UNC Set To Open ACC Play At Boston College

Sunday, December 19

Chestnut Hill, Mass.

Noon

North Carolina

Boston College

Tar Heel guard Eva Hodgson will have a large crowd of supporters at Conte Forum on Sunday as the Tar Heels open ACC play against BC.

Photo by: Jeffrey A. Camarati

December 18, 2021 | Women's Basketball

Game Notes

CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. – No. 25 North Carolina opens Atlantic Coast Conference women's basketball play Sunday, taking on Boston College at the Eagles' Conte Forum. Tip-off is noon and the game will air on the ACC Network.

UNC is 9-0 overall and ranked 20^th in this week's USA Today/WBCA coaches' poll in addition to 25^th in the AP poll. BC is 7-2.

To watch on ACC Network, click here. To listen to the radio broadcast, click here.

The game is a New England homecoming for both UNC coach Courtney Banghart and junior guard Eva Hodgson, who are from New Hampshire. Both coach and player expect large hometown cheering sections at Sunday's game.

UNC and BC both come into the game off longer-than-expected breaks due to Covid-related cancelations. Carolina was to have played Jacksonville on Wednesday, but that game was canceled due to Covid protocols within the JU program. BC was to have played New Hampshire on Dec. 11, but that game also was canceled. The Eagles last played on Dec. 8, a 66-60 win at UMass. Carolina's last action was a week ago, a 107-46 homecourt win over UNC Asheville on Dec. 12.

Game. Day. Eve. (ACC EDITION) 👣 #GoHeels #InPursuit pic.twitter.com/tufbgZrgVB — Carolina Women's Basketball (@uncwbb) December 19, 2021

The Match-Up
UNC and Boston College are meeting for the 19th time overall and the first time since the 2019-20 season. Carolina leads the series 14-4, but BC won the most recent matchup, 93-75 on Feb. 16, 2020, in Chestnut Hill and has won three of the past five.

Last year's game, set for Feb. 11, 2021, in Chapel Hill, was canceled due to Covid protocols within the BC program and was not rescheduled.

• North Carolina last won in Chestnut Hill in the 2015-16 season, 86-78 on Feb. 7, 2016. That victory broke a streak of seven straight losses for the Tar Heels, who finished ACC play 4-12 that year. Since then, UNC has suffered losses at Conte Forum in 2017-18 (77-64 on Jan. 5, 2018, in the first of two meetings that season) and in 2020.

• After opening ACC play Sunday, both teams dip back into nonconference waters with early tipoffs on Dec. 21. BC hosts Sacred Heart at 11 a.m. that day and UNC hosts Alabama State at 1 p.m.

Quick Hits
• The Tar Heels are second in the NET rankings, 20th in the coaches' poll and 25th in the AP poll.
• UNC has trailed in only three games this season and never by more than five points. The Tar Heels scored first and led wire-to-wire in the first four games of the season. In the fifth and sixth, in the Bahamas, the Tar Heels trailed 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 outscored its opponent in 31 of 36 quarters this season. The exceptions are the second quarter at TCU (when the Horned Frogs led 14-12 as the Tar Heels shot 25.0 from the field), the third quarter vs. VCU (when the Rams outscored UNC 17-16), the fourth quarter vs. Washington (when the Huskies outscored UNC 14-12), and the first (tied 17-17) and the third quarters (UM led 26-19) at Minnesota.
• 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 nine games away from home.

Numbers of Note
• UNC has been hot from three-point range over the past two games, setting single season highs in both outings and shooting .600 from long range (compared with the team's .563 overall).
• Against James Madison on Dec. 5, UNC hit a season-high 10 of 15 attempts for a .667 percentage, the best single-game performance in the NCAA so far this season. Against UNC Asheville on Dec. 12, Carolina was 11-20 to reset the single-game high. Carlie Littlefield went 4-5 to equal her career-high for makes and Kennedy Todd-Williams hit a career-high three of her four attempts.
• UNC's 107 points vs. UNC Asheville was the team's highest total of the season and the first time in triple digits since the 2018-19 opener. It was UNC's highest scoring game since hitting 124 in a neutral-site win over New Orleans in 2013 and the highest score at home since 109 vs. Gardner-Webb in 2011.
• Along with the season-high in three-pointers against UNCA, UNC also had a season-high 58 points in the paint.
• Alyssa Ustby is 17-22 (77.3) from the field over the past two games (8-11 vs JMU, 9-11 vs UNCA).
• UNC had a season-low eight turnovers vs. UNCA. Kelly had no turnovers to three assists and three steals in her 25:45 of play. She had just one turnover vs. JMU (with three assists and two steals).
• Post player Anya Poole is averaging 2.5 assists per game over the past four games. She had just two total in the first five games, then has 10 over the past four, including a career-best three in three of the past four games (Washington, Minnesota, UNCA).
• UNC has held all nine opponents under 40 percent field goal shooting. The high by an opponent this year is 38.6 by Minnesota.
• No Tar Heel is averaging 30 minutes per game. Alyssa Ustby leads the team with an average of 29.4. 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 nine games and leads the team in scoring with 16.7 ppg, fourth in the ACC. Ustby ranks second on the team and fifth in the conference at 16.1 ppg.