Tar Heels Set To Open NCAA WBB Play Vs. SFA

TUCSON, Ariz. – For the first time in more than two weeks, it's game day for the UNC women's basketball team. The fifth-seeded Tar Heels (23-6) take on 12^th-seeded Stephen F. Austin on Saturday at the McKale Center on the University of Arizona campus.

The game tips off at 7:30 ET/ 4:30 in Tucson, which is on Mountain Standard Time.

The first-ever women's basketball meeting between UNC and SFA will air on ESPNews and on the Tar Heel Sports Network. Live stats are available here.

It's UNC's first game action in 15 days, since the Atlantic Coast Conference quarterfinals on March 4. The Tar Heels arrived in Tucson early Thursday morning to prepare for Saturday's first-round game.

☝️ more 😴 🔗 https://t.co/GbIN6LiS8P#GoHeels x #MarchMadness x #GameDayEve pic.twitter.com/QLHt4N2h0m — Carolina Women's Basketball (@uncwbb) March 19, 2022

Tournament Tar Heels
North Carolina earned an at-large NCAA Tournament bid for the second year in a row and is seeded fifth in the Greensboro Region.
• UNC is making its 29th NCAA Tournament appearance and is 47-27 over the previous 28 with an NCAA Championship in 1994 and Final Fours in 1994, 2006 and 2007.
• The Tar Heels' most recent NCAA Tournament victory was in 2015 – they've made two appearances since then, with first-round losses in 2019 and 2021.
• UNC last won a tournament game away from Chapel Hill in 2014. That year, Carolina opened with two wins at home and advanced to the regional semifinal in Stanford, Calif., where the Tar Heels knocked off top-seeded South Carolina in the Sweet 16. UNC fell to host Stanford, the No. 2 seed, in the regional final.
• The Tar Heels are 22-1 all-time in NCAA Tournament games in Chapel Hill and 25-26 in games away from home.
• UNC is a No. 5 seed for the third time in school history and is 4-2 overall in the previous two appearances, with all three including a trip out west. The previous times were:
2000: UNC played and won its first two games in Santa Barbara, Calif., (but didn't face host UCSB, the No. 4 seed, which was knocked out in the first round) then advanced on to the regional semifinal in Portland, Ore. There, the Tar Heels fell to top-seeded Georgia.
2011: UNC played and won its first two games in Albuquerque, N.M., a neutral site. The Tar Heels beat No. 4 Kentucky to advance to the regional semifinal in Spokane, Wash., where they fell to top-seeded Stanford.
• The Tar Heels are 19-6 all-time in first-round games, with two of those six losses coming in their last two tournament appearances, in 2019 and 2021. (On three occasions – 1986, 1987 and 1993 – UNC got first-round byes.)

Scouting the Stephen F. Austin Ladyjacks
The Ladyjacks are 28-4 on the season and went 17-1 in their first year of Western Athletic Conference play. They beat Grand Canyon 74-57 on March 12th in Las Vegas in the WAC Tournament championship game to claim the league's automatic bid into the NCAA field.
• SFA is in the NCAA Tournament for the second year in a row and the 18th time in program history. Last season, the Ladyjacks earned a spot in the field by winning the Southland Conference and also opened against an ACC team, facing off against Georgia Tech in the first round. SFA took the Yellow Jackets to overtime before falling 54-52.
• SFA is one of just five teams in NCAA DI with 28 or more wins this season. Stanford joins the Ladyjacks with 28, while NC State, South Carolina and Florida Gulf Coast each have 29.
• Three SFA players average double figure scoring, led by first-team All-WAC honorees Stephanie Visscher at 14.3 points per game and Aiyana Johnson at 14.0.
• SFA leads the NCAA with a turnover margin of +8.3, which ranks first in DI.
• Coach Mark Kellogg, in his seventh season at SFA, was the 2021-22 WAC Coach of the Year.

Quick Hits
• The Tar Heels are currently seventh in the NET rankings, 17th in the AP poll and 18th in the coaches' poll. Carolina appeared in both preseason polls in 2015-16 (20th coaches, 22nd AP) but fell out as the season started and didn't show up again until this December. Carolina has been in the top seven in the NET all season and was in the top five for all but one day of the regular season.
• All six of UNC's losses this season have come to teams currently ranked in the AP poll or ranked at game time with four of those on the road.
• The Tar Heels were one of the final three teams to stand undefeated this season, winning their first 13 games before suffering their first loss on Jan. 6 at NC State.
• UNC has played the same starting lineup in all 29 games this season, with Deja Kelly, Carlie Littlefield, Kennedy Todd-Williams, Alyssa Ustby and Anya Poole in for the opening tip. In comparison, the Tar Heels tried seven different lineups during the course of last season's 24 games.

Trending
• Carolina has won the rebounding battle in its last nine games in a row, the longest stretch vs. ACC teams since the 2013-14 season. The Tar Heels were last outrebounded on Jan. 30 by NC State (beaten 41-36 on the boards in a 66-58 loss). In the nine games since then, Carolina is outrebounding opponents by a +8.9 margin (42.4 to 33.6). For the season, the team's rebounding margin is +7.6 (43.3 to 35.7).
• After going 4-4 in January, the Tar Heels were 7-1 in February. They're 0-1 so far in March.
• Anya Poole is averaging 10.0 rebounds over the past four games (13 at FSU, 10 at UVA, 7 vs Duke, 10 vs. Va Tech in the ACC Tournament). For the season she's now at 6.9 rpg, 10th in the league. With 15 points vs. Duke (10 in the third quarter alone), Poole shared the team scoring lead for the first time this season. She scored 14 against the Hokies for her first back-to-back double-figure scoring games in 2022.
• Alyssa Ustby has five double-doubles in the past nine games and is averaging 13.3 ppg and 9.4 rpg over that span. She ranks fourth in the league in rebounds with 8.59 per game this season. In a nod to her versatility, she's the only player in the ACC who ranks in the top five in both offensive (2nd, 3.03 per game) and defensive (4th, 5.55 per game) rebounds per game.

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Players Mentioned

Deja Kelly

Carlie Littlefield

Anya Poole

Kennedy Todd-Williams

Alyssa Ustby