Carmichael Comments: Non-Conference Schedule Preview

There's an exciting sense of anticipation for the start of the 2024-25 season for the Carolina women's basketball team. On paper, the Tar Heels' 14-player roster is stacked with talent, both experienced and young, and will have Carolina poised to compete in an expanded and deep ACC come the turn of the calendar. But before the 18-game conference slate gets rolling, the Tar Heels will take on a 13-game non-league schedule.

Ten of the 13 games will take place in the state of North Carolina, with Carolina playing seven games at home, a pair in two separate venues in Greensboro, and a third straight year with an appearance in the Jumpman Invitational in Charlotte. The only three games outside the state will take place on foreign soil, at the 2024 Women's Battle4Atlantis in Paradise Island, Bahamas. It's the Tar Heels' first trip outside the United States since 2021, and seventh in the regular season in program history.

The seven games in Carmichael Arena match last season and 2019-20 for the high-water mark under Banghart and provide Tar Heel fans with numerous chances to catch the team at home prior to the holiday break.

Here's a more in-depth look at each opponent:

Nov. 4: Charleston Southern (Chapel Hill)
2023-24: 11-19, 8-8 Big South (Lost in Big South Quarterfinals vs. Presbyterian, 54-51)
Series Record: UNC leads, 11-0
Last Meeting: UNC wins, 85-54, in Chapel Hill on Nov. 15, 2019
Coach Banghart Record: UNC leads, 1-0

The 2024-25 season begins against Charleston Southern of the Big South Conference, a team steadily on the rise under Head Coach Clarisse White. White inherited the Buccaneers' program in 2021 on the heels of four straight losing seasons and posted a 2-27 mark in her first year in 2021-22. Season two saw a three-win improvement, before a larger jump to 11-19 and 8-8 in the conference last season. A narrow three-point defeat to eventual league champion Presbyterian ended the Bucs' season in the Big South Tournament. While leading scorer Kennedi Jackson (14.3 PPG) transferred to Carolina's ACC foe Boston College, the second- and third-leading scorers on the roster return in G Catherine Alben (13.9 PPG; 2^nd Team All-Big South) and G/F Madison Adamson (7.4 PPG and a team-best 8.3 RPG). The two were the only Buccaneers to start all 30 games a season ago, giving this mid-major group proven experience. CSU is poised for another jump in White's fourth season, which begins with the team's first trip to Chapel Hill since 2019.

Nov. 7: UNCW (Chapel Hill)
2023-24: 5-25, 3-15 CAA (Lost in CAA First Round vs. Northeastern, 66-60)
Series Record: UNC leads, 5-0
Last Meeting: UNC wins, 64-42, in Chapel Hill on Dec. 7, 2022
Coach Banghart Record: UNC leads, 2-0

UNCW, like Charleston Southern, is a team in program-building mode under a relatively new head coach. Nicole Woods is in her second season at the helm at UNCW, a role she stepped into after a decade on the staff at Charlotte. During that time, Woods was on staff with current Carolina assistant Joanne Aluka-White. Woods' first season in the Port City yielded only four wins against Division I foes, so the focus is on the future and overhauling the roster. Five transfers joined the Seahawks' roster for this season, most notably former Tar Heel Alexandra Zelaya. Zelaya, a 6-4 forward with an ability to stretch the floor and shoot from distance, was a fan favorite in her time as an undergraduate at Carolina, and now pursues her graduate degree at UNCW. Among UNCW returners, keep an eye on Taylor Henderson, a guard named to the CAA's All-Rookie Team in 2023-24. She averaged a team-high 14.6 PPG while also pulling in six rebounds a game.

Nov. 12: at North Carolina A&T (Greensboro, N.C.)
2023-24: 22-12, 13-5 CAA (Lost in CAA Semifinals vs. Stony Brook, 59-51; Lost in WNIT Round of 16 vs. Troy, 89-75)
Series Record: UNC leads, 3-0
Last Meeting: UNC wins, 92-47, in Chapel Hill on Nov. 9, 2021
Coach Banghart Record: UNC leads, 1-0

Head Coach Tarrell Robinson enters his 13^th season in charge of his alma mater's women's basketball team at North Carolina A&T, boasting a résumé of four conference championships and three NCAA Tournament appearances. All three of those trips came as members of the MEAC, a league A&T left after 2021, and after a very brief stopover in the Big South, the Aggies have been in the CAA over the last two years. Even with the multiple transitions in recent history, six of the last seven A&T seasons have yielded an overall winning record – one of the most consistent mid-majors in the region. Last year's Aggies won a pair of WNIT games before bowing out in the Round of 16 against Troy, capping off a season in which they finished fourth in the CAA in the regular season. G Jordyn Dorsey is projected to return after a First Team All-CAA season, where she scored a team-best 12.9 PPG. Also projected to return is C Chaniya Clark, who scored 10.1 PPG and led the team at 8.2 RPG.

Nov. 15: vs. Connecticut (Greensboro, N.C. – Greensboro Coliseum)
2023-24: 33-6, 18-0 BIG EAST (Won Big East Championship vs. Georgetown, 78-42; Lost in NCAA Final Four vs. Iowa, 71-69)
Series Record: UConn leads, 8-5
Last Meeting: UConn wins, 76-64, in Uncasville, Conn. on Dec. 10, 2023
Coach Banghart Record: UConn leads, 1-0

For the second-straight season, Carolina will clash with UConn on a neutral floor. A season ago, the Tar Heels traveled north to play UConn at Mohegan Sun Casino and Arena, a mere 30-mile drive from the Huskies' home arena. Now, it's UConn's turn to travel to an arena close by to Carolina's campus with a trip to the Greensboro Coliseum. Head Coach Geno Auriemma enters his milestone 40^th season of his legendary career in Storrs, and will possess a very talented roster for the upcoming season. ESPN ranks UConn at No. 3 in their way-too-early top 25 (Carolina comes in at No. 17), and a large reason why is the return of G Paige Bueckers. Bueckers will be in her fifth season at UConn in 2024-25, but was limited due to injury in 2021-22 and missed the entire 2022-23 campaign, so in essence, it's her third true, healthy season. Bueckers' 21.9 PPG ranked 12^th in Division I a season ago, while also ranking among the national leaders in blocks, steals, and assists, numbers strong enough to yield a unanimous First Team All-American nod and Big East Player of the Year. A variety of players hampered by injury last season – G Caroline Ducharme, G Azzi Fudd, and G/F Aubrey Griffin – are poised to return and surround Bueckers with a deeper core. G Kaitlyn Chen has transferred in as a graduate student from Princeton off a pair of First Team All-Ivy League honors. This will be a major matchup not only for Carolina, but for the women's basketball world as a whole early in the season. It's a chance at a marquee win that will carry an enormous amount of weight come March.

Nov. 23-25: Battle4Atlantis (Paradise Island, Bahamas)
Bracket to be released in the coming weeks

Nov. 29: North Carolina Central (Chapel Hill)
2023-24: 16-15, 9-5 MEAC (Lost in MEAC Semifinals vs. Howard, 69-56)
Series Record: UNC leads, 7-0
Last Meeting: UNC wins, 92-53, in Chapel Hill on Dec. 8, 2019
Coach Banghart Record: UNC leads, 1-0

North Carolina Central will visit Carmichael Arena for the first time since 2019 and will arrive off a pair of winning seasons in conference play in the MEAC. Terrence Baxter took over the Eagles' program last season on an interim basis, and engineered a pair of four-game win streaks in the team's first overall winning campaign since joining Division I in 2007-08. Two of the Eagles' three double-digit scorers last season are projected to return – F Morgan Callahan led the team at 13.4 PPG and 9.0 RPG, garnering Second Team All-MEAC recognition, and G Kayla Bryant (Third Team All-MEAC, MEAC All-Rookie Team) and her 11.2 PPG. They'll be expected to carry the load as the Eagles make a run at conference front-runner Norfolk State (more on them later). Another fun note on NCCU: Assistant Coach N'Dea Bryant will enter her third season on the Eagles' staff this season. Bryant played at Carolina from 2012-16, playing in 124 games in her Carolina career.

Dec. 5: Kentucky (Chapel Hill)
2023-24: 12-20, 4-12 SEC (Lost in SEC Second Round vs. Tennessee, 78-62)
Series Record: UNC leads, 5-1
Last Meeting: Kentucky wins, 85-75, in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands on Nov. 24, 2018
Coach Banghart Record: Kentucky leads, 1-0 (Kentucky wins over Princeton, 82-77, in NCAA First Round on Mar. 23, 2019 in Raleigh)

The second annual SEC/ACC Challenge will present the Tar Heels with a chance to host in the event for the second straight year. Kentucky provides the opposition this season in the first matchup between the two tradition-rich schools' women's basketball programs since 2018. In fact, Coach Banghart has faced Kentucky more recently than the Tar Heels, as the Wildcats were the final opponent of her Princeton coaching career in the 2019 NCAA Tournament First Round. Despite the gap between matchups between the Tar Heels and Wildcats, this game will be loaded with familiar faces. Kentucky replaced former Head Coach Kyra Elzy with a splash hire in Kenny Brooks, who took Virginia Tech to the 2023 Final Four and won the 2024 ACC regular-season championship with the Hokies. Along the way, the Hokies and Tar Heels clashed a whopping 10 times in a five-year span from 2021-2024, with many of the games coming down to the final possession or overtime. Another constant of those games has traveled west to Lexington from Blacksburg in G Georgia Amoore, who will use her final year of eligibility to run the point at Kentucky for her longtime head coach. Amoore, a Third Team All-American last year and two-time First Team All-ACC pick, averaged nearly 19 points and seven assists a game for the Hokies last season. Amoore is one of seven incoming transfers on Coach Brooks' overhauled roster. Another? Teonni Key, a three-year Tar Heel who battled injuries in her time at Carolina but enjoyed success in the Tar Heels' NCAA Tournament win over Michigan State, when she hauled in seven rebounds. With all the familiar faces joining up with a big brand, this promises to be the marquee home game of non-conference play.

Dec. 8: Coppin State (Chapel Hill)
2023-24: 12-18, 8-6 MEAC (Lost in MEAC Semifinals vs. Norfolk State, 73-44)
Series Record: UNC leads, 4-0
Last Meeting: UNC wins, 90-55, in Chapel Hill on Dec. 28, 2016
Coach Banghart Record: First Meeting

Coppin State will make its first trip from Baltimore to Chapel Hill since 2016 for a Dec. 8 matchup. The Eagles, 8-6 in MEAC play last year, will be looking to post consecutive winning seasons in conference play for the first time since a four-year run from 2011-2014. It's a sign of tangible growth early in the tenure of Jermaine Woods, who enters his third season as the Eagles' head coach in 2024-25. Woods boasts ACC experience, as he was previously an assistant at Wake Forest under Jen Hoover in the late portion of the 2010s. Coppin State had two honorees on the All-MEAC First Team last season in G Faith Blackstone, who transferred to Stephen F. Austin, and F Laila Lawrence, who will bring back her team-best 14.1 PPG and 10.4 RPG. Those numbers ranked her right at the top of conference: second in the MEAC in scoring, and first in the league in rebounding. G Angel Jones was a Second Team All-MEAC pick by scoring 10.6 PPG and shooting nearly 39% from three. Jones will also return for Woods' Eagles this season.

Dec. 11: UNCG (Chapel Hill)
2023-24: 21-12, 8-6 SoCon (Lost in SoCon Championship vs. Chattanooga, 69-60; Lost in WNIT First Round at North Carolina A&T, 56-51)
Series Record: UNC leads, 13-0
Last Meeting: UNC wins, 81-66, in Chapel Hill on Dec. 6, 2023
Coach Banghart Record: UNC leads, 2-0

UNCG will become the first non-conference team to play in Carmichael Arena in consecutive seasons since UNCW in 2017-18 and 2018-19. The Spartans went 8-for-15 from three in Carmichael last December, good enough to keep them in the game into the second half before the Tar Heels pulled away to improve to 13-0 all-time against the in-state foe from roughly 50 miles west. Weirdly enough, Head Coach Trina Patterson's team was not a great three-point shooting team last year, ranking in the bottom hundred in the country in both three-point percentage and three-pointers per game. Where they did shine was defensively, holding foes to 56.2 points per game to rank 18^th in Division I and earn the third 20-win season in Patterson's first eight years coaching the Spartans. The WNIT trip marked UNCG's second appearance in a postseason event under Patterson, and first since the 2017 Women's Basketball Invitational. To take the next step to reach the NCAA Tournament, UNCG will welcome back G Jayde Gamble, who led the team at 14.0 PPG last season and was an All-SoCon First Team selection.

Dec. 18: vs. Florida (Charlotte, N.C. – Jumpman Invitational)
2023-24: 16-16, 5-11 SEC (Lost in SEC Quarterfinals vs. Ole Miss, 84-74; Lost in WBIT First Round vs. St. John's, 79-60)
Series Record: UNC leads, 3-1
Last Meeting: Florida wins, 68-48, in Champaign, Ill. on Nov. 23, 1997
Coach Banghart Record: First Meeting

After having played Michigan and Oklahoma in the first two editions of the Jumpman Invitational in Charlotte, it's time for the Tar Heels to tangle with the Florida Gators in year three. Kelly Rae Finley embarks on year four in Gainesville as Florida's head coach, and will be looking to return the Gators to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since her debut season in 2021-22. In each of the last two campaigns, Florida has won five SEC games per season – enough to qualify for the 2023 WNIT and inaugural 2024 WBIT – but not enough to reach the main bracket. G Aliyah Matharu led the Gators in scoring last season at 19.0 PPG, second in the SEC, and will return this year. Also returning for a second season in Gainesville is G Laila Reynolds, who was an SEC All-Freshman Team selection while averaging 7.0 PPG over 31 starts in her debut season. Last year, Carolina's win over Oklahoma in this event started a wave of momentum that carried well into January – it's an important game as the final non-conference contest and against a power conference team.

Dec. 21: Norfolk State (Chapel Hill)
2023-24: 27-6, 13-1 MEAC (Won MEAC Championship vs. Howard, 51-46; Lost in NCAA First Round at Stanford, 79-50)
Series Record: First Meeting
Last Meeting: N/A
Coach Banghart Record: First Meeting

The non-conference finale occurs at Carmichael Arena for the first time since 2021, the first-ever matchup between Carolina and reigning MEAC champion Norfolk State. NSU has made three appearances in the NCAA Tournament since joining Division I in 1997, with two of the three in the last two seasons. Head Coach Larry Vickers has built his program from the ground up – a 12^th-place finish in the MEAC in his debut season in 2015-16, when he inherited the program mid-year, all the way to three straight regular-season titles. Vickers and the Spartans have run into buzzsaws each of the last two years, falling to South Carolina in 2022 in the NCAA Tournament First Round and Stanford this past March. The hunt for a three-peat in the MEAC Tournament and return to March Madness is bolstered by the return of a pair of All-MEAC First Teamers – G Diamond Johnson (20.2 PPG) and F Kierra Wheeler (17.6 PPG/9.7 RPG). That's the same Diamond Johnson who previously played at NC State and would have qualified for the MEAC scoring title had she not missed 10 games for the Spartans during the season. Instead, the scoring title went to Wheeler, who also finished second in rebounding in the MEAC behind the aforementioned Laila Lawrence of Coppin State. Norfolk State is the class of its conference and will provide a solid test to conclude the 13-game non-league slate.