Carmichael Comments: Build The Wall

"Build the wall."

The mantra echoed through all aspects of pregame preparation for the Carolina women's basketball team prior to Monday night's game in Tucson, Ariz. against Arizona. The winner of the second-round matchup received a trip to the NCAA's prestigious Sweet 16. The loser would see its season come to an end. The Tar Heels, passed over for the opportunity to host the NCAA Tournament's first weekend, had trekked 1,800 miles from home and withstood a slow start to beat Stephen F. Austin in the first round. Now, they knew the next step after the Arizona game was a trip home. But would it be with the season complete, or with another game to be played?

The construction metaphor was meant to encourage a stout Carolina defense to prevent Arizona from earning opportunities to score in the low post and take advantage of a size mismatch. The Tar Heels wanted to make the Wildcats have to rely on hot shooting to carry them into the Sweet 16. But the metaphor is fitting, because it represents the gradual building process that has taken place since Courtney Banghart was hired as Carolina's fourth head coach in program history on Apr. 30, 2019. Every staff hire, every recruit, and every game along the way is a brick. And now, the wall is what separates the success of the program from doubters and bygone struggles.

The latest brick in the wall was laid on Monday night in Tucson, with an emphatic 63-45 win over the Wildcats that sent Carolina onward into the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2015 and 18^th time in program history.

"Our guys were totally locked in defensively," Banghart explained. "We had a day and a half to put the game plan in, but we thought we might see Arizona, so we practiced that a bit last week."

But practice only matters if it's followed by execution, and that's exactly what the wall delivered. Arizona's 45 points marked the fewest surrendered by the Tar Heels in an NCAA Tournament game since the 2007 first round win over 16^th-seeded Prairie View A&M. Arizona shot just 29 percent from the field, the lowest for a Carolina opponent in the NCAA Tournament since the 2013 first round against Albany, when the Great Danes shot 28 percent Additionally, Carolina won the rebound battle 40-34, the 11^th straight game in which the Tar Heels controlled the glass.

"In terms of how we wanted to play, (the players) did that to a T," Banghart said. "We kept them off the glass after that, but with their different actions, they really transferred how we wanted to play."

Wall = built.

"They earned it. That's all I can say is that they earned it," Banghart said.

Earning the win wasn't easy, especially when you consider the over 8,000 loud Arizona fans who crowded into the McKale Center to cheer against Carolina.

"I know they weren't rooting for us, but what a great environment for women's basketball," she reflected.

It was the first time since 2006 that Carolina had won a true road game in the NCAA Tournament, and first time since 2011 that the Tar Heels advanced to the Sweet 16 by winning a second-round game away from Carmichael Arena. A year ago, simply making the NCAA Tournament was an important brick in building the wall that is the Tar Heel program. That brick makes the wall stronger, and just one year later, Carolina is headed to March Madness' second weekend.

Just keep on building.

Greensboro Regional Opponent Profiles
#1 South Carolina Gamecocks
31-2, 15-1 SEC
Series Record: UNC leads, 11-8
Last Meeting: 2015 Sweet 16, 3/27/15 – South Carolina wins, 67-65, in Greensboro
Coach Banghart Record: First Meeting

The nation's No. 1 team for the entirety of the season, Dawn Staley's Gamecocks are in search of their second championship in the past five years. The season has had very few speed bumps for South Carolina, who not only went wire-to-wire as the top team in the Associated Press poll, but earned the No. 1 national seed for the NCAA Tournament. South Carolina has won with defense this season, boasting the nation's top field goal percentage defense (32.2%) and third-best scoring defense (50.3 PPG). Additionally, the Gamecocks are an elite rebounding team, ranking second nationally in rebounds (48.3) and tops in rebound margin (+17.9). Unanimous first-team All-American Aliyah Boston, a 6'5 junior forward, is the engine that makes South Carolina go, as she scores 16.4 PPG and pulls in 12.1 rebounds per game. Other key scorers include honorable mention All-Americans Destanni Henderson (11.0 PPG) and Zia Cooke (10.9 PPG), a pair of guards. South Carolina's vulnerability stems from their offensive inconsistency. Even in advancing to the Sweet 16, the Gamecocks scored only 49 points in a 49-33 win over ACC foe Miami on Sunday. The Gamecocks shot just 29.5 percent in the game, their fourth contest in the last five shooting below 40 percent. That group also includes a 35.4 percent effort in the first-round win against Howard, and 33.3 percent in the SEC Championship game against Kentucky, a 64-62 defeat that is one of South Carolina's two losses this season.

#3 Iowa State Cyclones
28-6, 14-4 Big 12
Series Record: Series tied, 1-1
Last Meeting: 1/23/00 – Iowa State wins, 79-67, in Ames, Iowa
Coach Banghart Record: First Meeting

Iowa State is in the NCAA Tournament for the 20^th time in the 27-year tenure of head coach Bill Fennelly, the second-longest tenured power five women's basketball head coach behind only Stanford's Tara VanDerveer. If the Cyclones are the opponent on Sunday, it would be the third trip to the Elite Eight under Fennelly, with losses in that round in 1999 and 2009. The 28 wins so far this season mark a school record, and Iowa State checked in at No. 10 in the final AP poll. Like South Carolina, Iowa State enjoys the services of an All-American, with second-team selection Ashley Joens (20.5 PPG/9.6 RPG) becoming the fourth Cyclone all-time to receive such an honor. She's the all-time leading scorer at Iowa State, and one of three members of the team to be named first-team All-Big 12, joining F Lexi Donarski (14.4 PPG, Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year) and PG Emily Ryan (12.8 PPG/7.1 ast/gm). A major key to the Cyclones' success this season has been three-point shooting, with 349 threes this season to set a Big 12 record. That averages out to an impressive 10.3 long balls per game. So far, Iowa State has advanced to the Sweet 16 with a 78-71 comeback win over UT Arlington in the first round and a 67-44 drubbing of Georgia in the second round.

#10 Creighton Bluejays
22-9, 15-5 Big East
Series Record: First Meeting
Coach Banghart Record: First Meeting

Creighton stole national headlines on Sunday with an improbable 64-62 win over No. 2 seed Iowa on the road. Sophomore guard Lauren Jensen, a former Hawkeye, drained the go-ahead three-pointer with 12 seconds left to propel Creighton to its first ever Sweet 16 and complete the team's second upset of the NCAA Tournament. The Bluejays (one word, not two like the baseball team in Toronto) beat No. 7 seed Colorado 84-74 in the first round to set up the nationally-televised clash with Iowa. Needless to say, folks in the state of Iowa are disappointed to not have the "Cy-Hawk" series in the Sweet 16, but Creighton and Iowa State are separated by just 170 miles, and have met 23 times in history. Next-best thing, right? Jim Flanery is in his 20^th season as Creighton's head coach, and has a team this year that prides itself on ball movement. The Bluejays lead the nation in assists per game at 20.5, and with a top-40 national rank in fewest turnovers per game, they own a Division I-best 1.59 assist-to-turnover ratio. F Emma Ronsiek leads Creighton in scoring at 14.7 PPG and rebounding at 5.2 RPG, good enough for first-team All-Big East honors. The aforementioned Jensen was named Big East Co-Most Improved Player and a second-team All-Big East pick. She averages 12.6 points per game, more than an 11-point increase from her 1.3 per contest last year at Iowa. Swing player Morgan Maly was named Big East Sixth Woman of the Year, averaging 12.1 points per game off the bench.

Up Next
Carolina's Sweet 16 matchup with South Carolina takes place on Friday night at the Greensboro Coliseum in the Gate City. Tip is set for 7:00 p.m., with Tar Heel Sports Network coverage beginning at 6:30 p.m. with the Reeds Jewelers Pregame Show. You'll be able to hear the broadcast on all our traditional streaming platforms - the Varsity Network App from Learfield, GoHeels.com, and the GoHeels app – all for free.

Should the Tar Heels advance, the NCAA Elite Eight will be contested on Sunday at 7:00 p.m. in Greensboro. Much like Friday, Tar Heel Sports Network coverage begins at 6:30 p.m. with the Reeds Jewelers Pregame Show. You'll be able to hear the broadcast on all our traditional streaming platforms - the Varsity Network App from Learfield, GoHeels.com, and the GoHeels app – all for free.

That's all for now! Go Heels!

-Matt