points per game and Cole is averaging 9.5 while leading the ACC in assists with 6.5 per game. Kitley and Baptiste lead the team in rebounding, averaging 7.2 per game.
Notables
• All five UNC starters have led the scoring effort in at least two games this season.
• UNC has not lost back-to-back games under coach Courtney Banghart.
• Janelle Bailey is one of two ACC players averaging a double-double (NC State's Elissa Cunane is the other).
• Three Tar Heels (Bailey, Bennett, Koenen) played the entirety of the game at Duke. That makes 14 occasions this season in which a Tar Heels has played the entire game.
• Over the past seven games, Janelle Bailey is averaging 11 rebounds per game. (Her season average is 10.1.)
• UNC has not won this year with fewer than three players scoring in double figures. (Carolina is 0-3 overall, 0-2 in ACC play with two in double figures, and has had no games with just one in double figures.)
• UNC is 1-6 when allowing 70 or more points (with an 86-72 victory against Clemson the only win). The Tar Heels have lost just once when scoring 70+ (83-77 at Alabama).
• Following the loss to Duke, UNC is 0-5 when trailing at the end of the third quarter. All five of those losses have come in ACC play (Virginia Tech, FSU, Louisville, NC State, Duke).
• UNC shot 50 percent from the field last Sunday against Clemson, the first time the Tar Heels have hit or bettered that mark since a win over UNCW on Dec. 20 and just the third time all season. (The other was vs. Navy in the second game of the season.)
• UNC has lost only twice when shooting better than 40 percent from the field. The Tar Heels hit 46.2 percent of their shots in the loss to Louisville and then shot 40.7 in the loss at NC State.
• The NC State home game marked the largest UNC deficit in a win this season. The Tar Heels trailed by 14 in the second quarter before coming back to win, 66-60.
• Taylor Koenen is just the fifth player in program history to total 1,000 points, 700 rebounds and 300 assists. (The four players who previously reached those marks – Tonya Sampson, Erlana Larkins, Rashanda McCants and La'Tangela Atkinson – all went on to play professionally in the WNBA or ABL.) She's just the third who adds 100 three-pointers to those totals, with the others being Sampson and McCants.
• Against Miami, Shayla Bennett had seven assists and no turnovers.
• Janelle Bailey's 28 points vs. Miami marked the most by a Tar Heel this season. Her 17 rebounds in the home game against Virginia is a team high for boards.
• Junior Janelle Bailey was named Co-ACC Player of the Week on Monday after averaging 23 points and 13 rebounds in wins over Virginia and Clemson.
• UNC signee Deja Kelly was one of 24 high school players named to the 2020 McDonald's All-American Game roster. She's the first Tar Heel picked for the prestigious event since Janelle Bailey in 2017.
The Tar Heels are in the midst of six games in a row in the Triangle, with back-to-back home games against Virginia Tech and Syracuse (Feb. 13) remaining. The Tar Heels then face the season's only stretch of three-straight road games before hosting Duke to close the regular season on March 1.
Celebrating
• Sunday's game is UNC's annual Play4Kay game, supporting the fight against breast cancer. The first 375 students will get free pink jersey t-shirts and the first 250 fans will get pink jersey rally towels.
• It's also Alumni Weekend and the Tar Heels will recognize all alums in attendance at halftime.
Join us on Sunday as we #Play4Kay in our game 🆚 Virginia Tech 🏀💗
Tipoff at 2⃣
🎟️ 👉 https://t.co/UqAKpD3Pp2#GoHeels #InPursuit pic.twitter.com/kv8EbkL2Dr— Carolina Women's Basketball (@uncwbb) February 7, 2020
By the Numbers
• All five UNC starters are scoring in double figures, led by junior Janelle Bailey with 15.3 points per game.
• UNC leads the ACC in assist/turnover ratio (1.26). The Tar Heels are also first in scoring (75.1 ppg), second in turnover margin (+2.91) and assists (15.2), and third in free throw percentage (.732) and three-point percentage (.348).
• Tshitenge leads the league in offensive rebounds (4.39 per game) and Bailey leads in defensive rebounds (7.8). Bennett remains first in assist/turnover ratio (2.12).
• UNC is the only team in the ACC with fewer than 300 turnovers this season. The Tar Heels come into Sunday's game with 277, 37 fewer than the next-lowest (FSU with 314).
• UNC and Louisville are the only teams in the top 10 in every ACC statistical category.
UNC vs. Va Tech
The Tar Heels and Hokies are meeting for the 27th time in a rivalry that dates back to the 1979-80 season.
• Sunday's matchup is the second of the season, following a meeting on Jan. 5 in Blacksburg. The Hokies won that one, 76-70.
• Va Tech also won the last matchup at Carmichael, 90-74 on Feb. 7, 2018. Janelle Bailey, then a freshman, had a double-double with 18 points and a team-high 13 rebounds in the Carolina loss.
Scouting the Hokies
Virginia Tech is 16-6 on the season and 6-5 in ACC play following a 71-59 homecourt loss to NC State on Thursday. Taja Cole led all players with 19 points in the loss. Dara Mabrey added 15 and Aisha Sheppard had 10 for the Hokies.
• Sheppard is the team's leading scorer, averaging 15.8 points per game this season. Mabrey averages 12.5 and Elizabeth Kitley 10.8. Trinity Baptiste is also in double figures with 10.2 points per game and Cole is averaging 9.5 while leading the ACC in assists with 6.5 per game. Kitley and Baptiste lead the team in rebounding, averaging 7.2 per game.
Notables
• All five UNC starters have led the scoring effort in at least two games this season.
• UNC has not lost back-to-back games under coach Courtney Banghart.
• Janelle Bailey is one of two ACC players averaging a double-double (NC State's Elissa Cunane is the other).
• Three Tar Heels (Bailey, Bennett, Koenen) played the entirety of the game at Duke. That makes 14 occasions this season in which a Tar Heels has played the entire game.
• Over the past seven games, Janelle Bailey is averaging 11 rebounds per game. (Her season average is 10.1.)
• UNC has not won this year with fewer than three players scoring in double figures. (Carolina is 0-3 overall, 0-2 in ACC play with two in double figures, and has had no games with just one in double figures.)
• UNC is 1-6 when allowing 70 or more points (with an 86-72 victory against Clemson the only win). The Tar Heels have lost just once when scoring 70+ (83-77 at Alabama).
• Following the loss to Duke, UNC is 0-5 when trailing at the end of the third quarter. All five of those losses have come in ACC play (Virginia Tech, FSU, Louisville, NC State, Duke).
• UNC shot 50 percent from the field last Sunday against Clemson, the first time the Tar Heels have hit or bettered that mark since a win over UNCW on Dec. 20 and just the third time all season. (The other was vs. Navy in the second game of the season.)
• UNC has lost only twice when shooting better than 40 percent from the field. The Tar Heels hit 46.2 percent of their shots in the loss to Louisville and then shot 40.7 in the loss at NC State.
• The NC State home game marked the largest UNC deficit in a win this season. The Tar Heels trailed by 14 in the second quarter before coming back to win, 66-60.
• Taylor Koenen is just the fifth player in program history to total 1,000 points, 700 rebounds and 300 assists. (The four players who previously reached those marks – Tonya Sampson, Erlana Larkins, Rashanda McCants and La'Tangela Atkinson – all went on to play professionally in the WNBA or ABL.) She's just the third who adds 100 three-pointers to those totals, with the others being Sampson and McCants.
• Against Miami, Shayla Bennett had seven assists and no turnovers.
• Janelle Bailey's 28 points vs. Miami marked the most by a Tar Heel this season. Her 17 rebounds in the home game against Virginia is a team high for boards.
• Junior Janelle Bailey was named Co-ACC Player of the Week on Monday after averaging 23 points and 13 rebounds in wins over Virginia and Clemson.
• UNC signee Deja Kelly was one of 24 high school players named to the 2020 McDonald's All-American Game roster. She's the first Tar Heel picked for the prestigious event since Janelle Bailey in 2017.
Players Mentioned
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