Carmichael Comments: Total Team Win

If you had any fingernails left, congratulations.

Yet again, the Carolina women's basketball team was locked in a tight battle in an ACC game, as has been the case in essentially every league contest so far. Sure, Carolina has held the upper hand in the heavy majority of those games – the team being "chased" rather than trying to make the comeback – but nail-biters, nonetheless.

With a minute to play in the game against No. 13 Louisville, Carolina and the Cardinals were trading buckets. Louisville had hit four of its last five shots to prevent Carolina from registering a knockout punch to put the game away. After a missed free throw and a foul from Louisville, Carolina inbounded the ball to Deja Kelly in the backcourt. She evaded two Cardinals defenders while simultaneously lobbing a pass to a moving Indya Nivar along the left sideline. Nivar, like a National Champion Tar Heel field hockey player executing a one-time pass, instantly pushed the ball ahead to Lexi Donarski. Donarski found Alyssa Ustby behind the pressure at the free throw line with a perfect chest pass. Anya Poole was the last piece of the puzzle, awaiting a perfect bounce feed from Ustby under the bucket for a game-clinching layup.

All five players touched the ball. If only four had, maybe Louisville earns a stop and has a chance. But instead, selflessness ruled the day and the Tar Heels capped off their third win over an AP Top 25-ranked foe in January alone, and a win that put Carolina into a tie for first place in the ACC.

"We knew it was going to be a rockfight," Carolina head coach Courtney Banghart said. "The fourth quarter, I said, 'you've got to fight, and you've got to finish possessions,' and they did a good job."

The crisp passing and possession finishing was on full display not only in the aforementioned layup in the final minute, but often in a game in which the Tar Heels shot 49 percent and grabbed offensive rebounds on nearly half (13 of 29) of their misses. No player shot more than 12 field goal attempts, with four players trying between nine and 12, and six players trying between six and 12. Talk about balance and selflessness.

With the exception of a few stretches, Carolina was just as effective defensively. Louisville was able to build a lead out of halftime and keep it at three with 6:06 to go in the third quarter. From there, though, Carolina's trademark defense took over and held the Cardinals the final six minutes and change of the period without a field goal.
"We started squeezing the lanes a bit," Banghart explained. "They were starting to go down the lane too easily. Indya and Alyssa started to read what they were doing and could poke away some steals."

Some steals meaning four in the final 4:40 of the third quarter alone, two each for Ustby and Nivar.

"We just competed, we understood the scout to a T," Banghart explained.

That preparation began with the affectionately known "practice guys," the group of male students who simulate Carolina opponents in practice.

"On Friday, we had our guys come, and we were like 'uh-uh, don't let us move it an inch'," Banghart said. "I wanted to saturate (the players) with what they were going to feel and see. I was running actions where they were going to have to move the ball east and west, and they saw how hard it was."

Practice continued with the team seeing how hard lateral ball movement would be against a Louisville press. Then, Banghart asked her team how to move the ball instead, and they collectively realized the advantages of moving "north-south," or up and down the court, in that situation.

In a way, it's fitting that it was Poole who finished the layup in the waning seconds. A two-year starter who is now coming off the bench, the veteran team leader has been living proof of a selfless, team-first player. Poole's high basketball IQ and experience have proven critical in several recent fourth quarters, even while sharing time with Maria Gakdeng at her "5" spot in the rotation.

"Just a total team win," an overjoyed head coach remarked after giving a thumbs up to her practice players in the stands. "It was a battle."

Here's what else caught my eye this week…

Kelly's Free Throw Success
Carolina opponents have been trying to make Deja Kelly uncomfortable recently. How so? By being more physical at the point of screens when the ball is in Kelly's hands, hoping her shot or passing ability is thrown off. There's a downside to physicality, of course – being prone to fouls.

In two games this week against Georgia Tech and Louisville, Kelly shot a whopping 28 free throws, and hit 24 of them. That's an 85.7 percent success rate, much more on par with Kelly's previous seasons than the rough patch she went through around the turn of the calendar, when she was just 11-for-24 over four games from Dec. 19-Jan. 7.

Kelly's 10 free throws at Georgia Tech helped put away what turned into a possession game down the stretch. Especially on the road, good teams make free throws. Deja did.
Sunday against Louisville? Similar story, with 14 makes on 16 attempts to set a record for most free throws made by a Tar Heel under Banghart. Embracing the physicality of the game and earning trips to the line – then successfully hitting the shots – has made Kelly an enormous problem for ACC foes of late.

"She just inspires confidence," Banghart said. "She's tough. She's just a physical, tough, relentless winner."

Peachy Win to Snap a Streak
Carolina's win at Georgia Tech on Thursday, 73-68, was the Tar Heels' first regulation win at Georgia Tech's McCamish Pavilion since 2013. Now, as Coach Banghart made sure to point out on her radio show this week when I made mention of ridding the streak, Carolina does only play in Atlanta every other year – so a decade's worth of games is only five. Throw in a Princeton loss when Banghart was the Tigers' head coach, and it's enough of a trend. So, being able to win in front of a sizable group of Tar Heel fans in Atlanta was especially meaningful.

"It's hard to win on the road, and at Georgia Tech especially," Banghart said. "That's been place that's been a challenge for both me and this program, so just huge any time you can get one of those."

Major Key Alert
A spark in Thursday's win over the Yellow Jackets was the play of Teonni Key, who registered her first 10-point game in ACC play and was 5-for-6 from the floor. Key showed range out to nearly the three-point arc on her jumper and made a critical coast-to-coast transition layup in the win, where she also pulled down five rebounds.

It was a long-awaited big game against a strong opponent for Key, who missed the first 10 games of this season with injury and previously missed the first 34 games of her career with a separate injury, taking a redshirt year in 2021-22.

"She's still relatively young in her career," Banghart said of the redshirt sophomore who has been in uniform for just 40 games while missing 44. "As much as I want her to be great now, she took care of her body and got herself strong enough, she's got her competitive mindset in place, and the game's slowing down."

Here's hoping more big performances are in store for Key.

Up Next
Carolina will remain at home this week for a Thursday night tilt against the Miami Hurricanes. Miami, who knocked off No. 4 NC State at home last Thursday, is just 2-4 in the ACC, but was ranked earlier this the season for a reason. Carolina will be looking for its third home win in the last four games against the Hurricanes after an 85-38 thrashing in 2022, but Miami has won seven of the last nine overall since 2016. Thursday's game, a chance at the first 5-0 ACC home start since 2013, tips at 8:00 p.m. in Carmichael Arena. We'll be on the air on the Tar Heel Sports Network at 7:30 p.m. with the Reeds Jewelers Pregame Show. As always, hear the broadcast worldwide for free on the Varsity Network App from Learfield, GoHeels.com, or the GoHeels app. The game will air locally in the Triangle on 97.9 FM/1360 AM WCHL, the flagship station of Carolina women's basketball.

Then on Sunday, the second meeting in 15 days takes place for the Tar Heels and Virginia Cavaliers, this time in Charlottesville. Virginia has taken a massive step forward since Carolina's 81-68 win over the 'Hoos on Jan. 14, as the continued ascent of the Virginia program under Amaka Agugua-Hamilton finally resulted in a marquee win. The Cavaliers earned their first ACC road win since February 2020 and first win over a ranked team on the road since 2011 (yes, 2011 – against No. 11 Maryland) when they beat No. 15 Florida State, 91-87, on Sunday in Tallahassee. Virginia scored a whopping 52 second-half points in earning the win, their first in the ACC this year. Sunday's chance for the Tar Heels to sweep Virginia for a fourth straight season (the teams did not play in 2021 due to Virginia opting out of the season) tips off at noon at John Paul Jones Arena. Basketball brunch with the Reeds Jewelers Pregame Show begins at 11:30 a.m. As always, hear the broadcast worldwide for free on the Varsity Network App from Learfield, GoHeels.com, or the GoHeels app. The game will air locally in the Triangle on 97.9 FM/1360 AM WCHL, the flagship station of Carolina women's basketball.

Additionally, the next Holding Court with Courtney Banghart tapes on Tuesday, Jan. 30 at Noon at the Sheraton Chapel Hill. As a reminder, the show is open to the public, and we hope to see you there! If you can't make it, catch the show on the Tar Heel Voices Podcast Channel or on Wednesday night, Jan. 31, at 7:00 p.m. on WCHL 97.9 FM/1360 AM.

That's all for now. Go Heels!

-Matt

A breakout game for Teonni Key was one of many high points for UNC last week.

Photo by: AINSLEY E. FAUTH

January 24, 2024 | Women's Basketball