By R.L. Bynum
After being a key part of Carolina’s resurgence in the last four seasons, Deja Kelly will play her fifth college season at Oregon, which lost 21 games last season and hasn’t been to the NCAA tournament since 2022.
Kelly made the announcement on X (formerly Twitter), declaring she has a “New Throne,” three days after announcing that she would not return to Carolina, where she earned a Communications degree in broadcast journalism.
Oregon, which went 11–21 and only won two Pac-12 games last season, joins the Big Ten next season.
Kelly, who ESPN rated as the No. 11 player to enter the transfer portal, is one of seven players transferring to Oregon. Also heading to Eugene are Amina Muhammad of Texas, Salimatou Kourouma of Arizona, Ari Long of Washington, Nani Falatea of BYU, Alexis Whitfield of UC Santa Barbara and Elisa Mevius of Siena.
Kelly took an unofficial visit to Oregon in 2019 after decommitting to Texas before committing to UNC out of high school
Kelly Graves just finished his 10th season as Oregon’s head coach. Known as a terrific teacher of the pick-and-roll game, he was the Pac-12 Coach of the Year in 2019 and 2020. His teams reached the NCAA Elite Eight in 2017 and 2018 before advancing to the program’s first Final Four in 2019, all during the Ducks career of New York Liberty guard Sabrina Ionescu.
Graves is under increasing pressure after the Ducks’ struggles last season. In an anonymous poll released in April by The Athletic of women’s basketball players, Graves came in second on the list of coaches they’d least like to play for, behind only LSU’s Kim Mulkey (although Mulkey won by a wide margin).
The Ducks, who went 20–15 two seasons ago, had five players enter the transfer portal. That came after Oregon lost three to the transfer portal a year ago, including Te-Hina Paopao, who was a key player in helping South Carolina win the national championship. Endyia Rogers transferred to Texas A&M and Sedona Prince to TCU.
Going into the portal this year were guard Ula Chamberlin (who hasn’t announced her plans), Priscilla Williams (committed to Jacksonville), Kennedy Basham (Arizona State), Chance Gray (Ohio State) and Grace VanSlooten (Michigan State).
Gray, a 5–9 guard, led Oregon in assists with 92 and was second on the team in scoring at 13.9 points per game and was ESPN’s No. 21 player in the portal. VanSlooten, a 6–3 forward, led the Ducks in scoring at 15 points per game and dished out 81 assists and was ESPN’s No. 13 player in the portal. Basham started 24 games, averaging 4.5 points and 3.5 rebounds.
The leading returning scorer is 6–8 senior center Phillipina Kyei, who averaged 12.6 points and a team-leading 11.9 rebounds per game. Sophomore 6–1 guard Sofia Bell, who started 21 games last season, averaged 7.0 points and 3.0 rebounds as a freshman.
Oregon’s Big Ten schedule next season includes home games against Indiana, Purdue, Iowa, Wisconsin, Maryland, Rutgers, UCLA and USC; road games against Illinois, Northwestern, Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, Penn State, Minnesota and Nebraska; and games home and on the road against Washington.
Kelly, a three-time All-ACC pick who is eighth in Carolina career scoring with 1,158 points, is the last of the six UNC players entering the transfer portal to announce her next school after Paulina Paris committed to Arizona, Ali Zelaya to UNCW, Teonni Key to Kentucky, Anya Poole to Clemson and RyLee Grays to Virginia.
Kelly expected to play more off the ball last season until injuries to Kayla McPherson, Reniya Kelly and Paris forced her to become the primary ball-handler most of the time.
Kelly started 120 of 121 games in her four Carolina seasons. She led the team in scoring with more than 16 points in each of the last three seasons and averaged 3.2 assists per game in the last two seasons.
Kelly scored at least 25 points 10 times in her UNC career, including 29 on Feb. 25 at Virginia Tech last season.
UNC 2024–25 roster
| Year | No. | Players | Pos. | Height | |
| Freshman | 0 | Lanie Grant (5 star) | PG | 5–10 | |
| Freshman | 34 | Blanca Thomas (5 star) | C | 6–5 | |
| Freshman | 3 | 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 | |
| Junior | 14 | Trayanna Crisp | G | 5–8 | |
| Senior | 5 | Maria Gakdeng | C | 6–3 | |
| Graduate | 2 | 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 | Clemson |
| RS junior | Teonni Key | April 2 | F | 6–4 | Kentucky |
| Sophomore | RyLee Grays | April 5 | F | 6–3 | Virginia |
| Graduate | Deja Kelly | April 8 | G | 5–8 | Oregon |
Photo courtesy of UNC Athletics Communications
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