ACC Preview: North Carolina Tarheels

Preview:  North Carolina Tarheels

WBB Website

Last Season:   20-13 and 11 –7 in league play

Jan 31 Update:

The 15th ranked 19-3 North Carolina Tarheels present a major challenge, and opportunity to our young team.  UNC is 7-1 in the conference and is coming off a 65-52 win over #19 Cal, outscoring the Bears 18-7 in the 4th quarter.  Their only losses have been to #3 Notre Dame, #6 UConn and #20 Georgia Tech.  

UNC is an extremely tough defensive team giving up only 54.7 ppg while averaging 73.3 ppg.  They average 12.7 turnovers per game while opponents turn it over 18.5 times per game.  One of their top defenders and starting point guard is Indya Nivar who played for Stanford last season before transferring.

They have very balanced scoring with their top 5 scorers averaging between 8.4 and 11.4 ppg.  Their leading rebounder, and scorer, is 6'1" Alyssa Ustby averaging 9.4 rebounds per game.  Click on the stats below to enlarge:

  

The Coaches:  

Courtney Banghart is the Head Coach entering her 6^th season at North Carolina after 12 years as Head Coach at Princeton.

Joanne Aluka-White is in her 6^th season.

Adrian Walters is in his 5^th season.

Cory McNeill is in his first season.  

Katherine Bixby is in her first season.  

 

Losses:  

Paulina Paris who averaged 6 ppg.

Deja Kelly who averaged 16 ppg and transferred to Oregon.

Seven others transferred out and they combined for 11 ppg.  

 

Additions: 

Lanie Grant, 5-10 Frosh Guard.  Ranked # 59.

Grace Townsend, 5-5 Grad Student Guard a transfer from Richmond

Jordan Zubich, 5-11 Frosh Guard.  Ranked # 69. 

Lexi Donarski, 6-0 Grad Student Wing a transfer from Iowa State.  Last season at Iowa State Lexi averaged 10 ppg and made 74 threes at 34%.

Blanca Thomas, 6-5 Frosh Post.  Ranked # 32.

 

Schedule:

UConn, Kentucky and Florida highlight the non conference schedule. 

 

The Team:  

Alyssa Ustby, 6-1 Grad Student Forward who averaged 12 points and 9 rebounds. 

Laila Hull, 6-1 Redshirt Frosh Wing who sat out last year recovering from a HS injury.  Hull was the Indiana Gatorade Player of the Year.  Her Dad is the Head Football Coach at Delaware State.

Maria Gakdeng, 6-3 Sr Post who averaged  9 points and 6 rebounds.  

Reniya Kelly, 5-7 Soph Guard who averaged 4 ppg.

Kayla McPherson, 5-8 Redshirt JR Guard who has hardly played due to injuries.  However in one game in November last season she was 4 of 7 from Three. 

Trayanna Crisp, 5-8 JR Guard a transfer from ASU

Sydney Barker, 5-7 Soph Guard who entered as a Walk on now on scholarships.  Played little last season.

Ciera Toomey, 6-4 Redshirt Frosh Post who was out last season recovering from a HS injury.  

Indya Nivar, 5-10 Jr Guard who averaged 6 points and 4 rebounds.  As a Frosh at Stanford Nivar averaged 3 ppg.  

 

Prediction:

Preseason rank # 17.    I don’t get why so high, but we shall see.  To me they lost a lot .   I’ve been wrong before.  

 

2025 Recruiting:  

Nyla Brooks, 6-2 Wing from VA, ranked # 17.

Tailyah Hendersen, 6-1 Wing from AZ, ranked # 21.

Taissa Queiroz, 5-11 Wing from CA, ranked # 76.