No. 23 WBB Hits The Road To Take On Virginia Tech

BLACKSBURG, Va. – With three consecutive wins under its belt, the North Carolina women's basketball team hits the road Sunday for game at Virginia Tech. Tipoff at Cassell Coliseum is 1 p.m. and the game will air on ACC Network Extra.

Watch here, listen to the radio broadcast here, follow live state here and follow on Twitter here.

The No. 23 Tar Heels are 19-4 overall and 9-4 in Atlantic Coast Conference play with one of those victories a 71-46 win over the Hokies (18-6, 10-3) in the teams' first meeting of the season, on Jan. 9 in Chapel Hill.

UNC, which take a three-game winning streak to Blacksburg, is playing for its third win in a row over Virginia Tech and its second consecutive win over the Hokies at Cassell.

Sunday's game marks the first time UNC has left the state of North Carolina since playing at Georgia Tech on Jan. 23. Since then the Tar Heels have had three home games and traveled to road games at Duke and Wake Forest.

UNC is fifth in the latest NET ranking and has been in the top five all season. The Tar Heels are 23rd in this week's AP poll and 22nd in the USA Today/WBCA coaches' poll. Virginia Tech is 14^th in the NET and is receiving votes in both polls.

Series History
The Tar Heels and Hokies will meet Sunday for the 32nd time in a series that dates back to the 1979-80 season. UNC leads the series 21-10 overall after winning the past two. Virginia Tech won four in a row prior to that.

• UNC won the most recent meeting in Blacksburg, 68-63 on Feb. 28, 2021. It was the third of three regular-season matchups last year, a Covid oddity after both teams had other games canceled.

• The Tar Heels won this season's first meeting, 71-46 on Jan. 9 in Chapel Hill. UNC was coming off its first loss of the season, at NC State on the previous Thursday. Four Tar Heels scored in double figures, led by Eva Hodgson, who came off the bench for a season-high 19 points, including 4-for-5 three-point shooting. Deja Kelly registered her first career double-double with 15 points and a team-best 10 rebounds.

Scouting the Hokies
Virginia Tech is 18-6 on the season and 10-3 in ACC play following a 73-63 win over No. 11 Georgia Tech on Thursday. Like the Tar Heels, the Hokies have won their last three in a row.
• The Hokies lead the ACC and rank 23rd nationally in three-pointers per game, averaging 8.58.
• Elizabeth Kitley leads Virginia Tech in scoring with 17.4 points per game and in rebounding with 10.2 per game. She's second in the ACC in both categories and is one of four Hokies scoring in double figures, with the others Aisha Sheppard (12.8 ppg), Georgia Amoore (11.0) and Kayana Traylor (10.2).

Tar Heel Trends
• UNC has held its last three opponents (and a total of 10 this season) to single-digit scoring in the first quarter.
• Carolina has also held its last three opponents (and a total of eight this season) below 20 points in the first half.
• Sophomore Alyssa Ustby has notched a double-double in each of the past three games. Before this streak, she'd never had double-doubles in back-to-back games. She has 10 this season, tied for second in the ACC.
• Although free throw shooting hasn't been a team strength this season – the Tar Heels had a .683 team shooting percentage heading into the Miami game – the past two games have been stellar. UNC was 20 of 21 (95.2 percent) against the Hurricanes and 20-26 (76.9) vs. Pitt (76.9). That puts Carolina at 40-47 (85.1) over the past two games and at 70.4 percent for the season.

Numbers of Note
• UNC ranks in the top three in the ACC in scoring (3), scoring defense (2), scoring margin (1), rebounds per game (2), offensive rebounds (2), defensive rebounds (T2), field goal percentage defense (1), three-point percentage defense (1), steals (2), rebounding margin (2) and turnover margin (1).
• UNC has held all but three opponents this season to sub-40-percent field goal shooting. The only schools to top that have been ACC opponents BC (49.1 percent), NC State twice (41.8 in the first meeting, 44.1 in the second) and Pitt (40.7 in UNC's most recent game). Opponents are shooting .336 and Carolina ranks first in the ACC and fourth in the NCAA in field goal percentage defense.
• The Carolina defense has forced all 23 opponents into double-digit turnovers and has forced 20+ 11 times this season, including the most recent game (22 by Pitt). Opponents are averaging 19.9 turnovers per game vs. UNC.
• Carolina committed a season-low six turnovers in the Jan. 27 game at Duke. It was the team's third single-digit turnover total of the season. UNC is averaging 13.7 turnovers per game, third-lowest in the ACC.
• UNC is 11-0 this season when reaching double digits in steals. The Tar Heels average 9.8 per game, second in the ACC.
• UNC leads the ACC and ranks eighth nationally in three-point percentage defense with opponents shooting 25.0 percent.

Up Next
After the trip to Blacksburg, UNC returns home to host No. 3 Louisville on Thursday in the team's second-to-last home game of the season.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Eva Hodgson

Deja Kelly

Alyssa Ustby

Scoreboard Slider

University of North Carolina Athletics