WBB Travels To Raleigh To Take On The Wolfpack

RALEIGH, N.C. – The North Carolina women's basketball team is set for a close-to-home road game on Thursday, traveling 30 minutes to take on NC State in an Atlantic Coast Conference battle at the Wolfpack's Reynolds Coliseum.

Tipoff is 8 p.m. and the game will air on ACC Network. Watch here or listen here.

Tickets are sold out.

UNC is ranked 19^th this week and is 18-7 overall, 9-5 in ACC play, following a homecourt win over Boston College on Sunday. NC State (17-8, 7-7 ACC) is not ranked in this week's AP poll but is No. 24 in the coaches' poll. (Carolina is No. 17 in the coaches' poll.)

The two are meeting for the second time in just over a month. On Jan. 15 in Chapel Hill, UNC pulled out a win in a low-scoring game, beating then-No. 11 NC State 56-47. For more on that game, click here.

The Rivalry
UNC and NC State are meeting for the 117th time in a rivalry that dates back to the 1974-75 season, Carolina's first as a varsity program under the umbrella of the Department of Athletics.
NC State leads the series 62-54 but UNC won the season's first meeting, ending a string of three in a row by the Wolfpack.
• NC State won the last meeting in Reynolds, 72-45 on Jan. 6, 2022. It was the first loss of the season for the 19th-ranked Tar Heels, who got 21 points from Deja Kelly and a double-double (12/12) from Alyssa Ustby. The fifth-ranked Wolfpack ran out to a 10-0 lead and never trailed. UNC shot 18 percent (6-33) from the field after halftime. NC State also won last year's matchup in Chapel Hill, 66-58 on Jan. 30, 2022.
• Before NC State swept last season's two matchups, the teams had split their two meetings in three seasons in a row.
• UNC won the first meeting of the season, 56-47 in Chapel Hill on Jan. 15. The No. 22 Tar Heels shot just 29.7 percent (19-64) from the field in what remains their worst shooting game of the season. Kennedy Todd-Williams led UNC with 15 points, eight of them in the fourth quarter when the Tar Heels surged ahead of NC State, which led 32-31 heading into the fourth quarter. Alyssa Ustby pulled down a career-high 18 rebounds as UNC won the rebounding battle 45-41. It's one of three times this season (neutral vs. Iowa State, at Virginia are the others) that UNC has trailed heading into the fourth quarter but come back to win.
• The game in Chapel Hill was sold out, marking UNC's first sellout at Carmichael since the 2014-15 season.

Trending
• UNC scored a season-high 30 points off turnovers in Sunday's win over Boston College. The past three games – 24 pts off turnovers at Louisville, 22 at Syracuse, 30 vs BC – have been the Tar Heels' highest in ACC play. They're averaging 25.3 ppg off turnovers over the past three games, 17.4 for the season.
• Six Carolina players have at least one game of 20 or more points this season, most recently redshirt freshman Kayla McPherson with a career-high 22 against Boston College. (UNC is close to having seven, with Alyssa Ustby hitting 19 twice so far this season.) Seven different players have led the team in scoring in at least one game this season.
• Deja Kelly has a team-high eight games this season of 20 points or more, with the most recent 32 at Syracuse last Thursday. It was the second 30+ game of her career, with both coming in ACC play. (The first was 31 points at home vs. Clemson on 1/2/22.)
• Kelly goes into Thursday's game with 79 assists, four shy of her total for all of last year (83 in 32 games in 2021-22).
• The Syracuse game marked the fourth time this season and the third time in ACC play that Deja Kelly has played all 40 minutes in a game. She's one of four players on the team to have played the entirety of a game this season, joining Eva Hodgson (two 40-minute games), Alyssa Ustby (two), and Paulina Paris (one).
• Kennedy Todd-Williams has hit 42 three-pointers this season, more than her first two seasons (14 as a freshman, 25 as a sophomore) combined. She has at least one three in 20 of 25 games this season and ranks 10th in the ACC with 1.7 per game.
• Todd-Williams has led the team in rebounds twice all season, with both of those coming in the past three games with Alyssa Ustby (the team's leading rebounder) out. Todd-Williams had a team-best eight rebounds at Louisville then nine against BC. She's averaging 7.0 over the past three games, 5.4 for the season.
• UNC has hit scoring highs and lows in ACC play over the past three games. The Tar Heels scored 55 in a loss at Louisville on Feb. 5, their lowest total of the season. On Sunday against Boston College Carolina finished with 73, equal to the season high in ACC play that was also hit on Feb. 2 against Virginia. On the season, UNC is averaging 71.8 points per game, 65.7 in ACC play.
• UNC's 11 made threes on Sunday are the most in ACC play this season and second most (12 vs Wofford) this season. The total matched the team's best in ACC play under fourth-year coach Courtney Banghart.
• Three players – Zelaya, Key, McPherson – made their first career starts against BC. It was highest number of debut starters since the season-opener in 2020-21, when Carolina also had three (including freshmen Deja Kelly and Kennedy Todd-Williams) making their first starts as Tar Heels.
• Even with its steals leader (Ustby) sidelined, UNC is averaging 12.7 steals in its last three games. For the season, the Tar Heels average 9.7 (9.3 in ACC play). Destiny Adams had a career-high six on Sunday as UNC totaled 13 steals vs. BC.

Next up
UNC returns home for its next two, hosting Wake Forest on Sunday and Virginia Tech next Thursday. For tickets, click here.

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Players Mentioned

Destiny Adams

Eva Hodgson

Deja Kelly

Kayla McPherson

Paulina Paris

Kennedy Todd-Williams

Alyssa Ustby