University of North Carolina Athletics
Thursday, November 24
Portland, Ore.
5 PM ET
North Carolina
vs
Oregon
Alyssa Ustby and the Tar Heels take on Iowa State Sunday.
Photo by: Faith Varga
WBB Set For PKI Matchup With No. 5 Iowa State
November 27, 2022 | Women's Basketball
PORTLAND, Ore. – Eighth-ranked North Carolina wraps up play in the Phil Knight Invitational on Sunday with its biggest challenge of the young season, facing No. 5 Iowa State in the PKI women's basketball championship game. The Tar Heels and Cyclones are both 5-0 coming into the matchup.
Tipoff is 7:30 p.m. ET/4:30 PT at the Moda Center, home of the Portland Trailblazers. The game will be televised live on ESPN2.
This is just the third-ever women's basketball meeting between UNC and Iowa State, the first since 2000.
Both teams advanced with wins on Thursday, UNC beating No. 18 Oregon 85-79 and Iowa State downing Michigan State 80-49.
Iowa State is the first of three nonconference opponents who reached the Sweet 16 last season for UNC. The others are Indiana (Dec. 1 in Bloomington, Ind.) and Michigan (Dec. 20 in Charlotte in the Jumpman Invitational).
UNC and Iowa State were both in the Greensboro Regional Sweet 16 in 2021 but were on opposite sides of the bracket and fell in the regional semifinals – UNC to eventual-champion South Carolina and Iowa State to Creighton – before facing off.
• After opening with three straight wins at home, Sunday's game vs. No. 5 Iowa State is the third consecutive contest away from Chapel Hill for the Tar Heels. The team will fly home Sunday night then hit the road again on Wednesday, heading to Bloomington, Ind., to take on the No. 6 Hoosiers on Thursday.
• Under fourth-year coach Courtney Banghart, UNC is now 5-0 in Thanksgiving tournament neutral-site games, including two wins in Mexico in 2019 and two in the Bahamas in 2021.
• With the UNC men's basketball team ranked No. 1, Carolina is the only school with both its basketball teams ranked among the AP's top 10. It's the first time since 2011 that both Tar Heel teams have been in the top 10 at the same time.
Coming up
Following Sunday's game, the Tar Heels will charter back to Chapel Hill, arriving Monday morning. They'll be home for two days before they take off for Bloomington, Ind., on Wednesday. UNC faces off with No. 6 Indiana on Dec. 1 as part of the ACC-Big Ten Challenge.
It's the second year in a row that Carolina has returned from Thanksgiving travel and made a quick turnaround for the ACC-Big Ten Challenge: last year the team won both its games at the Goombay Splash in Bimini, Bahamas, came home for about 72 hours, then packed parkas and took off for Minneapolis to take on Minnesota on Dec. 1 of that year. Carolina won that game 82-76.
Tipoff is 7:30 p.m. ET/4:30 PT at the Moda Center, home of the Portland Trailblazers. The game will be televised live on ESPN2.
This is just the third-ever women's basketball meeting between UNC and Iowa State, the first since 2000.
Both teams advanced with wins on Thursday, UNC beating No. 18 Oregon 85-79 and Iowa State downing Michigan State 80-49.
Iowa State is the first of three nonconference opponents who reached the Sweet 16 last season for UNC. The others are Indiana (Dec. 1 in Bloomington, Ind.) and Michigan (Dec. 20 in Charlotte in the Jumpman Invitational).
UNC and Iowa State were both in the Greensboro Regional Sweet 16 in 2021 but were on opposite sides of the bracket and fell in the regional semifinals – UNC to eventual-champion South Carolina and Iowa State to Creighton – before facing off.
• After opening with three straight wins at home, Sunday's game vs. No. 5 Iowa State is the third consecutive contest away from Chapel Hill for the Tar Heels. The team will fly home Sunday night then hit the road again on Wednesday, heading to Bloomington, Ind., to take on the No. 6 Hoosiers on Thursday.
• Under fourth-year coach Courtney Banghart, UNC is now 5-0 in Thanksgiving tournament neutral-site games, including two wins in Mexico in 2019 and two in the Bahamas in 2021.
• With the UNC men's basketball team ranked No. 1, Carolina is the only school with both its basketball teams ranked among the AP's top 10. It's the first time since 2011 that both Tar Heel teams have been in the top 10 at the same time.
Coming up
Following Sunday's game, the Tar Heels will charter back to Chapel Hill, arriving Monday morning. They'll be home for two days before they take off for Bloomington, Ind., on Wednesday. UNC faces off with No. 6 Indiana on Dec. 1 as part of the ACC-Big Ten Challenge.
It's the second year in a row that Carolina has returned from Thanksgiving travel and made a quick turnaround for the ACC-Big Ten Challenge: last year the team won both its games at the Goombay Splash in Bimini, Bahamas, came home for about 72 hours, then packed parkas and took off for Minneapolis to take on Minnesota on Dec. 1 of that year. Carolina won that game 82-76.
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