Carolina Hosts UNC Asheville Sunday At Carmichael

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – After a week-long break during final exams, the UNC women's basketball team returns to the court on Sunday afternoon, hosting UNC Asheville at Carmichael Arena for a 2 p.m. tipoff.

The Tar Heels are 8-0 and are ranked No. 24 in this week's USA Today/WBCA coaches' poll, UNC's first appearance in the national poll since the 2015-16 preseason. The Bulldogs are 5-3 following a win at ETSU on Friday.

For tickets, click here. UNC students and staff are admitted free with a UNC OneCard.

Sunday's game is the second of three consecutive home games prior to the Atlantic Coast Conference opener on Dec. 19 at Boston College. After UNCA, the Tar Heels look ahead to a matchup with Jacksonville on Wednesday at 6 p.m.

The Tar Heels are off to the 13th 8-0 start in program history (the second in three years under coach Courtney Banghart), but the first time ever that five of those wins have come away from home. The most recent game was on Dec. 5, a 93-47 homecourt win over James Madison in which the Tar Heels hit their highest scoring total of the season.

NOTING THE MATCH-UP
• UNC leads the overall series 5-0. The two last met in the 2012-13 season, with the Tar Heels winning 101-42 on Nov. 25, 2012 in Chapel Hill.
• All five previous matchups have taken place in Chapel Hill.
• The Bulldogs are the third UNC-system school Carolina will face this season. The Tar Heels played at Charlotte in the second game of the year (W 89-33), and hosted Appalachian State on Nov. 17 (W 89-44).
• UNC Asheville is 5-3 on the season coming off a 66-56 win at ETSU on Friday evening. Nadiria Evans scored 31 points (for the second time this season) to lead the Bulldogs, who also got a double-double (12 points, 11 rebounds) from Kai Carter.
• Evans leads the team in scoring with 21.2 points per game. She also leads the team in rebounds (6.7) and assists (2.3) per game. Carter is the other Bulldog in double figures with 12.3 points per game.

NOTING THE HEELS
• Junior Eva Hodgson scored her 1,000th career point in last Sunday's win over JMU and will be honored prior to the UNCA game.
• The Tar Heels are second in the first NET rankings of the season, released this week.
• The JMU game marked the third time this season that all 11 active players have scored at least two points and the second time that all 11 have had at least two points and two rebounds.
• The Tar Heels have not yet trailed at Carmichael this season. They scored first and led wire-to-wire in the first four games of the season. In the fifth and sixth, in Bimini, the Tar Heels trailed at points of both games by as many as three points before coming back to win. Five points (late first quarter at Minnesota) is the largest margin by which UNC has trailed this season.
• UNC has won its first three true road games for the first time since the 2014-15 season. The Tar Heels have played five of their first eight games away from home.
• Classes at UNC ended on Dec. 1 and exams began on Dec. 3 and wrapped up on Friday, Dec. 10. All of the undergraduate members of the team are finished with classes until Jan. 10.

NUMBERS OF NOTE
• Carolina ranks in the NCAA top 10 in field goal percentage defense (2^nd, opponents shooting 30.4 percent), scoring margin (2^nd, +33.1), scoring defense (6^th, 48.6), three-point percentage defense (6^th, 19.7), defensive rebounds per game (7^th, 31.4), rebounding margin (9^th, +13.2) and rebounds per game (9^th, 46.5). The Tar Heels are 12th in scoring offense, averaging 81.8 points per game.
• No Tar Heel is averaging 30 minutes per game. Alyssa Ustby leads the team with an average of 29.5. She scored 18 points (8-11 from the field) in just 18:42 on the court vs. James Madison.
• Deja Kelly is the only Tar Heel to have hit double figures in all eight games and leads the team in scoring with 16.4 ppg, fourth in the ACC. Ustby ranks second on the team and fifth in the conference at 15.8 ppg.
• UNC held its first six opponents to single-digit scoring in the first quarter: NC A&T 8, Charlotte 3, App. State 4, TCU 8, VCU 9, Washington 9. With 17 points, Minnesota was the first foe to reach double digits in Q1. JMU also got to double-digits, scoring 11.
• Sophomore Anya Poole has hauled in double-digit rebounds in each of the past two games with a career-high 16 at Minnesota and a team-best 10 in just 16 minutes on the court vs. JMU.
• UNC made a season-high 21 free throws (in 28 attempts) at Minnesota. Although the Tar Heels took fewer against JMU, just 12, they were just as successful, hitting nine for the best free throw shooting percentage at home this season.
• Eight different players have scored in double figures at least once this season and six Tar Heels are averaging 8.8 points or more per game.
• UNC has outscored opponents a combined 316-153 before halftime through eight games.
• The Tar Heels hold a 127-50 advantage in second-chance points this season. JMU was the first opponent to reach double-digits in that category with 10 second-chance points.

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Players Mentioned

Eva Hodgson

Deja Kelly

Anya Poole

Alyssa Ustby

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