Carmichael Comments: Sending Them Out

On November 25, 2020, a tiny smattering of family and friends gathered with masks on and took their socially distant seats in Carmichael Arena to see the North Carolina women's basketball team face Radford in the 2020-21 season opener. Cardboard cutouts of Tar Heel fans – young, old, even a few dogs – watched as Deja Kelly, Anya Poole, Alyssa Ustby, and Ali Zelaya made their Carolina debuts in the win over the Highlanders.

Over three calendar years, a few vaccines, and a whole lot of wins later, Carmichael Arena felt much different on Sunday. A sellout crowd gathered to see the Tar Heels host Duke in the annual home matchup against the rivals from down the street – a home game that *always* has a touch more juice when it's an even year and the Duke home game is the regular-season finale.

Many of those fans have been loyalists, supporting the Tar Heels through thick and thin for decades. But for countless others and a line of students that felt like it was long enough to snake all the way back to Cameron Indoor Stadium, being on the Carolina women's basketball bandwagon is a new phenomenon.

And the odds are favorable that those fans were brought onto the bandwagon by that quartet. The memorable plays, big shots, huge defensive stands lured in many. Others have latched on to the magnetic personalities of this senior class.

"When this class came in, my first four-year class, we were in a time of transition," Carolina head coach Courtney Banghart reflected. "Now, if you look at Carmichael, there's not a spot to be had. They've earned it."

Senior Day is special in its own right. But there's always a game to be won, too. And especially when it's Duke, there's a lot on the line. Senior Day or Senior Night games are emotional, so it's always a bit of a question whether teams might cave under pressure to have success in that environment or if they will play with a freedom and fire that leaves them seeming downright invincible. Unfortunately for the Tar Heels, they were very familiar with the latter, as Carolina saw Wake Forest give all they had two weeks prior in Winston-Salem and play one of their closer games of the year. Last Sunday in Blacksburg, Virginia Tech's sellout crowd watched now three-time ACC Player of the Year Elizabeth Kitley score 34 points in a Hokies win. Then in Chestnut Hill, Mass. on Feb. 29, Boston College hit 10 threes – five by outgoing senior JoJo Lacey – to top Carolina.

So yeah, it was Carolina's turn. A senior class would not be denied, and this time it would be the Tar Heels.

Alyssa Ustby did not have a single two-point field goal against Boston College, and just one bucket total. On Sunday against Duke, she had three two-point field goals … by the end of the first quarter. Ustby hit her third three of the season early in the game's second quarter, and by halftime she was 6-for-7 from the floor with a team-best 13 points.

"I'm just so proud of (Alyssa)," Banghart said. "She struggled some coming into the game, and I just reminded her before the game – I showed her some film of all the things she does that contribute to winning. She contributes to winning, today too."

A bucket in the third quarter where Ustby was heavily guarded by the larger Kennedy Brown, Duke's center, and Ustby faded away to somehow muscle a floater past Brown and in off the glass felt like a defining moment proving that this truly was the Tar Heels' day.

But even after Zelaya hit two threes for just the third time in her Carolina career and Ustby turned in an incredible bounce-back performance, the game was on the line late. The Tar Heels led by five with just under three minutes to go, and hadn't scored in four minutes. Enter Kelly, who sank a jumper to push the lead to seven. Soon after, Duke had the game down to two with a minute left. Kelly made her way to the elbow – her bona fide sweet spot on the floor – and hit a midrange jumper to give the Tar Heels a four-point lead. Ustby sealed the win with a block on a potential game-tying putback attempt from Brown with seven seconds left.

On Senior Day against Duke, this group would not be denied.

"They found a way," Banghart said. "They've been through a lot of adversity this year. I don't know if people understand how hard it is with this much adversity. But guess what? They found a way."

Our seniors sparkle ✨#GoHeels | #SeniorDay pic.twitter.com/rEjHTIETsj — Carolina Women's Basketball (@uncwbb) March 5, 2024

Here's what else caught my eye this week…

Barker's Emergence as Depth Piece
It's been a common storyline of late that Carolina has been playing with limited substitutes at the guard spot due to injuries to a host of players. Indya Nivar has been the only guard available off the bench who began the season on scholarship, with "began the season" being the operative phrase. Sydney Barker, who we wrote about in this column a few weeks back when she was placed on scholarship prior to the first Duke game, has responded to the trust placed in her by Banghart and the staff by seeing increased playing time.

Barker played a minute each against Pitt and NC State at home, then stepped on the floor against Boston College for a career-high nine minutes and was downright impactful. Her three-pointer with four minutes to go trimmed the Tar Heel deficit to 11. Moments later, Barker answered another BC bucket and cut the deficit to 10. Any question of her fight and hustle was erased in the final minute of the game when Barker took contact to the face and broke her nose. But with a protective mask adorning her nose, Barker returned the floor against Duke and splashed in a three in the final minute of the third quarter.

You'll sometimes hear coaches say that a freshman might not be playing like a freshman by the end of their first season in college, as the months of practice and workouts pay dividends. After all, for a former walk-on like Barker, the learning curve is steep.

"The game happens really quickly for young (players)," Banghart said. "So typically, the pace of play and the physicality of play, so young guys, unless they're really special, typically need a year in the weight room, a year of strength and speed, just to get their body to react at the speed they need it to."

But with limited guard depth, Barker has been needed for Banghart and her staff.

"(Sydney) needs the natural maturation process of a college player, but she's being thrown into the fire," Banghart said.

The only burns being suffered in that fire, though, are the floor burns from trying to make a hustle play.

Zone Talk
As the Tar Heels have weathered a changing and dwindling roster through the year, we've seen Carolina change defenses a bit more than in past seasons. Going zone enables teams to take steps to avoid foul trouble and fatigue along the way, so it can be a key item in the toolbox of coaches. Carolina's zone that we've seen for a handful of games has been a 3-2 at its core, with three players starting out in a position closer to midcourt than the baseline. As a halfcourt possession moves on, there are points where it could morph to a 2-3 as players move around, but a 3-2 at its essence.

In Sunday's game against Duke, however, we saw a zone that was bit closer to a true 2-3. The defense was effective, holding Duke to 35.5 percent from the floor, 10 percent below the Blue Devils' season average. Duke started 5-for-10 from three, then hit just three of its last 13 shots from behind the arc. Duke also turned it over 17 times, frequently seeing the Tar Heels jump passing lanes on post entry passes. Ustby and Nivar recorded four steals each, while Lexi Donarski finished with three steals.

What's remarkable is that Carolina didn't have much time to practice the tweaks in the zone, given the quick turnaround between a Thursday road game against Boston College and playing Sunday at home.

"We walked through it on Friday," Banghart explained. "This was our first chance playing it all year, but we knew what a fight this was going to be. We had to save bodies, we had to ensure rebounding. But that just shows our guys are willing to do whatever is needed and we found a way."

Practice Players Honored
Sunday was Senior Day for the Tar Heel players, but it was also a chance to thank some important pieces behind the scenes who are extremely critical for Carolina's game planning and preparation. The "practice guys," as Coach Banghart affectionately refers to them, is a group of male Carolina students who come to practice and simulate the actions and schemes of upcoming opponents. It's a way for Carolina players to prepare for what they'll see in the heat of competition and to run through the simulations at game speed, and for the practice players to continue their basketball career in a small way after high school.

The "practice guys" had their own Senior Day moment at a media timeout during the first half on Sunday, when they walked out on the court and were announced by name. It was finally a chance for a sellout crowd to recognize a group that makes their biggest impact at a time when there are no fans in Carmichael Arena, such as Saturday's practice prior to the Duke win.

"They are there every day," Banghart said. "For our zone against Duke, they know it inside and out of how to attack it so we can defend it."

After the recognition, the practice players tossed out t-shirts – subbing in for marketing staff for the t-shirt toss. Who needs a cannon? Several of the practice guys tossed the wadded-up shirts nearly to the top row. Assisting fans the way they've assisted the Tar Heels all year long.

Up Next
The postseason is here. The eighth-seeded Tar Heels will open their ACC Tournament journey with a second-round matchup against ninth-seeded Miami on Thursday at 1:30 p.m. in the Greensboro Coliseum. It's just the third time that Carolina and Miami have played in an ACC Tournament, clashing in the 2011 ACC Semifinals and 2005 ACC Quarterfinals, both Tar Heel wins. Carolina won the regular season meeting between the two teams, a 66-61 victory in January at Carmichael Arena in which the Tar Heels controlled the first and third quarters and withstood a Miami run in the fourth.

Radio coverage of Thursday's game begins at 1:00 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.

The winner of that game will play top-seeded Virginia Tech on Friday at 1:30 p.m. in the quarterfinals, which would be Carolina's 11th matchup with the Hokies over the last four seasons and third this season. The teams most recently met in the ACC Tournament in 2022 in a Virginia Tech win in the quarterfinals. Radio coverage for Friday would work the same as Thursday, with a 1:00 p.m. airtime on the same THSN outlets.

Saturday's semifinal would tip at Noon with an 11:30 a.m. airtime, while Sunday's championship is a 1:00 p.m. tip and 12:30 p.m. radio airtime.

To get yourself ready, listen in to Holding Court! Catch the show on the Tar Heel Voices Podcast Channel or on Wednesday night, Mar. 6, at 7:00 p.m. on WCHL 97.9 FM/1360 AM.

That's all for now. Go Heels!

-Matt

The Tar Heels celebrated Senior Day in a Carmichael Arena that looked very different from the way it did in the fall of 2020.

Photo by: Jerome M. Ibrahim

March 6, 2024 | Women's Basketball