Carmichael Comments: Defense Travels

Carmichael Comments: Defense Travels
Vol. 7, No. 9
By: Matt Krause (@MattKrausePxP)

The Tar Heels ventured out on the road twice last week to face SMU and Pitt, a pair of plane trips against teams below Carolina in the ACC standings. As championship contenders do, the Tar Heels approached the games with a businesslike mentality, and earned two double-figure victories. Here's five nuggets from the box scores that told story of the week that was:

Carolina held SMU to 33 points, the second-fewest in a game for any ACC opponent in program history. It's only topped by 31 points allowed to Georgia Tech on Jan. 18, 2007.

The common thread of the week for Carolina was playing two teams involved in one of the wildest games in the history of women's college basketball: Pitt's 72-59 win over SMU on Sunday, Jan. 13, when the Panthers trailed by 32 late in the second quarter, outscored SMU 28-0 in the third, and held the Mustangs to two total field goals in the second half en route to completing the largest regulation comeback in the history of the sport at the Division I level.

"The mind is a powerful thing," Carolina Assistant Coach Katherine Bixby said on our pregame scouting report conversation on the Tar Heel Sports Network on Thursday night in Dallas. "You could see in the second half, when the shots weren't falling anymore, you could see some tightness in (SMU's) body language. That's where the mind starts to take over, and you second guess a little bit, and the flow disappears."

Bixby, as the designated scouting assistant coach for SMU (all five assistants rotate who handles scouting duties for a given game), watched that game intently. Now, this is Carmichael Comments, and not Moody Musings, so it's a Carolina-focused column, and not SMU-centric. But it's not hard to see that a team struggling with confidence after a historic loss, going up against the ACC's top defense, would be a tough matchup for SMU.

Carolina ensured the Mustangs would not find that confidence and flow on Thursday. The Tar Heels conceded just 12 field goals (tied for the fewest allowed to any opponent this season), and forced 21 turnovers. SMU's leading scorer Nya Robertson, who had scored 20+ points in four straight games, was just 1-for-19 from the floor and finished with five points. For Carolina Head Coach Courtney Banghart and her team, the concept of playing team defense was hammered home with a phrase that would lead one to forget that Carolina won the Battle 4 Atlantis earlier this year.
"One of our keys going in was 'no islands,'" Banghart explained. "(SMU is) a really good 1-v-1 team, and when they get going, they're hard to stop. Most of those 33 were contested."

Carolina's 51 rebounds against SMU were the Tar Heels' most against an ACC opponent since grabbing 51 against Duke on Feb. 27, 2022.

Part of the reason why Carolina trailed underdog Boston College at halftime on Jan. 13, and the Eagles were able to hang around with the ranked and favored Tar Heels, was the fact that BC controlled the rebounding advantage, 40-28. It was the third time in a four-game span that Carolina had been outrebounded, despite winning two of those games. There are many, many factors that determine who wins and loses a basketball game, but rebounding is a great place to start. Under Banghart, Carolina is 79-21 when winning the boards, and 29-37 when losing them.
SMU came into Thursday's game as a top 15 rebounding team in the nation, both in total rebounds and offensive rebounds, something Banghart pointed out to her team and to the Tar Heel Sports Network audience.

"There's an urgency that has to happen," she explained. "(SMU is) rebounding with their guards, so our guards need to be impactful on the glass."

Mission accomplished. Carolina won rebounds 51-45 on Thursday, and followed that up with a 49-36 rebound advantage on Sunday at Pitt. 100 rebounds are the most for the Tar Heels in a two-game ACC stretch since Dec. 2021 into Jan. 2022 against Syracuse and Clemson, respectively. On Thursday, Reniya Kelly set a career high with six rebounds, and Lanie Grant set a career high Sunday with five, showcasing growth in the guard rebounding effort.

Alyssa Ustby recorded her 46th career double-double with 12 points and 18 rebounds at SMU, her 53rd career game with 10+ rebounds. The 18 rebounds match a career high with the Jan. 15, 2023 game against NC State at Carmichael Arena, and are the most rebounds in a game for any ACC player in a conference game this season. Ustby's 16 defensive rebounds mark the most for any individual Tar Heel in the Banghart era.

Speaking of rebounding, Alyssa Ustby had an enormous impact on Thursday at SMU. Ustby matched a career high with her 18 rebounds, 16 of them on the defensive end. Her work there was a critical reason why SMU posted a mere four second chance points in Carolina's 31-point win. Also critical: Ustby did all this without committing a foul, even when occasionally defending the dynamic Nya Robertson.

"I was nervous to take her out, because we were able to rebound the ball so well with her in," Banghart said. "That kid just contributes to winning. We knew rebounding was going to be one of our primary focal points, and guarding (Nya Robertson), and she switched out and guarded."

Carolina's 13 made three-pointers at Pitt are the Tar Heels' most in an ACC game under Banghart and since hitting 14 on Jan. 31, 2019 against Georgia Tech.

"Shoot until you're hot, and when you're hot, keep shooting."

That's a mantra that Banghart lives by – since her days as Dartmouth's all-time leader in three-pointers made.

This week, it's applied to Lexi Donarski. Donarski went 5-for-6 from three at SMU, and added five more of Carolina's 13 made threes at Pitt for the first back-to-back games in her entire career with five or more made threes. Lanie Grant and Indya Nivar also connected on multiple three-point attempts at Pitt, a result made possible by, according to Banghart, the offensive threat of Maria Gakdeng inside.

"(Pitt was) giving a lot of attention to Maria, which opened things up," Banghart analyzed. "When we were able to get into the gut of the defense, they really collapsed because of our athleticism and size in the interior. When the ball moved, we got great shots."

Maria Gakdeng set a season high with 14 rebounds at Pitt, the most in a game in her Tar Heel career. It was the eighth time in Gakdeng's two seasons at Carolina that she has posted 10+ rebounds. Gakdeng also matched her season high with three blocks.

Speaking of Gakdeng, she had her own big day on the glass against Pitt, collecting the most rebounds of her Carolina career. Part of the reason for Gakdeng's productive day was Pitt's propensity to feed the post, where potential All-ACC center Khadija Faye was averaging nearly 21 points per game in league play prior to Sunday's game. Faye, a graduate transfer from Texas originally from Senegal, was held below that average at 17 points and was 6-for-14 from the floor – with nearly all of those shots coming as layup attempts under the bucket. The one-on-one matchup for the duo was worth the price of admission, and reason to tune in. In Banghart's eyes, Gakdeng's effort showcased her future potential.

"I saw two pros," Carolina's head coach said of Gakdeng and Faye. "A great matchup, and we got the better end of it, which is great."

Up Next
Carolina will savor the comfort of their own beds and familiar routines for the week, playing at home twice. Up first, it's a classic Tobacco Road duel against Wake Forest on Thursday night at 7:00 p.m. at Carmichael Arena. A win would give the Tar Heels an 18-3 record, their best 21-game start in the Banghart era, surpassing the 17-4 mark of the 2021-22 Sweet 16 team. Our THSN coverage begins 30 minutes prior to tip with the Reeds Jewelers Pregame Show at 6:30 p.m. Catch the call worldwide for free on the Varsity Network app from Learfield, GoHeels.com, or the GoHeels app, as well as on WCHL 97.9 FM/1360 AM.

Then on Sunday, it's basketball brunch time with a Noon tipoff against Florida State. The Seminoles have had Carolina's number in recent years, with the Tar Heels searching for their first home win over FSU since 2015. Achieve it, and it's another meaningful résumé-boosting win along the lines of Duke and Kentucky. We'll be with you at 11:30 a.m. for the Reeds Jewelers Pregame Show. Catch the call worldwide for free on the Varsity Network app from Learfield, GoHeels.com, or the GoHeels app, as well as on WCHL 97.9 FM/1360 AM.

If you missed it, this week's edition of Holding Court is available now on the Tar Heel Voices Podcast Channel, and will air on WCHL at 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 22. We'll tape again next Monday, Jan. 27, at the Sheraton Chapel Hill at Noon.

That's all for now. Go Heels!
-Matt