Sunday, January 8
Chapel Hill
4 PM
North Carolina
vs
Notre Dame
The Tar Heels host Notre Dame on Sunday.
Photo by: Jeffrey A. Camarati
Tar Heels Set To Host No. 4 Notre Dame In ACC WBB Action
January 7, 2023 | Women's Basketball
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – The North Carolina women's basketball team plays its first home game of 2023 on Sunday, hosting No. 4 Notre Dame at Carmichael Arena. Tipoff is 4 p.m. and the game will air live on ACC Network.
No. 22 UNC comes into the game at 9-5 and still seeking its first conference win of the season after opening ACC play with three losses, the past two on the road. Notre Dame is 12-1 overall and 3-0 in ACC play.
The Tar Heels are celebrating Fan Appreciation Day, with giveaways for early-arriving fans and drawings throughout the game. Prizes include Air Pods, Apple TV, Vizio TV and a Carolina basketball jersey.
Prior to the game, Carolina will honor junior guard Deja Kelly, who scored her 1,000th career point on Thursday evening at Miami. She's the 39th player to reach that milestone at UNC.
Heels vs. Irish
UNC and Notre Dame are meeting for the 14th time in a series that dates back to the 1999-2000 season. The Fighting Irish lead the series 10-3 overall and 8-2 since joining the ACC. All but one of those conference matchups has come in regular-season play, with the exception a meeting in the 2019 ACC Tournament.
• The game is UNC's fourth of the season against a top-10 team and the third against a top-5 opponent. UNC is 1-1 against top-5 teams and 1-2 against teams ranked in the top 10.
• Notre Dame won last year's matchup 70-65 in South Bend. In a top-25 matchup, the No. 21 Tar Heels were up by as many as 11 points in the second half before falling.
Deja Kelly led UNC with 22 points, Alyssa Ustby finished with 15 and Kennedy Todd-Williams with 13. Anya Poole led the rebounding effort with 12 as the Tar Heels outrebounded their hosts 45-37.
No. 20 Notre Dame improved to 13-3 (4-1 ACC) in its first home game at Purcell Pavilion in nearly a month. The Fighting Irish were led by Dara Mabrey's 24 points, including six three-pointers. Three other Irish players hit double digits and two notched double-doubles, with Maya Dodson at 10 points, 11 boards and Sonia Citron with 12 points and 10 boards off the bench.
Notre Dame took its first lead of the game at 39-37 on a three-pointer by Olivia Miles with 8:18 to play in the third quarter, and once the Fighting Irish had the advantage they kept it for good.
The Tar Heels were without guard Eva Hodgson (out due to Covid protocols) – it remains the only game she's missed as a Tar Heel.
• UNC won the most recent meeting in Chapel Hill, 78-73 on Jan. 24, 2021. Carolina's grad student guards both hit season highs in scoring with Stephanie Watts notching 25 points and Petra Holešínská 24. The win snapped a three-game losing streak for the Tar Heels. (Watts, who also had 12 rebounds and nine assists in that game, went on to be a top-10 pick in the 2021 WNBA Draft.)
Coming up
UNC hits the road for the third time in four games for a travels for a Thursday evening matchup at Virginia. After that the Tar Heels play three in a row at home, hosting NC State, Duke and Georgia Tech.
Noting UNC
• Sunday's game is UNC's first homecourt action of 2023. The Tar Heels last played at home in Dec. 29, suffering the first home loss of the season, 78-71 to FSU.
• Four Tar Heels are scoring between 16.5 and 12.2 points per game and all rank in the ACC's top 25 in scoring: Deja Kelly is fifth (16.5 ppg), Alyssa Ustby is 11th (13.8), Kennedy Todd-Williams is 12th (13.7 ppg) and Eva Hodgson is 23rd (12.2 ppg). No other school has more than two in the top 25.
• On Wednesday, Deja Kelly was announced as one of 25 players on the Midseason Watch List for the Wooden Award.
• Kelly will be honored before Sunday's game for scoring her 1,000th career point on Thursday at Miami.
Trending
• In a nod to Carolina's versatility, four different players have scored 20 or more points on 11 occasions in the season's first 14 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, 20 vs USC Upstate and FSU, and 21 at Virginia Tech; and Eva Hodgson with 21 vs. Oregon and 20 vs Wofford.) A fifth Tar Heel, Alyssa Ustby, has reached 19 on two occasions.
• No conference school has more players with multiple 20-point games than UNC. Carolina, Syracuse and Virginia Tech each have three players with two or more 20-point outings, the most in the league.
• Five Tar Heels have led the team in scoring or tied for the lead in at least one game this season.
• Alyssa Ustby ranks in the ACC's top 25 in scoring (11th), rebounding (4th), field goal percentage (4th), assists (25th), blocks (16th) and steals (24th).
• Eva Hodgson has hit at least one three in every game this season and is the only UNC player to have done so. She ranks fifth in the ACC in threes made (2.4).
• 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 4.5 per game, sixth in the ACC and 38th nationally.
• Destiny Adams is 10th ACC in blocks with 1.14 per game in an average of 17.2 minutes per game on the court.
• Two Tar Heels rank among the ACC's top six in assist-turnover ratio. Eva Hodgson is third (2.24) and Deja Kelly is sixth (2.13). UNC's team assist-turnover ratio of 1.15 is third in the ACC and 32nd in the nation.
• Alyssa Ustby has hit double figures in rebounds seven times this season, including five of the past seven games.
No. 22 UNC comes into the game at 9-5 and still seeking its first conference win of the season after opening ACC play with three losses, the past two on the road. Notre Dame is 12-1 overall and 3-0 in ACC play.
The Tar Heels are celebrating Fan Appreciation Day, with giveaways for early-arriving fans and drawings throughout the game. Prizes include Air Pods, Apple TV, Vizio TV and a Carolina basketball jersey.
Prior to the game, Carolina will honor junior guard Deja Kelly, who scored her 1,000th career point on Thursday evening at Miami. She's the 39th player to reach that milestone at UNC.
We 💙 our Tar Heel fans! Hope you can join us Sunday 👣🏀#GoHeels | #InPursuit pic.twitter.com/FaP7b06a0D
— Carolina Women's Basketball (@uncwbb) January 6, 2023
Heels vs. Irish
UNC and Notre Dame are meeting for the 14th time in a series that dates back to the 1999-2000 season. The Fighting Irish lead the series 10-3 overall and 8-2 since joining the ACC. All but one of those conference matchups has come in regular-season play, with the exception a meeting in the 2019 ACC Tournament.
• The game is UNC's fourth of the season against a top-10 team and the third against a top-5 opponent. UNC is 1-1 against top-5 teams and 1-2 against teams ranked in the top 10.
• Notre Dame won last year's matchup 70-65 in South Bend. In a top-25 matchup, the No. 21 Tar Heels were up by as many as 11 points in the second half before falling.
Deja Kelly led UNC with 22 points, Alyssa Ustby finished with 15 and Kennedy Todd-Williams with 13. Anya Poole led the rebounding effort with 12 as the Tar Heels outrebounded their hosts 45-37.
No. 20 Notre Dame improved to 13-3 (4-1 ACC) in its first home game at Purcell Pavilion in nearly a month. The Fighting Irish were led by Dara Mabrey's 24 points, including six three-pointers. Three other Irish players hit double digits and two notched double-doubles, with Maya Dodson at 10 points, 11 boards and Sonia Citron with 12 points and 10 boards off the bench.
Notre Dame took its first lead of the game at 39-37 on a three-pointer by Olivia Miles with 8:18 to play in the third quarter, and once the Fighting Irish had the advantage they kept it for good.
The Tar Heels were without guard Eva Hodgson (out due to Covid protocols) – it remains the only game she's missed as a Tar Heel.
• UNC won the most recent meeting in Chapel Hill, 78-73 on Jan. 24, 2021. Carolina's grad student guards both hit season highs in scoring with Stephanie Watts notching 25 points and Petra Holešínská 24. The win snapped a three-game losing streak for the Tar Heels. (Watts, who also had 12 rebounds and nine assists in that game, went on to be a top-10 pick in the 2021 WNBA Draft.)
Coming up
UNC hits the road for the third time in four games for a travels for a Thursday evening matchup at Virginia. After that the Tar Heels play three in a row at home, hosting NC State, Duke and Georgia Tech.
Noting UNC
• Sunday's game is UNC's first homecourt action of 2023. The Tar Heels last played at home in Dec. 29, suffering the first home loss of the season, 78-71 to FSU.
• Four Tar Heels are scoring between 16.5 and 12.2 points per game and all rank in the ACC's top 25 in scoring: Deja Kelly is fifth (16.5 ppg), Alyssa Ustby is 11th (13.8), Kennedy Todd-Williams is 12th (13.7 ppg) and Eva Hodgson is 23rd (12.2 ppg). No other school has more than two in the top 25.
• On Wednesday, Deja Kelly was announced as one of 25 players on the Midseason Watch List for the Wooden Award.
• Kelly will be honored before Sunday's game for scoring her 1,000th career point on Thursday at Miami.
Trending
• In a nod to Carolina's versatility, four different players have scored 20 or more points on 11 occasions in the season's first 14 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, 20 vs USC Upstate and FSU, and 21 at Virginia Tech; and Eva Hodgson with 21 vs. Oregon and 20 vs Wofford.) A fifth Tar Heel, Alyssa Ustby, has reached 19 on two occasions.
• No conference school has more players with multiple 20-point games than UNC. Carolina, Syracuse and Virginia Tech each have three players with two or more 20-point outings, the most in the league.
• Five Tar Heels have led the team in scoring or tied for the lead in at least one game this season.
• Alyssa Ustby ranks in the ACC's top 25 in scoring (11th), rebounding (4th), field goal percentage (4th), assists (25th), blocks (16th) and steals (24th).
• Eva Hodgson has hit at least one three in every game this season and is the only UNC player to have done so. She ranks fifth in the ACC in threes made (2.4).
• 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 4.5 per game, sixth in the ACC and 38th nationally.
• Destiny Adams is 10th ACC in blocks with 1.14 per game in an average of 17.2 minutes per game on the court.
• Two Tar Heels rank among the ACC's top six in assist-turnover ratio. Eva Hodgson is third (2.24) and Deja Kelly is sixth (2.13). UNC's team assist-turnover ratio of 1.15 is third in the ACC and 32nd in the nation.
• Alyssa Ustby has hit double figures in rebounds seven times this season, including five of the past seven games.
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