Carmichael Comments: Parts Make A Whole

Sometimes in sports, you'll encounter a team that's obviously loaded with talent, yet will struggle to put wins together. You might hear the phrase "talented pieces" to describe such a team. But the "talented whole" just isn't there.

On the flip side, what happens when a team is, again, loaded with talent, but clicks as a cohesive unit – with each piece playing its own small, yet extremely critical, role?
The answer is success. And that's certainly been the case for the Carolina women's basketball team, which rode its core group to a 14-1 start, the program's best since 2012-13. So when the Tar Heels found out prior to this week's lone game on Sunday at Notre Dame that guard Eva Hodgson would be unavailable due to COVID protocols, head coach Courtney Banghart and her team knew that they'd need to find a way to somehow overcome the loss of one of those parts. During a routine pregame film session, Banghart asked her available players what they'd miss having to play without Hodgson.

"They said three things," Banghart recalled. "They said, 'her voice, her energy, and her ability to make shots.' They came up with that on their own, and I totally agree."

It seems Hodgson's teammates know what they're talking about. She's one of the team's three captains, elected to the post despite this season being her first in Carolina blue, and leading with that voice and energy. Then, there's the production factor – 11.2 points per game, a season-high 19 against Virginia Tech last week, and a five-game streak of scoring in double figures with a 55 percent field goal percentage and 48 percent three-point success rate in that span.

The head coach's response to the team was to remind them that whether an individual or the collective whole stepped up, it didn't matter – as long as those areas were covered. But try as hard as you can to replicate the impact of a part, it's still not the same as a whole. Notre Dame emerged victorious 70-65, handing the Tar Heels just their second loss of the season, but second in as many road games in a challenging yet competitive January ACC schedule.

"Not having Eva really hurts you in a game like this," Banghart said. "It shortens your rotation, and we couldn't come up with enough offense to overcome."

The Tar Heels used just eight players in the game, the fewest since the win at Boston College on Dec. 19. Of those eight, the five starters combined to play 177 minutes, or 88.5 percent of the game. That's the largest chunk of the season for the starting core, with really the only comparable game coming at Minnesota, when guess who – Hodgson – played 27 minutes off the bench and starters handled 169 total minutes. The lack of Hodgson's quick-to-shoot presence and shooting accuracy hindered the Carolina offense, which was held to its third-lowest points total of the season and failed to crack 70 points for just the third time in 16 games. For Banghart, hesitation brought on by the absence of an offensive security blanket in Hodgson could be to blame.

"When we're not shot-hungry around the perimeter, it forces us into a stagnant offense," Banghart explained. "I wish some of them would shoot a little more, but they're used to that being the next pass to Eva."

With minutes piling up and Notre Dame settled into the game, the Tar Heels shot just 31 percent after halftime, and saw the Irish pull ahead to earn the homecourt win. Once the final horn sounded, the lack of a critical piece could certainly be felt, and left Carolina with a sense of "what if?"

"It was a good battle between two good teams," Banghart said. "We hope we get another chance at them."

Even with a return to full arenas, Sunday's result was a reminder that the pandemic continues to play a factor in college basketball this season.

"We'll give two thumbs down to COVID," Banghart said.

Here's what else caught my eye this week…

In The Zone
With no Hodgson on Sunday, Carolina had to be cognizant of the dangers of foul trouble, especially to its guards. After all, it was Hodgson who came in to save the day when Kennedy Todd-Williams picked up two fouls in the first three minutes against Virginia Tech on Jan. 9. By its nature, a foul occurs when movement is impeded or contact is made by one player toward another on the opposing team, so increasing the distance between Carolina defenders and those on offense for Notre Dame would naturally decrease the probability of a foul call.

How does one increase that distance? Play zone, of course. We hadn't seen much zone from Carolina, at least consistently, during Banghart's roughly two-and-a-half-season tenure, but that all changed on Sunday. The Tar Heels spent nearly the entire game playing zone, with Banghart calling the game "probably the most zone I've played in a game as a head coach."

Notre Dame was held below their season averages in points (77.3) and field goal percentage (45.9) coming into the game, so chalk up a win there for the Tar Heels. The defensive effort was clearly good enough to keep Carolina in the game.

"Pretty good," Banghart responded when asked her thoughts on the defensive adjustment. "Considering we didn't know until real late that we were going to be without Eva, we had to adjust pretty quickly. 70 points – we gave a few too many up at points, but I think the problem was more on the offensive end."

Carrying The Load
One of the factors where Carolina had to overcome Hodgson's absence was making up for her missing scoring. Like their coach said, the Tar Heels knew that if one player couldn't singlehandedly account for the 11 points per game not available on Sunday, the effort would have to be shouldered by the collective whole. Kennedy Todd-Williams scored 13 points, 11 of them in the first half, for her highest scoring output since Jan. 2 against Clemson, and second-highest in her last seven games.

Carlie Littlefield, the Tar Heels' gritty point guard, also contributed scoring the basketball by hitting a trio of three-pointers, her most made threes in a game since connecting on four long-range shots on Dec. 12 vs. UNC Asheville. One of those buckets came in the first quarter, but at halftime, Littlefield was just 1-for-2 from the floor. Banghart, who also coached Littlefield at Princeton from 2017-2019, challenged her longtime pupil by asking her to shoot more. After halftime, Littlefield hit two more threes on five attempts. Even though it wasn't enough to get the Tar Heels over the hump for the game, the message was received.

"I give a lot of credit to Carlie," Banghart said. "I was pretty hard on her at halftime because she wasn't looking to shoot at all, and without Eva here, that was important. And she did that. That's good growth from her."

Up Next
No. 20 Carolina returns to Carmichael Arena for the Tar Heels' lone home game in a 19-day span on Thursday night against Virginia. These two longtime rivals have been playing one another since 1976, in a series that Carolina leads 54-34. That advantage includes a 13-game win streak at Carmichael, with Virginia's last win in Chapel Hill coming in 2001. Virginia opted out of the 2020-21 season prior to any scheduled matchup with the Tar Heels, so this is the first get-together since January 30, 2020, a 78-68 home win for Carolina. Thursday's game will tip at 6:00 p.m., with Tar Heel Sports Network radio coverage commencing at 5:30 p.m. with the Reeds Jewelers Pregame Show. Catch the call on all our streaming options – The Varsity Network App from Learfield, GoHeels.com, and the GoHeels app – all for free. Additionally, our flagship station, 97.9 FM/1360 AM WCHL, will carry the broadcast beginning at 6:00 p.m., just before tip.

Then on Sunday, it's off to Atlanta for the lone regular season meeting with the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, ranked 18th in this week's AP Top 25. The Jackets were a Sweet 16 team a year ago, and open this week with a 13-4 overall record and 4-2 ACC mark. Of those four losses, three have come by two points or less. One of the wins, though, was against mighty Connecticut, 57-44, on Dec. 9 on the Jackets' home floor. It's an early game on Sunday, with tipoff set for noon from McCamish Pavilion in the shadow of Interstates 75 and 85 in Atlanta's Midtown neighborhood. Broadcast coverage begins at 11:30 a.m. with the Reeds Jewelers Pregame Show. Catch the call on all our streaming options – The Varsity Network App from Learfield, GoHeels.com, and the GoHeels app – all for free. Additionally, our flagship station, 97.9 FM/1360 AM WCHL, will carry the broadcast in its entirety.

In the meantime, a new edition of Holding Court with Courtney Banghart will air on Wednesday night at 8:00 p.m. on WCHL. Tune in to hear from Coach Banghart on all things Carolina Women's Basketball, including a preview of this week's games. Plus, we answer your listener questions. As always, the show will be available on the Tar Heel Voices Podcast Channel. It's set to roll out Wednesday morning wherever you get your podcasts.

That's all for now! Go Heels!

-Matt