WBB Hosts Virginia Sunday For Alumni Day Game

Sunday, January 14

Chapel Hill

4 PM

North Carolina

Virginia

Tickets

The team and alums celebrated on the court after last year's Alumni Day.

January 13, 2024 | Women's Basketball

Tickets Watch on ACCN Game Notes

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – After two games on the road, the UNC women's basketball team returns home to Carmichael Arena on Sunday and will play with lots of special guests in the crowd.

The No. 20 Tar Heels (11-5. 3-1 ACC) host Virginia (8-7, 0-4) at 4 p.m. for their annual Alumni Day game. More than 90 former players and staff members are expected to attend and be recognized at halftime. In addition, the program is celebrating the 30-year anniversary of the 1994 NCAA Championship and will honor that team between the third and fourth quarters.

The Tar Heels are wearing throwback uniforms that are replicas of the ones UNC wore in that 1994 title game.

The first 1,000 fans at the game will receive rally towels honoring the 1994 team.

Sunday's contest is the only one at home for UNC during a four-game stretch that has included trips to Notre Dame and Florida State and will take the Tar Heels to Georgia Tech on Jan. 18. Carolina's next home game is on Jan. 21, when the team will host Louisville and celebrate National Girls and Women in Sports Day.

Heels vs. Hoos
UNC and Virginia are meeting for the 93rd time in a series that dates back to the 1975-76 season. The Tar Heels lead the series 58-34 after winning the last seven in a row and 27 of the last 30.
• In last season's matchup in Chapel Hill, on Feb. 2, 2023, UNC won 73-62 to notch the team's eighth win in a row and move to 8-3 in ACC play. Kayla McPherson, in her first game at Carmichael, led a balanced scoring effort with 14 points in 18 minutes. Deja Kelly added 13 and Alyssa Ustby 12. UNC shot 53.1 percent from the field, a percentage that stood up throughout the season as the highest in ACC play.
• Virginia's last win in Chapel Hill came in the 2020-21 season, on Jan. 11, 2021. The Cavaliers picked up a two-point victory, 78-76.
• Virginia was the only team to beat the Tar Heels during the 1993-94 NCAA Championship season. The Cavaliers won both regular-season matchups, 77-75 in Chapel Hill on Jan. 12, 1994, and 83-74 in Charlottesville on Feb. 9, 1994. The Tar Heels finally came out on top in the ACC Tournament, beating the Cavaliers 77-60 in the final. They went on to finish the season 33-2 overall and 14-2 in ACC play.
• UVA is the first of UNC's home-and-home the Tar Heels have faced this conference season. The first four ACC games have been against teams Carolina will see just once. The others UNC will see twice are Duke, NC State and Virginia Tech, with both the Wolfpack and Hokies currently ranked in the top 11 nationally.

Trending
• Following Thursday's loss at No. 21 FSU, UNC is 2-4 this season against ranked teams. Carolina has losses to No. 1 South Carolina, No. 11 Kansas State, No. 12 UConn and the Seminoles, and wins over No. 25 Syracuse and No. 16 Notre Dame.
• After one week out of the rankings, UNC climbed back in at No. 20 in the AP poll and No. 22 in the coaches' poll. The Tar Heels were the only team in the country to beat two ranked teams during the previous week.
• Six players on the roster have at least one 20-point game in a Carolina uniform. Deja Kelly has hit 20 points on 25 occasions (four this season), Alyssa Ustby seven (two this year), and Lexi Donarski and Maria Gakdeng two each. Paulina Paris and Kayla McPherson have reached 20 points once each, both during the 2022-23 season.
• UNC's 24 points off the bench against Notre Dame marked the team's highest in ACC play, highest against a ranked team, and third highest of the season. The Tar Heel bench has outscored the opposing bench just six times this season, with three of those coming in the past three games.
• For just the second time this season (Vermont was the other), UNC trailed heading into the fourth quarter and came back to win in Sunday's game at Notre Dame. In Tallahassee Thursday, the Tar Heels were down by 21 in the third quarter and battled back to within three with 1:41 to play but fell 70-62.
• UNC outrebounded Notre Dame 47-41 to win the rebounding battle for the first time in ACC play. The Tar Heels followed that up with a 48-47 advantage at FSU.

Stats Notes
• Deja Kelly leads the ACC and ranks 17th in the nation in free throw attempts with 94.
• Lexi Donarski is second in the ACC and 33rd nationally with 41 three-pointers. She's hit 14 of those over the past four games. With an average of 3.5 threes per game in conference play, she ranks first in the league.
• Maria Gakdeng is shooting .657 from the field, a percentage that would lead the ACC if she had the required five makes per game. (She has 4.2.)
• Against No. 25 Syracuse, Alyssa Ustby became the first player in Division I history to register 15 points, 15 rebounds and 10 assists against an AP-ranked opponent. (ESPN Stats and Info)

Milestone Watch
• Deja Kelly passed the 1,500 career points mark in the Dec. 19 win over Oklahoma, becoming the 25th Tar Heel to reach that milestone. She currently has 1,554 career points, 23rd in program history.
• Kelly notched her 300th career assist in Thursday's game.
• Senior Alyssa Ustby played in her 100th career game on Thursday, and Sunday is expected to be Anya Poole's 100th. With Lexi Donarski at 111 heading into Sunday and Deja Kelly at 104, that would give the Tar Heels four players with 100 or more career games.