WBB Hosts FSU Thursday To Open ACC Play

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – North Carolina closes out 2022 and opens Atlantic Coast Conference women's basketball play Thursday night, hosting Florida State for an 8 p.m. tipoff at Carmichael Arena. The Tar Heels, 9-2 and ranked 13^th this week, are the final team to open ACC play.

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The game will air on the ACC's Regional Sports Networks. Click here for information on watching in your particular market.

The Seminoles come into the game at 12-2 overall and 1-0 in ACC play. The team sits atop the ACC in scoring average (87.9 ppg) behind freshman Ta'Niya Latson, who leads the league in scoring with 25.0 points per game and has earned every ACC Freshman of the Week award this season.

Noting the Tar Heels
• Thursday's game is the fifth of five in a row that UNC has played in the state. Next up is a trip to Virginia Tech, the Tar Heels' first game out of North Carolina since the Dec. 1 matchup with Indiana.
• UNC and FSU are meeting for the 51st time.
• North Carolina played four ranked teams in non-conference play, going 2-2.
• Four Tar Heels are averaging between 15.4 and 13.2 points per game and all rank in the ACC's top 16: Deja Kelly sixth (15.4 ppg), Alyssa Ustby and Kennedy Todd-Williams tied for ninth (14.0 ppg) and Eva Hodgson 16th (13.2 ppg).

UNC vs. FSU
UNC and Florida State will meet Thursday for the 51st time in a series that dates back to the 1981-82 season. Carolina leads the series 34-16 and won last year's matchup, but prior to that the Seminoles won six in a row.
• Carolina won last year's matchup, 64-49 in Tallahassee on Feb. 20, 2022. Deja Kelly led the way with 26 points and Alyssa Ustby registered her 12th double-double of the season with 12 points and 10 boards. It was UNC's first road win against the Seminoles since 2014.
• In the most recent matchup in Chapel Hill, on Feb. 4, 2021, FSU won 61-51.
• UNC's last win in Chapel Hill was in the 2014-15 season, 71-63 on Feb. 12, 2015. Both teams were in the top 20 in that matchup, with the No. 17 Tar Heels staging a late comeback to beat the seventh-ranked Seminoles.

Tar Heel Trends
• In a nod to Carolina's versatility, four different players have scored 20 or more points on nine occasions in the season's first 11 games. (Kennedy Todd-Williams with 20 vs. Jackson State, at Indiana, and vs. Wofford, Destiny Adams with 23 vs South Carolina State, Deja Kelly with 24 vs James Madison. 29 vs Iowa State, and 20 vs USC Upstate, and Eva Hodgson with 21 vs. Oregon and 20 vs Wofford.) A fifth, Alyssa Ustby, has reached 19 on two occasions.
• No conference school has more players with multiple 20-point games than UNC. Carolina and Virginia Tech each have three players with two or more 20-point outings, the most in the league.
• Five Tar Heels have either led the team in scoring or tied for the lead in at least one game this season.
• Carolina has four players ranked among the ACC's top 16 in scoring average (Kelly 6th, Ustby and Todd-Williams T9th, Hodgson 16th). No other school has more than two players in the top 20.
• Alyssa Ustby ranks in the ACC's top 25 in scoring (T9), rebounding (4), assists (22), steals (22) and blocks (17).
• Eva Hodgson has hit at least one three in every game this season. She's the only UNC player to have done so.
• UNC had been outrebounded five games in a row before beating Wofford 57-21 on the boards. Carolina's offensive rebounds total (a season-best 22) outpaced Wofford's overall rebounding total (21).
• UNC's 10 blocks against Iowa State were the most for a Tar Heel team since the 2017-18 season. Redshirt freshman Teonni Key had three in just 14 minutes of play. Carolina is averaging 4.9 per game, fifth in the ACC and 29th nationally.
• Two Tar Heels rank among the ACC's top seven in assist-turnover ratio. Deja Kelly is second in the ACC and ranks 16th nationally at 2.8. Eva Hodgson is tied for sixth in the ACC. As a team, UNC's assist-turnover ratio of 1.21 is second in the ACC and 28th in the nation.
• Destiny Adams is eighth ACC in blocks with 1.45 per game in an average of 19.1 minutes on the court.
• Alyssa Ustby has hit double figures in rebounds in each of the past four games, averaging 11 boards per game over that span. For the season she's at a team-best 9.2 per game, fourth in the ACC.

More to Know
• Eva Hodgson ranks fourth among all active DI players in career free throw percentage, hitting 88.2 of her foul shots in her fourth season of collegiate play. She's 11th in career three-point percentage at 41.6.
• With 11 free throws in the game against Michigan, Deja Kelly passed 250 makes for her career, which is the minimum for inclusion on the NCAA's career leaders list. With a career free throw percentage of 81.2, she ranks 28th among all DI players.

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Players Mentioned

Destiny Adams

Eva Hodgson

Deja Kelly

Teonni Key

Kennedy Todd-Williams

Alyssa Ustby