No. 20 WBB Hosts Miami Thursday Night

Thursday, January 25

Chapel Hill

8 PM

North Carolina

Miami

Buy Tickets

Lexi Donarski and the Tar Heels are back in action Thursday, hosting Miami.

Photo by: AINSLEY E. FAUTH

January 25, 2024 | Women's Basketball

Gameday Guide Tickets Game Notes

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – The No. 20 UNC women's basketball team plays the second of back-to-back home games on Thursday night, hosting Miami at Carmichael Arena for an 8 p.m. tipoff.

The Tar Heels (14-5, 6-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) are looking for a fourth-consecutive win before hitting the road for their next two. In their most recent outing, they beat No. 13 Louisville at home on Sunday.

Miami comes into the game at 12-5 overall and 2-4 in ACC play. The Hurricanes are coming off a homecourt win over then-No. 4 NC State last Thursday and have been idle since then. Miami is receiving votes in both national polls.

Thursday's game is Jers-Day and fans are encouraged to wear their favorite jerseys The first 500 UNC students will get free UNC belt bags and will be entered in drawings to win UNC basketball jerseys and a pair of Jordans.

The game is First Responders Night, presented by SERVPro of Chapel Hill.

Heels vs. Hurricanes
The Tar Heels and Hurricanes are meeting for the 29th time in a series that dates back to the 1980-81 season. Carolina leads the series 15-13, but the Hurricanes have won three of the last four and nine of the past 13 meetings.
• Miami came out on top in last year's matchup, 62-58 in Coral Gables on Jan. 5, 2023. After trailing through most of the game, the Tar Heels got within one with 49 seconds to play, but Miami scored the final three points to hang onto the win. Deja Kelly played all 40 minutes and led UNC with 19 points, including the 1,000th point of her career. The loss was the fourth in a row for the Tar Heels, who fell to 0-3 in ACC play. (They would knock off No. 4 Notre Dame in the following game and win the next eight in a row.)
• UNC won the last matchup in Chapel Hill, 85-38 on Feb. 6, 2022. The 47-point margin of victory was Carolina's largest in ACC play since the 2006-07 season. Deja Kelly scored a team-high 18 points, including four three-pointers in a row late in the second quarter.
UNC was 20-21 from the foul line and won the rebounding battle 53-34.
• North Carolina and Miami lead the ACC in defense, UNC giving up 59.1 points per game and UM allowing a league-low 57.9 ppg.
• In conference games only, the two top the list in field goal percentage defense, with Carolina leading the league at .368 and Miami second at .378. The two are also adjacent, yet at the bottom of the league standings, when it comes to free throw shooting: UNC is 14th at .659 and Miami is 15th at .618.

Next up
After two at home, UNC plays its next two on the road. On Sunday, the Tar Heels travel to take on Virginia for the second time in 2024. Next Thursday, Carolina makes the short trip to Raleigh to face NC State for the first of this season's two matchups.

Trending
• UNC is 3-4 this season against ranked teams. Carolina has losses to No. 1 South Carolina (H), No. 11 Kansas State (N), No. 12 UConn (N, trending H), and No. 21 FSU (A), and wins over No. 25 Syracuse (H), No. 16 Notre Dame (A) and No. 13 Louisville (H).
• UNC's 24-point margin of victory against Syracuse was the team's largest against a ranked team since the Tar Heels beat then No. 18-Syracuse by 24 in the 2020-21 season. The last time UNC had a larger margin against a ranked team was a 34-point win over UCLA in 2014-15.
• UNC shot 50 percent from the field against the Orange, marking the fourth time this season the Tar Heels have been at 50.0 or better from the floor. It was the sixth game in a row that Carolina had shot 41 percent or better, dating back to a 31.3 percent shooting night in the loss to No. 1 South Carolina. Carolina shot 38.7 at Notre Dame and 35.1 at FSU then has been at 45 percent or better for the past three.
• 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 for the week of Jan. 8. The Tar Heels were the only team in the country to beat two ranked teams during the previous week. UNC is now No. 20 AP/No. 21 coaches.
• Six players on the roster have at least one 20-point game in a Carolina uniform. Deja Kelly has hit 20 points on 28 occasions (seven this season, including the past four games in a row), 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 ACC play (Syracuse, Notre Dame, FSU).
• For just the second time this season (Vermont was the other), UNC trailed heading into the fourth quarter and came back to win in the Jan. 7 game at Notre Dame. In Tallahassee on Jan. 11, 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, a 44-39 advantage over UVa, a 32-30 margin over Georgia Tech and a 42-38 margin against Louisville. UNC holds a +3.6 rebounding advantage in ACC play, which ranks fourth in the league.
• The win over Louisville marked the first time in ACC play and the sixth time this season that four or more Tar Heels have scored in double figures (Deja Kelly 23, Lexi Donarski 13, Alyssa Ustby 10, Indya Nivar 10). Reniya Kelly finished with a career-best nine and Maria Gakdeng with eight.

Stats Notes
• Deja Kelly leads the ACC and ranks third in the nation in free throw attempts with 130. She is 31-36 from the line over the last two games (7-8 vs UVa, 10-12 vs Ga Tech, 14-16 vs Louisville).
• Maria Gakdeng is shooting .655 from the field, a percentage that would comfortably lead the ACC if she had the required five makes per game to be ranked. (She has 4.1.)
• 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)
• Against Virginia, Deja Kelly became the first Tar Heel since at least 2009, the furthest back the stats track, with 25 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists and only 1 turnover. (HerHoopStats)

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 1,631 career points, 18th in program history.
• After Anya Poole played in her 100th career game on Jan. 14 vs. Virginia, the Tar Heels have four players on the roster with 100 or more career games. (Deja Kelly, Lexi Donarski, Alyssa Ustby and Poole.)