WBB Takes On Oklahoma In Jumpman Invitational Action

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – The No. 24 North Carolina women's basketball team plays its final nonconference game of the season on Tuesday night, taking on Oklahoma in the Jumpman Invitational. The two will face off at the Spectrum Center with tipoff at 9 :30 p.m.

The game, which follows a matchup between the Michigan and Florida men, caps Day 1 of the second-annual event. On Wednesday night, the Michigan and Florida women face off, followed by the UNC men taking on Oklahoma.

The Tar Heels, up a spot to No. 24 in this week's Associated Press poll, are 7-4 on the season following a 96-36 win over Western Carolina on Friday. Oklahoma comes into the game at 6-3.

The two are meeting for the first time since the 2008-09 season.

Heels vs. Sooners
• The matchup is the fifth all-time between UNC and OU, with each team winning two so far. The teams last met in Norman in the 2008-09 season in WNIT play. The Tar Heels won that game 80-79.
• Oklahoma comes to Charlotte at the end of a 10-day break between games. The Sooners last played on Dec. 9th, falling at home to UNLV, 92-76.
• One current Tar Heel is very familiar with the Sooners. UNC's Lexi Donarski, a graduate student who played her first three years at Iowa State, has faced off with Oklahoma seven times – two regular season Big 12 matchups in each year as a Cyclone and a conference tournament meeting in 2023. Donarski averaged 18.3 points in three games last season against Oklahoma and has averaged 12.0 points over the seven meetings.
• The Sooners earned a win in last year's Jumpman Invitational, beating Florida 95-79.

Jumpman History
In last year's inaugural Jumpman Invitational, the Tar Heels fell 76-68 to Michigan in Charlotte on Dec. 20, 2022. Five Tar Heels reached double figures, led by Deja Kelly with 15. Kelly played every minute until fouling out with 17 seconds to play and earned most of her points at the foul line, going 11-13. Alyssa Ustby turned in a double-double with 11 points and 11 boards.

Then ranked sixth in the nation, the Tar Heels trailed the No. 19 Wolverines by as many as 23 points in the second quarter before making a late run, drawing as close as six points down the stretch. UNC shot a then-season-low 32.4 percent from the field.

Transfer Ties
• UNC's Lexi Donarski and Oklahoma's Aubrey Joens were teammates at Iowa State during the 2020-21 and 2021-22 seasons before Joens transferred to Oklahoma. Donarski transferred to UNC after the 2022-23 season.
• Oklahoma's Kennady Tucker spent the 2019-20 season at UNC before transferring to OU. She appeared in all 30 games off the bench during coach Courtney Banghart's first year Chapel Hill.

Milestone Watch
• Tuesday's game will be Deja Kelly's 100th as a Tar Heel. She's started 99 of those.
• Kelly comes into the game with 1,482 points, 18 away from becoming just the 25th Tar Heel in program history to score 1,500 points at UNC.
• Maria Gakdeng is seven rebounds away from reaching 500 for her career.

Trending
• Deja Kelly leads the ACC and ranks 19th in the nation in free throw attempts with 65. With 42 makes, she's second in the ACC and 47th nationally. She's coming off a rarity: a game in which she didn't get to the foul line even ones. The win over Western Carolina on Friday was just the eighth time in her 99 games at UNC that she hasn't taken a single foul shot.
• Kelly leads Carolina in scoring with 14.8 points per game. She's coming off a seven-point night against WCU, the first time this season she hasn't reached double figures.
• Through 11 games, Alyssa Ustby leads the Tar Heels in rebounding (8.4), assists (3.45) and steals (2.2). She's second on the team in scoring (12.0) and blocks (1.1).
• Maria Gakdeng is shooting .689 from the field, a percentage that would lead the ACC by a comfortable margin if she had the required five makes per game. (She has 4.6.)
• Six players on the roster have at least one 20-point game in a Carolina uniform. Deja Kelly has hit 20 points on 23 occasions, Alyssa Ustby six, and Lexi Donarski, Maria Gakdeng, Paulina Paris and Kayla McPherson once each.
• UNC is coming off its best shooting night of the season. The Tar Heels hit a season-best 51.9 percent from the field against Western Carolina. They also had season highs in assists (24) and steals (16), and a season low for turnovers (6).
• Six turnovers against the Catamounts matched the lowest of any game under fifth-year coach Courtney Banghart. The last time the Tar Heels gave up the ball fewer times was in 2019.
• Redshirt sophomore Teonni Key saw her first action of the season on Friday after missing the first 10 games of the year with a lower body injury. She made an immediate impact, with a career-best 10 rebounds, seven points, three blocks, two assists and a steal in 17:41 off the bench.

Next up
After the Jumpman Invitational, the Tar Heels are idle until hosting Clemson on Dec. 31 to open Atlantic Coast Conference play.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Lexi Donarski

Maria Gakdeng

Deja Kelly

Teonni Key

Kayla McPherson

Paulina Paris

Alyssa Ustby

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University of North Carolina Athletics