UNC women move up in AP poll, No. 18 in coaches poll

By R.L. Bynum

North Carolina’s women’s basketball team, off to its best start in 11 years, moved up one slot to No. 24 in the latest AP Top 25 poll released Monday afternoon.

The Tar Heels (11–0) are one of five remaining unbeaten teams in the country out of 356 teams, along with No. 1 South Carolina (12–0), Nebraska (12–0), Arizona (10–0) and Colorado (11–0). It’s the longest unbeaten streak since the Tar Heels won their first 14 games in the 2010–11 season.

Carolina moved up two spots to No. 18 in the latest coaches poll, which was released Tuesday.

It’s not the best start of Coach Courtney Banghart’s career. She was USWBA national coach of the year after her 2014–15 Princeton team won its first 31 games.

The only teams in the 10 slots ahead of Carolina in the previous poll to lose last week were then-No. 18 (now No. 22) South Florida, which fell 61–53 to unranked Mississippi, and then-No. 15 Iowa (now No. 21), which lost 74–73 to unranked IUPUI.

Carolina swapped spots with Ohio State (9–2), which beat San Diego State 66–54 in its only game last week. The Tar Heels, who rolled to an 83–47 home win over Alabama State in their only game last week, have one more poll point after the Buckeyes had two more poll points in the previous poll.

Other ACC teams in the poll are No. 3 Louisville, No. 5 N.C. State, No. 15 Duke, No. 16 Georgia Tech and No. 17 Notre Dame.

Ranking the Tar Heels the highest at No. 16 is broadcaster and former N.C. State player Debbie Antonelli.

Mitchell Northam of WUNC, the only North Carolina-based voter, has State No. 5, Duke No. 14 and Carolina No. 18. Kelly Gramlich of ACC Network has State No. 4, Duke No. 17 and UNC No. 20.

Carolina leads the country in scoring margin, winning by an average margin of 33.2 points.

UNC leads the ACC in scoring offense (fifth in the country, 83.6 points per game), rebounding margin (8th in the country, 12.3), turnover margin (seventh in the country, 8.18) and 3-point-percentage defense (11th in the country, 22.5%) and is second in scoring defense (10th in the country, 50.5 points.)

Sophomore guard Deja Kelly leads the Tar Heels in scoring at 16.8 points per game and is third in the ACC. Sophomore wing Alyssa Ustby leads UNC in rebounding at 9.2 per game, third in the ACC, and is eighth the ACC in scoring at 14.6 points.

UNC is No. 3 in the NET rankings and No. 6 in the Massey Ratings against what Massey rates as the 110th-toughest schedule in the country. The competition ramps up quickly for Carolina, which faces only ACC opponents for the rest of the regular season.

In their ACC opener on Dec. 19, the Tar Heels rallied to win 76–73 at Boston College, which has the highest ranking of any UNC opponent so far, according to the NET rankings (No. 48) and Massey (No. 56).

Closely behind the Eagles is Syracuse (No. 56 in NET and No. 57 on Massey), Carolina’s opponent at 4 p.m. Thursday (ACC Network) at Carmichael Arena.

After facing Clemson (106 Massey, 142 NET) at 6 p.m. Sunday in Chapel Hill (ESPN3), Carolina faces its toughest test of the season with its visit to No. 5 N.C. State (2 NET, 4 Massey) at 8 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 6 (ACC Network).

AP Top 25

Others receiving votes: Oklahoma 78, Colorado 59, Florida Gulf Coast 55, Nebraska 45, DePaul 22, Missouri State 2. Point values in parentheses indicate the number of first-place votes.

UNC season statistics

Date	Score, record/ day, time, TV	Location	Opponent (current ranking)
	November (6–0)
9	92–47 win, 1–0	Home	N.C. A&T
14	89–33 win, 2–0	Road	Charlotte
17	89–44 win, 3–0	Home	Appalachian State
21	79–46 win, 4–0	Road	TCU
26	72–59 win, 5–0	Bimini, Bahamas	X — VCU
27	58–37 win, 6–0	Bimini, Bahamas	X — Washington
	December (5–0, 1–0 ACC)
1	82–76 win, 7–0	Road	Y — Minnesota
5	93–47 win, 8–0	Home	James Madison
12	107–46 win, 9–0	Home	UNC Asheville
15	Game canceled	Home	Jacksonville
19	76–63 win, 10–0, 1–0 ACC	Road	Boston College
21	83–47 win, 11–0	Home	Alabama State
30	Thursday, 4, ACC Network	Home	Syracuse
	January
2	Sunday, 6, ACCNX	Home	Clemson
6	Thursday, 8, ACCN	Road	No. 5 N.C. State
9	Sunday, 6, ACCN	Home	Virginia Tech
16	Sunday, 1, RSN	Road	No. 17 Notre Dame
20	Thursday, 6, ACCNX	Home	Virginia
23	Sunday, noon, ACCN	Road	No. 16 Georgia Tech
27	Thursday, 7, ACCNX	Road	No. 15 Duke
30	Sunday, TBA, ESPN or ACCN	Home	No. 5 N.C. State
	February
3	Thursday, 8, RSN	Road	Wake Forest
6	Sunday, noon, ACCN	Home	Miami
10	Thursday, 6, ACCNX	Home	Pittsburgh
13	Sunday, 1, ACCNX	Road	Virginia Tech
17	Thursday, 6, RSN	Home	No. 3 Louisville
20	Sunday, noon, RSN	Road	Florida State
24	Thursday, 7, ACCNX	Road	Virginia
27	Sunday, TBA, ESPN2 or ACCN	Home	No. 15 Duke
	March
2– 6	ACC Tournament	Greensboro

Photo courtesy of UNC Athletics Communications