Carolina’s battle with Ohio State for Sweet 16 berth draws early start time

By R.L. Bynum

No. 20-ranked North Carolina plays on Ohio State’s home court for a berth in the Sweet 16 at 4 p.m. Monday in a game that will air on ESPN.

The No. 6-seed Tar Heels’ game against the No. 12-ranked and No. 6-seed Buckeyes (26–7) at the Schottenstein Center in Columbus, Ohio, is the initial second-round NCAA tournament game of the day. Carolina got there with a thrilling 61–59 victory Saturday over St. John’s.

Junior guard Deja Kelly scored a game-high 18 points and made clutch plays down the stretch for the Tar Heels, who had to play the last 6:15 without junior forward Alyssa Ustby after she fouled out. With the victory, UNC became the 10th women’s program in the country with 50 NCAA tournament wins.

Carolina (22–10) has won five of the nine meetings with Ohio State, including the last matchup in Columbus. UNC beat the Buckeyes 76–69 in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge on Nov. 29, 2018.

The Buckeyes are in the second round for the sixth consecutive tournament, and the Tar Heels are there for the second straight year.

The winner of that game will play in a semifinal in Seattle Regional 3 on Saturday against the winner of Monday’s 9 p.m. second-round game (ESPN) in Storrs, Conn., between No. 6-ranked and No. 2-seed UConn (30–5) and Baylor (20–12).

On the other side of the Seattle Regional 3 bracket, No. 4-ranked, No. 1-seed and host Virginia Tech will face No. 9 South Dakota State at 5 p.m. Sunday (ESPN) and No. 24-ranked, No. 4-seed and host Tennessee meets No. 12 Toledo at 6 p.m. Monday (ESPN2).

Sophomore 6–0 guard Taylor Mikesell leads six Buckeyes averaging double-figure points at 17.2, with a team-leading 104 3-pointers on 40.6% shooting from outside the arc. Sophomore 6–0 wing Taylor Theirry averages 14.0 points and a team-leading 6.7 rebounds.

Date	Month/day	Time/score	Opponent/event (current ranking)	Location	Record
	November
9	Wednesday	W, 91–59	Jackson State	Home	1–0
12	Saturday	W, 75–48	TCU	Home	2–0
16	Wednesday	W, 93–25	South Carolina State	Home	3–0
20	Sunday	W, 76–65	James Madison	Harrisonburg, Va.	4–0
			*Phil Knight Invitational*
24	Thursday	W, 85–79	Oregon	Portland	5–0
27	Sunday	W, 73–64	No. 17 Iowa State	Portland	6–0
	December		*ACC/Big Ten Challenge*
1	Thursday	L, 87–63	No. 2 Indiana	Bloomington, Ind.	6–1
7	Wednesday	W, 64–42	UNCW	Home	7–1
11	Sunday	W, 99–67	Wofford	Home	8–1
16	Friday	W, 89–47	USC Upstate	Home	9–1
			*Jumpman Invitational*
20	Tuesday	L, 76–68	No. 18 Michigan	Charlotte	9–2
			ACC season begins
29	Thursday	L, 78–71	Florida State	Home	9–3, 0–1 ACC
	January
1	Sunday	L, 68–65	No. 4 Virginia Tech	Blacksburg, Va.	9–4, 0–2 ACC
5	Thursday	L, 62–58	Miami	Coral Gables, Fla.	9–5, 0–3 ACC
8	Sunday	W, 60–50	No. 10 Notre Dame	Home	10–5, 1–3 ACC
12	Thursday	W, 70–59	Virginia	Charlottesville, Va.	11–5, 2–3 ACC
15	Sunday	W, 56–47	N.C. State	Home	12–5, 3–3 ACC
19	Thursday	W, 61–56	No. 13 Duke	Home	13–5, 4–3 ACC
22	Sunday	W, 70–57	Georgia Tech	Home	14–5, 5–3 ACC
26	Thursday	W, 72–57	Pittsburgh	Pittsburgh	15–5, 6–3 ACC
29	Sunday	W, 69–58	Clemson	Clemson	16–5, 7–3 ACC
	February
2	Thursday	W, 73–62	Virginia	Home	17–5, 8–3 ACC
5	Sunday	L, 62–55	Louisville	Louisville	17–6, 8–4 ACC
9	Thursday	L, 75–67	Syracuse	Syracuse	17–7, 8–5 ACC
12	Sunday	W, 73–55	Boston College	Home	18–7, 9–5 ACC
16	Thursday	L, 77–66, OT	N.C. State	Raleigh	18–8, 9–6 ACC
19	Sunday	W, 71–58	Wake Forest	Home	19–8, 10–6 ACC
23	Thursday	L, 61–59	No. 4 Virginia Tech	Home	19–9, 10–7 ACC
26	Sunday	W, 45–41	No. 13 Duke	Durham	20–9, 10–8 ACC
	March		*ACC Tournament*
2	Thursday	W, 68–58	Clemson	Greensboro	21–9
3	Friday	L, 44–40	No. 13 Duke	Greensboro	21–10
			*NCAA tournament*
18	Saturday	W, 61–59	St. John’s	Columbus, Ohio	22–10
20	Monday	L, 71–69	No. 12 Ohio State	Columbus, Ohio	22–11