By R.L. Bynum
CHARLOTTE — Alyssa Ustby’s versatility on and off the court is comparable to any player in the country, and her motivational tools would make Michael Jordan proud.
Whether it’s kicking a 35-yard field goal at Kenan Stadium, playing the keyboard at Live Action, playing the piano, riding a RipStik or juggling three basketballs, you wonder what the 6–1 senior forward for No. 16 North Carolina can’t do. She’s played all five positions at UNC, even with a couple of possessions at point guard — which she says “was fun” — when the Tar Heels went to a big lineup.
She added juggling pens on ACC Network to the list on Tuesday at ACC Tipoff.
“It was good. I needed a little bit of a warm-up, so I dropped the first one but then picked it back up and was juggling it for a little bit,” said Ustby, who teamed up with freshman point guard Sydney Barker to make the championship game of the team pickleball tournament but lost to Coach Courtney Banghart and General Manager Liz Roberts.
“Coach has got some skills that we didn’t know she had in her bag,” Ustby said of Banghart. “But it was a great experience. And that was one of our favorite team bonding experiences.
Anybody who watches her on the court knows her versatile skill set.
Whether it’s tough defense, outhustling taller players for rebounds, delivering passes to open teammates, knocking down 3-pointers, finishing drives with her left or right hand or showing off her outstanding footwork, her diverse skill set is a problem for opponents.
“The kid has used her desire to be great at anything to make her a great basketball player, and that’s been really fun to be part of that process,” Banghart said.
The national recruiting “experts” didn’t know what Banghart knew. The Rochester, Minn., product is the only remaining member of her first big recruiting class, the Class of 2020, whom ESPN didn’t rank in the top 100.
“I remember when we first got her, she wasn’t as highly ranked as she should have been, and then she lead us in minutes her freshman year,” Banghart said. “People are like, ‘how did you get Alyssa Ustby?’ Because none of y’all wanted her.”
All her fellow seniors made the list: No. 10 guard Deja Kelly, No. 14 Lexi Donarski (an Iowa State transfer) No. 49 forward Anya Poole and No. 98 forward Alexandra Zelaya. Kennedy Todd-Williams — the fifth senior who arrived in Chapel Hill in 2020 but transferred to Ole Miss in the offseason — was also inexplicably left out of the rankings, which included UConn’s Paige Beuckers (No. 1), Maryland’s Angel Reese (No. 2, later transferring to LSU) and Iowa’s Caitlin Clark (No. 4).
“It was definitely a big motivational piece for me because I felt like I was someone who put in so much time and effort and just committed a lot to the basketball game,” Ustby said. “I was asking questions like ‘why’ and ‘why am I not ranked higher?’ Instead of just asking those questions and speculating, I just dove in to working harder.”
She wasn’t left off the rankings because her prep career wasn’t impressive, considering she was Ms. Minnesota Basketball and holds Lourdes High School records for career points (2,560), career rebounds (1,287) and points in a game (43). Oh, and she also played soccer, scoring 14 goals as a senior.
Here’s where her Jordan-like methods use any slights against her as fuel.
“Anytime I get a comment from another coach in the ACC that’s negative and kind of fuels the fire, I create a list of those things,” said Ustby, who used to have that list on a whiteboard in her room, then put them on a piece of paper, but now they are notes on her phone.
“So, I just kind of have an ongoing list of things; if I need a little something to spark some fuel, then I just take a look at those, and those inspire me to do better and prove people wrong,” Usby said. “I’m playing for my teammates, and I’m playing for myself and my community, but there’s also that competitive aspect of me that kind of feeds off of that motivation as well.”
What did Banghart see watching Ustby in high school that the people making rankings missed?
“The things I saw when I first saw Alyssa were the relentlessness and the athleticism,” Banghart said. “If you give me those two things with her size, the rest is history. But the kid is a winner. She’s won in everything she’s ever done.”
For the third consecutive season, Ustby is on the watch list for the Cheryl Miller Award for top national small forward. Last season, she averaged 13.2 points per game and a team-leading 8.3 rebounds and shot 50.6% from the floor, which was third in the league, and produced seven double-doubles.
“I feel like my role is whatever the team calls for, and so whatever Coach Banghart asks me to do, what’s needed from my teammates, whether specifically for that game or that season,” Ustby said. “Stepping into the roles of just being a competitive worker and inspiring my teammates to do the same, because that’s just something that’s really important to us. We have a collective understanding that if we all come together, we compete well together, then we’ll go far.”
Ustby mixed it up with taller players last season but could play more at the three spot this season with two 6–3 newcomers —Boston College junior transfer center Maria Gakdeng and freshman RyLee Grays — joining 6–2 senior Anya Poole, a starter last season, 6–4 senior Alexandra Zelaya and 6–4 redshirt sophomore Teonni Key.
“It’s definitely possible,” Ustby said. “We’ll have to see what lineups are looking like in terms of what our matchups are going to be in, and we’ll kind of play it that way. But I’m ready to play the 3, 4 — really any position that the game calls for.”
Ustby’s game has evolved quite a bit from her freshman year when she says she was timid and only doing things she was comfortable with on the court. She put forth 100% effort back then as she does now, but the experience is channeling her efforts more productively.
“I feel like I’m trusting my work that I’ve put in,” Ustby said. “I’ve worked really hard on my 3-point shot, mid-range, changing directions, attacking from the perimeter. … Just developing more of the basketball IQ and learning how to play together with my teammates is something that’s really important, not only for my personal success, but for the success of our team and our program.”
Ustby is part of the last class that can return for a fifth season under the NCAA’s COVID-19 rules.
“It’s something that’s really on the backburner for me, just because of how much opportunity we have this season,” Ustby said. “I want to give my attention to it and just be really intentional with the time that I have now and not really stressed about something that doesn’t need to be solved yet.”
She says that NIL could factor into her decision, but not for the reason you might guess.
“For me, it’d be more for the business opportunities in terms of developing myself as a businesswoman and my future career,” Ustby said. “So, not about the money, just about the skills that I can learn through the NIL space.”
For the young woman who seemingly does everything, it’s no surprise that she’s also versatile academically. Ustby is majoring in media and journalism on the advertising and PR track with a business administration minor.
| Date | Day/month | Score | Opponent/event (current rank) | Record |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| November | ||||
| 8 | Wednesday | W, 102–49 | vs. Gardner-Webb | 1–0 |
| 12 | Sunday | W, 74–70 | vs. Davidson | 2–0 |
| 15 | Wednesday | W, 62–32 | vs. Hampton | 3–0 |
| 18 | Saturday | W, 68–39 | vs. Elon | 4–0 |
| Gulf Coast Showcase in Estero, Fla. | ||||
| 24 | Friday | W, 54–51 | Vermont | 5–0 |
| 25 | Saturday | L, 63–56 | No. 15 Kansas State | 5–1 |
| 26 | Sunday | L, 65–64 | Florida Gulf Coast | 5–2 |
| ACC/SEC Women’s Challenge | ||||
| 30 | Thursday | L, 65–58 | vs. No. 1 South Carolina | 5–3 |
| December | ||||
| 6 | Wednesday | W, 81–66 | vs. UNC Greensboro | 6–3 |
| Hall of Fame Women’s Showcase in Uncasville, Conn. | ||||
| 10 | Sunday | L, 76–64 | No. 10 Connecticut | 6–4 |
| ——————— | ||||
| 15 | Friday | W, 96–36 | vs. Western Carolina | 7–4 |
| Jumpman Invitational in Charlotte | ||||
| 19 | Tuesday | W, 61–52 | No. 18 Oklahoma | 8–4 |
| ACC season | ||||
| 31 | Sunday | W, 82–76 | vs. Clemson | 9–4, 1–0 ACC |
| January | ||||
| 4 | Thursday | W, 75–51 | vs. No. 22 Syracuse | 10–4, 2–0 ACC |
| 7 | Sunday | W, 61–57 | at No. 9 Notre Dame | 11–4, 3–0 ACC |
| 11 | Thursday | L, 70–62 | at Florida State | 11–5, 3–1 ACC |
| 14 | Sunday | W, 81–68 | vs. Virginia | 12–5, 4–1 ACC |
| 18 | Thursday | W, 73–68 | at Georgia Tech | 13–5, 5–1 ACC |
| 21 | Sunday | W, 79–68 | vs. No. 23 Louisville | 14–5, 6–1 ACC |
| 25 | Thursday | W, 66–61 | vs. Miami | 15–5, 7–1 ACC |
| 28 | Sunday | L, 81–66 | at Virginia | 15–6, 7–2 ACC |
| February | ||||
| 1 | Thursday | L, 63–59 | at No. 11 N.C. State | 15–7, 7–3 ACC |
| 4 | Sunday | L, 70–61, OT | vs. No. 13 Virginia Tech | 15–8, 7–4 ACC |
| 11 | Sunday | L, 68–60, OT | at Duke | 15–9, 7–5 ACC |
| 15 | Thursday | W, 75–62 | vs. Pittsburgh | 16–9, 8–5 ACC |
| 18 | Sunday | W, 58–50 | at Wake Forest | 17–9, 9–5 ACC |
| 22 | Thursday | W, 80–70 | vs. No. 11 N.C. State | 18–9, 10–5 ACC |
| 25 | Sunday | L, 74–62 | at No. 13 Virginia Tech | 18–10, 10–6 ACC |
| 29 | Thursday | L, 78–74 | at Boston College | 18–11, 10–7 ACC |
| March | ||||
| 3 | Sunday | W, 63–59 | vs. Duke | 19–11, 11–7 ACC |
| ACC tournament Greensboro Coliseum | ||||
| 7 | Thursday | L, 60–59 | Second round: vs. Miami | 19–12 |
| NCAA tournament Columbia, S.C. | ||||
| 22 | Friday | W, 59–56 | First round: Michigan State | 20–12 |
| 24 | Sunday | L, 88–41 | Second round: No. 1 South Carolina | 20–13 |
Potential UNC 2024–25 roster
| Year | No. | Players | Pos. | Height | |
| Freshman | — | Lanie Grant (5 star) | PG | 5–10 | |
| Freshman | — | Blanca Thomas (5 star) | C | 6–5 | |
| Freshman | — | Jordan Zubich (4 star) | G | 5–11 | |
| RS Freshman | 21 | Ciera Toomey | F | 6–4 | |
| RS Freshman | 4 | Laila Hull | W | 6–1 | |
| Sophomore | 10 | Reniya Kelly | PG | 5–7 | |
| Sophomore | 15 | Sydney Barker | PG | 5–6 | |
| RS Junior | 11 | Kayla McPherson | PG | 5–8 | |
| Junior | 24 | Indya Nivar | G | 5–10 | |
| Senior | 5 | Maria Gakdeng | C | 6–3 | |
| Graduate | — | Grace Townsend | G | 5–5 | |
| Graduate | 20 | Lexi Donarski | G | 6–0 | |
| Graduate | 1 | Alyssa Ustby | F | 6–1 |
2023–24 UNC players to enter transfer portal
| Class | Player | Date entered | Pos. | Hgt | Next school |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Junior | Paulina Paris | March 26 | G | 5–9 | Arizona |
| Graduate | Ali Zelaya | April 1 | F | 6–4 | UNCW |
| Graduate | Anya Poole | April 1 | F | 6–2 | TBA |
| RS junior | Teonni Key | April 2 | F | 6–4 | Kentucky |
| Sophomore | RyLee Grays | April 5 | F | 6–3 | TBA |
| Graduate | Deja Kelly | April 8 | G | 5–8 | TBA |
Photo by Nell Redmond/theACC.com
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