Carmichael Comments: Raining Threes

At the end of the day, all that matters is that you win the game. Just ask former NFL coach Herm Edwards, who produced a viral video several years back with a quote of "Hello? You play to win the game!"

And he's right. So from that lens, the 64-42 win over UNCW on Wednesday, Dec. 7, was a successful night for the Carolina women's basketball team. But coming off a six-day layoff, facing a team that had only one win against a Division I opponent all season, the overall performance was definitely not indicative of Carolina's ceiling. That raised some concerns prior to a matchup with Wofford, a red-hot team that came to Carmichael riding a seven-game win streak for the first time in the program's Division I era. The Terriers were a veteran, experienced group averaging 75 points per game in the win streak. Play like the Wednesday game, and Sunday might turn into a long and surprising day. A trap game, if you will.

Spoiler: no trap game here. Carolina blitzed the Terriers with a 51-percent shooting day that featured 12 made threes, the most in a game since November of 2019 against Charleston Southern and Coach Banghart's third-ever game at the helm of the Tar Heels.

"Our guys moved the ball well," Banghart reflected postgame. "When the ball moves, we're hard to guard."
For the first time since December of 2020, multiple Tar Heels registered 20-point games, with Eva Hodgson and Kennedy Todd-Williams both reaching the 20-point mark. Alyssa Ustby recorded a second straight double-double with 17 points and a team-best 12 rebounds. The trio combined to shoot 20-for-34, a figure that comes out to 59% and over half of the team's made field goals. The theme of ball movement was critical in the head coach's eyes for creating the high-efficiency attack.

"When the ball moves, they're in a one-v-one matchup," Banghart explained. "When they catch shot-ready, they shoot at a high percentage."

Fans might not be able to see the hard work put in behind the scenes in practice, but reading between the lines suggests the few days between UNCW and Wofford were focused heavily on the constant improvement process that Banghart preaches. That process simultaneously instills the necessary adjustments for the next test and lights a fire under the team.

"I wouldn't want to play the Tar Heels after their coach thinks they played 'just okay,'" Banghart joked postgame. "It's been a bit of a rough week as we wanted to get back to where we are."

A season-high in points? Holding Wofford under their season average from the field? That's who the Tar Heels want to be.

Here's what else caught my eye this week…

Defending the Arc
Wofford entered Sunday's game ranked in the top 40 nationally in three-pointers attempted per game at 25.3, while shooting them at an impressive 35-percent clip. Seeing a three-point heavy team on the other bench was far from a foreign experience for Carolina, which has now played three of the top 20 teams nationally in made threes per game – Iowa State (No. 8), Wofford (No. 14), and Oregon (No. 20). While the Terriers did hit 13 threes on 35 attempts (a 37-percent success rate), the defensive effort to limit three-point looks did have a byproduct: limiting Wofford inside. The Terriers went just 10-for-29 (34.5 percent) on two-point shot attempts, with a mere three two-point field goals in the entire first half. Looking at the numbers from the Iowa State and Oregon wins, the Cyclones hit only nine threes on 35 tries while shooting 13-for-29 (44.8 percent) on their two-point attempts. That's a case of take away the three while allowing (some) inside looks. In the Oregon game, the Ducks were 26-40 (65 percent) from two-point range, but were just 7-for-25 from three.

So, how does a team like the Tar Heels make a potent offensive team one-dimensional?

"You just want to guard the ball well," Banghart explained. "The only reason you get open threes is if you have to help. The better we are on the ball, the less help we require. When you play an attacking team you have to be high in your gaps to defend together. (Teams like Wofford are) different. You have to defend on your own."
The other end of the spectrum is the Indiana game, when the Hoosiers shot 55 percent from three with 12 makes, and also shot nearly 50 percent inside the arc. For any team, that's a recipe for success, and a big reason why Indiana won.

Young's Return, and Paris' Gesture
While the win over UNCW might have been a tally in the win column and a chance to move on for most, the game was extra special for one of the longest-tenured Tar Heels. Ariel Young, who has been at Carolina since January 2020, suffered a torn ACL in preseason practice in the fall of 2021 and had not played since. In the second half, with the game decided, Coach Banghart summoned Young from the bench, and the now-redshirt senior stepped on the floor for six minutes.

"To be able to call her name means that the work she's done has given her the opportunity," Banghart reflected. "She's not where she wants to be, but it's a step in the right direction and that's something she's been dying to do: to play on that court with her teammates."

On Sunday against Wofford, the Tar Heels reached the 99-point mark with three minutes to play and had a golden chance to eclipse the century mark with a steal and potential open layup for freshman guard Paulina Paris. Rather than drive to the hoop and take the two points, though, Paris saw that Young was trailing her down the floor and tried to pass to get Young a chance to lay it in. Unfortunately, the Wofford defense was able to recover and deny the scoring chance, and the Heels finished the game stuck on 99 points.
"When I was going through that in the locker room after the game, Ariel interrupted and said, 'But P, just go finish the layup!,'" the head coach said. "And I said, 'That's what this is about.' It's about both guys wanting it to be about the team."

Exam Week Over
Final exams ended in Chapel Hill last Friday (Dec. 9). With the pressures of the constant balancing act between athletics and academics now shelved for a few weeks, the Tar Heels can focus exclusively on basketball. Carolina will practice three times in the run-up to the USC Upstate game, then depart for Charlotte on Sunday in preparation for the Jumpman Invitational (more on that below). Then, the team will be able to head home until Dec. 26 before returning to campus to prepare for the ACC opener. Classes resume in Chapel Hill on Jan. 9 with the start of the spring semester.

UP NEXT
Carolina's non-conference schedule is quickly nearing its completion, as just two games remain. First up, it's the home non-league finale on Friday, the third all-time meeting between Carolina and USC Upstate. The Spartans feature 10 new players and a new head coach, Jason Williams, on their roster for 2022-23. Tip on Friday night is set for 6:00 p.m. at Carmichael, and the first 500 fans receive free holiday sweater-themed t-shirts! Our THSN coverage starts at 5:30 p.m. with the Reeds Jewelers Pregame Show. Catch the broadcast locally on 97.9 FM/1360 AM in the Triangle (starting at 6:00), or worldwide for free via our THSN streaming platforms starting at 5:30 p.m.: GoHeels.com, the GoHeels app, and the Varsity Network app from Learfield.

Then on Tuesday, the final test before ACC play is a stiff one. Michigan, currently ranked No. 19 in the AP Top 25, provides the opposition in the inaugural Jumpman Invitational in Charlotte. Tip is set for 7:00 p.m. in the first women's basketball meeting since 1987 between two of the biggest brands in college sports. Plus, it's Carolina's second game in an NBA arena this season following the PKI Championship Game in Portland against Iowa State. If you can't make it to the Queen City for the game, you know the drill: join us on the THSN starting at 6:30 p.m. with the Reeds Jewelers Pregame Show. Catch the broadcast locally on 97.9 FM/1360 AM in the Triangle, or worldwide for free via our THSN streaming platforms: GoHeels.com, the GoHeels app, and the Varsity Network app from Learfield.

In case you missed it, the first edition of Holding Court with Courtney Banghart came out this week. Listen in for an in-depth chat about the Tar Heels with Coach Banghart and yours truly. In the coming days, keep an eye out for a couple of bonus episodes of the show featuring Carolina's sports performance and video teams. Listen any time on demand on the Tar Heel Voices Podcast Channel. Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

That's all for now! Good luck with all your Christmas shopping and weekend holiday parties.

Go Heels!
-Matt