Carmichael Comments: Finding A Way

Carmichael Comments: Finding A Way
Vol. 7, No. 14
By: Matt Krause (@MattKrausePxP)

The perfect road record is still intact. The Carolina Women's Basketball team stepped on an airplane for the final time in the regular season last week, heading out to Syracuse and to Louisville for two late-season road games. Despite missing players and an early Sunday deficit, Carolina earned two more wins. Here's some notes and nuggets on the week that was:

Carolina erased a deficit of at least five points after the third quarter for the first time since beating Vermont 54-51 at the 2023 Gulf Coast Showcase on Nov. 24, 2023 despite trailing by nine, 39-30, after the third. It's the first time Carolina has completed such a comeback against an ACC team since trailing Virginia by nine, 51-42, on Jan. 12, 2023 in Charlottesville, and winning 70-59.

Louisville led 55-50 after three quarters on Sunday – which was far from the Cardinals' most dominant stretch of control in the game. In fact, they led by 12 on a couple of occasions in the first half. Still, Carolina Head Coach Courtney Banghart was satisfied with her team's aggression, especially since the end of the first quarter, and it was starting to pay off. After shooting 34.5% from the floor in the first half, Carolina shot 68% in the second 20 minutes, nearly double the offensive efficiency from the game's start.
Three-pointers? Check. The Heels were four for five there. Getting to the rim? Also, check.

And on the defensive end, Carolina got just enough stops to flip the momentum of the game after seemingly trailing for somewhere between four and eight points for an eternity. Without no Alyssa Ustby, and having Maria Gakdeng foul out, the Tar Heels needed key players to step up. We'll talk more about a few in a bit, but Blanca Thomas' key deflection and forcing a held ball in the final minute is a perfect example of hustle that doesn't appear in a box score.

"Toughness. Together," Banghart said when asked how her team made the comeback. "We were really undermanned. I can't say enough about the toughness and togetherness of my group."

Despite trailing for over 36 minutes, the Tar Heels held the lead when time expired.

Lanie Grant scored a career-high 19 points at Louisville, matching her career highs with five made field goals and three made threes. Grant played a career-high 35 minutes. Grant's 19 points are the most for a Tar Heel freshman since Reniya Kelly scored 20 at Virginia on Jan. 28, 2024.

If you're reading this, you probably know that Lanie Grant is 17 years old and should be a senior in high school right now. If you didn't, now you know. And with the jump from a junior year of high school to a freshman of year of college – in the ACC – comes a steep learning curve.

Grant had seemed to find a scoring groove in late January, ripping off four straight double-figure scoring games. A mini-drought followed with nine total points in three games to start February – when the season entered its fourth month, longer than any high school season. Grant was impactful with nine points off the bench after Alyssa Ustby went out against NC State, but had just two points in 15 minutes at Syracuse. A conversation with Banghart followed.

"In the last game out, she wasn't very aggressive," Banghart explained.

The good news, though, is Grant's eagerness to improve makes her coachable.

"She's a work in progress, you can tell her exactly how it is. I told her she's got to be more aggressive for us, and she certainly was," Grant's coach said.

Message received. Grant exploded for 19 points on Sunday, four coming on a four-point play when Grant drained a left-wing three, took a foul, and canned the free throw.

"She's made for these moments, and I'm glad she's a Tar Heel," Banghart beamed.

Trayanna Crisp scored a season (and Tar Heel career) high 19 points at Louisville while hitting a season-high seven field goals.

If there's any silver lining to the timing of Alyssa Ustby's injury, it's that Carolina did see Trayanna Crisp return from missing nine games when she stepped on the floor against NC State. The return game saw Crisp scoreless in 11 minutes, but the pair of games this week were a perfect summation of why Carolina brought in the Arizona native from the portal this past spring. Crisp had 12 points off the bench at Syracuse, and followed it up by tying for the team lead against Louisville with 19. The performance evoked memories of when Crisp scored 15 points on five threes in the Tar Heels' emphatic win over Indiana in the Battle 4 Atlantis championship game in November.

Banghart points to, first and foremost, Crisp herself for the effort to remain ready even when rehabbing, and also the talented sport performance specialists guiding the process.

"She had to miss some time, and stayed in shape and got herself healthy," Banghart said. "I give a lot of credit to our sport performance team because having her back has been a huge lift for us."

Carolina owns back-to-back wins over the Louisville Cardinals for the first time in the ACC era and won at the KFC Yum! Center for the first time ever.

When the calendar turned to 2024, Carolina Women's Basketball had still yet to win an ACC game at three venues that became part of the league rotation in the mid 2010s – Notre Dame, Syracuse, and Louisville. The recent success of the programs and the fact that Carolina only visits the more far-flung ACC venues every other year certainly plays a role in that fact, but it also shows how hard winning on the road against good teams is.

Last January, Carolina knocked off Notre Dame in South Bend for the first time. Along the way, the ACC added three new road venues to check off. No matter, the Tar Heels won at SMU, California, and Stanford too.

Which takes us to this week, when Carolina won its first game at Syracuse in league action (there was a non-conference win at the now-JMA Wireless Dome in 2000), and ventured to the KFC Yum! Center. Louisville is always one of the toughest trips in the ACC due to a large and passionate fanbase – 11,280 turned out on Sunday – and a team that is always an NCAA Tournament and ACC contender. When Carolina pulled off the 79-75 win, Banghart understood the significance because of the caliber of teams that had just played.

"(Jeff Walz) is a really good coach, and he's got a really good team," Banghart said. "This is a hard place to win – I've never won here and not many people have. It's just a huge win for our team."

Carolina improves to 8-0 in ACC road games for the first time in program history. Carolina is 9-0 in true road games for just the second time in program history and first time since 2005-06. Carolina is the only team in the nation without a true road loss this season following Notre Dame's loss at NC State and Carolina's win.

It's almost burying the lede to save the significance of the road streak for last. As fans who watched Sunday's game on ESPN know, NC State beat Notre Dame in Raleigh on Sunday in the game that preceded Carolina and Louisville, meaning that every Division I team in America, except for the Tar Heels, owns a road loss.

Thanks in part to the ACC schedule expanding over the years, Carolina is 8-for-8 in ACC road games for the first time ever. There have been two previous seasons (2007-08 and 2005-06) in which Carolina got to 7-0 in ACC road games, but didn't have another chance since the league slate was only 14 games – seven home, seven away.

Overall, Carolina has won 12 straight games away from Carmichael Arena, including the wins at the Battle 4 Atlantis and Jumpman Invitational. That hasn't been done since 2005-06, when the Tar Heels won their first 19 games away from home before falling in the Final Four to Maryland.

This year's team is truly in rare air when it comes to winning any time, any place.

Up Next

Just two games remain in the regular season, including the only rematch of the regular year: a showdown with archrival No. 16 Duke. Carolina will be playing for a perfect true road record at 9-0 in the ACC and 10-0 overall. Should the Tar Heels own the win, they'll complete ACC play unbeaten on the road for just the third time in program history, joining 2007-08 and 2005-06. Plus, it's a chance to sweep Duke for the third time in the last four regular seasons. The game starts at 7:00 p.m. from Cameron Indoor Stadium, with our THSN coverage commencing at 6:30 p.m. with 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.

Then on Sunday, Carolina will welcome in Virginia for the only meeting of the season between the two neighboring state flagship institutions. Carolina has won 16 straight home games at Virginia, a streak that dates back to January 2001. The Tar Heels will aim to send their seniors out with a Senior Day win against the Cavaliers in a game that tips at 2:00 p.m. Our Tar Heel Sports Network coverage begins at 1:30 p.m. with 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. We'll tape again next Monday, Mar. 3, at Noon at the Sheraton Chapel Hill.

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