Carolina’s women play 4 games at 8 p.m., 3 at noon or earlier

By R.L. Bynum

The higher the expectations, the more likely a team will play games that start later, which is the case for Carolina’s women’s basketball team.

After playing only two ACC games that started at 8 p.m. last season, the Tar Heels have four such games this coming season, including home games against Florida State (Dec. 29), Duke (Jan. 19) and Virginia Tech (Feb. 23) and a road game against N.C. State (Feb. 16). There could potentially be a fifth since the time for the Jan. 15 home game against the Wolfpack hasn’t been set.

The ACC announced the starting times for all of its women’s basketball games on Wednesday afternoon.

UNC plays one game at 11 a.m. (Nov. 16 against South Carolina State) and two games at noon (Feb. 5 at Louisville and the regular-season finale on Feb. 26 at Duke.)

Coach Courtney Banghart’s fourth season comes after the Tar Heels went 25–7 and earned the program’s first Sweet 16 berth since 2015, which has helped boost the sale of season tickets, which can be purchased here. UNC returns junior starters in guards Deja Kelly and Kennedy  Todd-Williams, wing Alyssa Ustby and center Anya Poole.

In an odd scheduling quirk, James Madison’s men’s team plays Carolina on Dec. 20 at the Smith Center in a noon game, and the Dukes’ women’s team plays host to the Tar Heels at 2 p.m. that day.

On Sunday, Feb. 19, the men’s team plays N.C. State in Raleigh at 1 p.m. and the women’s team faces Wake Forest at home at 4 p.m. That men’s game probably would have been scheduled for the day before if not for the Feb. 18 NHL Stadium Series game at Carter-Finley Stadium between the Carolina Hurricanes and the Washington Capitals.

Carolina plays in three events in the same cities as the men’s team.

Both play in the Phil Knight Invitational in Portland, with the women meeting Oregon at 5 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day (ESPNU) in the four-team event. The Tar Heels will play against either Iowa State or Michigan State in the consolation game (1 p.m., ESPN2) or the championship game (7:30 p.m., ESPN2) on Sunday, Nov. 27.

Both play at Indiana in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge, with the women’s team facing the Hoosiers on Thursday, Dec. 1, at 6 p.m., one day after the men’s teams meet.

Both play Michigan in the Jumpman Invitational in Charlotte at the Hornets’ arena. The women face the Wolverines at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 20, one day before the men’s teams play.

Carolina schedule

DateMonth/dayTime/scoreOpponent/event
(current ranking)
LocationRecord
November
9WednesdayW, 91–59Jackson StateHome1–0
12SaturdayW, 75–48TCUHome2–0
16WednesdayW, 93–25South Carolina StateHome3–0
20SundayW, 76–65James MadisonHarrisonburg, Va.4–0
Phil Knight Invitational
24ThursdayW, 85–79OregonPortland5–0
27SundayW, 73–64No. 17 Iowa State Portland6–0
DecemberACC/Big Ten Challenge
1ThursdayL, 87–63No. 2 IndianaBloomington, Ind.6–1
7WednesdayW, 64–42UNCWHome7–1
11SundayW, 99–67WoffordHome8–1
16FridayW, 89–47USC UpstateHome9–1
Jumpman Invitational
20TuesdayL, 76–68No. 18 MichiganCharlotte9–2
ACC season begins
29ThursdayL, 78–71Florida StateHome9–3, 0–1 ACC
January
1SundayL, 68–65No. 4
Virginia Tech
Blacksburg, Va.9–4, 0–2 ACC
5ThursdayL, 62–58MiamiCoral Gables, Fla.9–5, 0–3 ACC
8SundayW, 60–50No. 10
Notre Dame
Home10–5,
1–3 ACC
12ThursdayW, 70–59VirginiaCharlottesville, Va.11–5,
2–3 ACC
15SundayW, 56–47N.C. StateHome12–5,
3–3 ACC
19ThursdayW, 61–56No. 13 DukeHome13–5,
4–3 ACC
22SundayW, 70–57Georgia TechHome14–5,
5–3 ACC
26ThursdayW, 72–57PittsburghPittsburgh15–5,
6–3 ACC
29SundayW, 69–58ClemsonClemson16–5,
7–3 ACC
February
2ThursdayW, 73–62VirginiaHome17–5,
8–3 ACC
5SundayL, 62–55LouisvilleLouisville17–6,
8–4 ACC
9ThursdayL, 75–67SyracuseSyracuse17–7,
8–5 ACC
12SundayW, 73–55Boston CollegeHome18–7,
9–5 ACC
16ThursdayL, 77–66, OTN.C. StateRaleigh18–8,
9–6 ACC
19SundayW, 71–58Wake ForestHome19–8,
10–6 ACC
23ThursdayL, 61–59No. 4
Virginia Tech
Home19–9,
10–7 ACC
26SundayW, 45–41No. 13 DukeDurham20–9,
10–8 ACC
MarchACC Tournament
2ThursdayW, 68–58Clemson Greensboro21–9
3FridayL, 44–40No. 13 Duke Greensboro21–10
NCAA tournament
18SaturdayW, 61–59 St. John’sColumbus, Ohio22–10
20MondayL, 71–69No. 12 Ohio State Columbus, Ohio22–11

Photo courtesy of the ACC

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