By R.L. Bynum

North Carolina coach Courtney Banghart remembers going through the tunnel last December before the second half at the Mohegan Sun Arena tied with UConn, with freshman guard Reniya Kelly a big part of the reason why.

Already down to seven players, the athletic trainer told her that Kelly — who had six points and three assists in the second quarter — suffered a concussion.

“‘Wait. Right now, she’s out?’ ” Banghart remembers asking. She was, and that left UNC with six available players for the second half. Three Tar Heels played at least 36 minutes and lost 76–64.

There are no guarantees that Friday’s 6 p.m. game (ESPN2) at the Greensboro Coliseum Complex will go differently as the No. 14 Heels (3–0) challenge No. 2 UConn (2–0) in a marquee matchup. 

But Banghart will have many more players — with a mix of veteran and young talent — to take on a Huskies team with generational talent in redshirt senior 6–0 guard Paige Bueckers (top photo) and 6–2 freshman forward Sarah Strong. Fifth year 5–11 guard Azzi Fudd — a likely WNBA first-round draft pick who hasn’t played since tearing an ACL in the second game of last season — could make her season debut.

“Any opportunity that we have to play on national TV and to play other very, very good teams that have invested a ton in women’s basketball — UConn being one of them and one of the premier ones — it’s really special,” said Banghart, whose team won Tuesday in Greensboro, winning its first true road game 66–47 over CAA favorite N.C. A&T.

She welcomes the chance to evaluate the team’s progress in a high-level game but wishes the game was as originally planned in mid-December. With the ACC adding three schools and two league December games required, the game was moved to mid-November.

“This is just a great early opportunity to gauge where we are — individually, collectively — from a competitive standpoint,” Banghart said. “How competitive are we at the things that happen all the time, meaning the rebounding and the ball screen and the transition and the scout.

“There’s a lot of youth that’s still gaining experience right now,” she said. “So it’s an early game for us to have this challenge that might be a little bit different a month from now.”

Even though UNC is facing UConn, it doesn’t mean that Banghart has rushed to implement her system too soon for a team with six newcomers and two other players in their first college seasons.

“We haven’t restructured our development — the steps that we need to take to be good when we’re good,” Banghart said. “We’re not going to redirect them for one game. We’re going to continue to learn from the competitive opportunity that we have. We will not have our full offensive package in because you end up being not good at a lot of things if you have too many things.”

The offense has already looked more free-flowing with this new group of Tar Heels, with more quickness in the backcourt and the 3-point attempts flying. 

Through three games — obviously a small sample size — 42.6% of UNC’s field-goal attempts have come from outside the arc, the highest percentage for any Banghart team by a wide margin (the next-highest was the 2020–21 team at 31.6%). The bad news is that the Heels are making only 29.2% of those attempts, the lowest of any of her teams (the previous lowest was last season’s 30.2%).  

“We want to take great shots, take open shots,” Banghart said. “I felt like there were times last year when you took a lot of contested shots. Wherever the shots are from, if they’re uncontested, it’s a good shot. I really applaud our guys getting a lot of open shots — partly because of the command that our inside game requires and partly how fast we play. Those are the shots that we’re getting that are the open shots.”

There are too many pure shooters for those shooting percentages not to improve. Seven Tar Heels have scored 3-pointers, led by fifth-year guard Lexi Donarski with nine, and five each from Kelly and redshirt freshman Laila Hull. Hull (55.6%) and Kelly (50%) have been the most accurate.

“As soon as our percentage goes up our offense will score more points,” she said. “But what we’re doing — especially at this point in the season — we’re tracking the quality of our possessions, meaning what does that possession end with. If it’s an open shot, if it’s a make or miss, it’s a good shot. Our percentage of good shots has gone up.” 

Bueckers leads UConn in scoring at 27.5 points per game, averaging four assists and 3½ steals. Banghart predicts Bueckers will be the No. 1 pick in the WNBA draft, and says her versatility makes coming up with a plan to stop her daunting.

“What makes her special is her ability to counter the reads that you give her,” Banghart said. “She’s not really a kid you can scheme a ton against because if you do this, she’ll do that. She reads it in live time.”

As with any opponent, fifth-year defensive ace Lexi Donarski will get the primary assignment on Bueckers.

“She’s just a really, tremendously skilled offensive player,” Banghart said. “She’s also very unselfish. If you focus too much of your game plan on stopping Paige, not only is that not easy, but then you give other All-Americans an opportunity to be more open and to have their opportunity. We’re not going to be on an island on Paige. We also will share responsibilities — as we do, typically — with our defensive coverages.”

Donarski’s experience guarding Caitlin Clark while playing at Iowa State is invaluable. Against A&T, she held Jordyn Dorsey 12½ points under her average.

“Talk about a kid that’s good at the things that happen all the time? We’re talking jumping to the ball; you’re talking bumping a cutter, you’re talking ball-screen coverage, you’re talking block out, you’re talking on ball-hand engagement, the things that happen all the time, not schemes — she is excellent at,” Banghart said. “And so that makes her a good defender. And then she has the speed and athleticism and strength and the competitiveness.”

Strong, who had UNC among the final three schools she was considering before picking UConn, will be another formidable player to stop. North Carolina’s first No. 1 national recruit, who played at Grace Christian School, is averaging 15 points, 5.5 rebounds and four steals.

Banghart got to know Strong and her family and says she’ll be pulling hard for her all season — except for Friday night.

“What makes Sarah special is a lot of the things that make Paige special and that she’s really gifted, generationally, on the offensive side of the ball, in terms of her feel and her instincts and her ability to make the right play,” Banghart said. “But she’s also a true 3-point threat. She’s one of the best shooters you’ll see, and that’s spanning the duration of my life and coaching. 

“She’s got this great physical body that can absorb contact in the post,” Banghart said. “You have to really be particular in your matchup, because she’s good enough that if you go small on her, she’ll play bully ball, and if you go big on her, then she’ll be on the perimeter.”

Having senior center Maria Gakdeng (who is dealing with a left knee issue) would certainly be helpful, but all Banghart would say is that she and junior Indya Nivar would play “soon,” not saying whether that would be against UConn.

“They’re close,” Banghart said. “Luckily, it’s not what we dealt with last year where we knew for a lot of these kids, it was the rest of the season. That’s not the case with these two. We feel optimistic that they’re on the road to recovery. We just don’t know how soon that will be, but it’s soon.”

Nivar, who has had a boot on an ankle, was in uniform for the first time but didn’t play against A&T.

NOTES — Carolina is 1–6 under Banghart in the arena now called First Horizon Coliseum, beating Clemson 68–58 in the 2023 ACC tournament. … The Huskies have won the last six meetings and lead the series 8–5, with UNC’s last win when the No. 2 Tar Heels beat the No. 6 Huskies 82–76 in Carmichael Arena on Jan. 15, 2007. The teams have split four neutral-site games. … Both teams have been ranked for all but one meeting since the first, an 84–51 UNC victory on Jan. 12, 1980. Both have been ranked in the top 10 for seven meetings. … No. 4 UNC beat No. 3 UConn 71–69 In the East Regional final during the Tar Heels’ run to the 1994 national championship. 

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UNC statistics

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UConn statistics

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UNC scores, schedule

Date	Day/month	Time/ score	Opponent/event (current rank)	TV/ record
	November
4	Monday	W, 83–53	vs. Charleston Southern	1–0
7	Thursday	W, 77–50	vs. UNCW	2–0
12	Tuesday	W, 66–47	at N.C. A&T	3–0
15	Friday	6 p.m.	vs. No. 2 UConn in Greensboro	ESPN2
			Battle 4 Atlantis Paradise Island, Bahamas
23	Saturday	4 p.m.	Ball State	FloHoops
24	Sunday	1:30 or 6:30	Texas A&M or Villanova	FloHoops
25	Monday	Noon, 2:30, 5 p.m. or 7:30	No. 17 Baylor, Indiana, Columbia or S. Miss	ESPN2, ESPNU or FloHoops
			———————————
29	Friday	TBA	vs. N.C. Central	ESPN3
	December
			ACC/SEC Women’s Challenge
5	Thursday	5 p.m.	vs. No. 20 Kentucky	ESPN2
			———————————
8	Sunday	2 p.m.	vs. Coppin State	ESPN3
11	Wednesday	7 p.m.	vs. UNCG	ESPN3
15	Sunday	2 p.m.	vs. Georgia Tech	ACCN
			Jumpman Invitational in Charlotte
18	Wednesday	6:30	vs. Florida	ESPNU
			———————————
21	Saturday	Noon	vs. Norfolk State	ESPN3
			ACC season
29	Sunday	4 p.m.	at Miami	ACCN
	January
5	Sunday	1 p.m.	vs. No. 6 Notre Dame	ESPN
9	Thursday	7 p.m.	vs. No. 16 Duke	TBA
12	Sunday	2 p.m.	vs. Boston College	ACCN
16	Thursday	8 p.m. ET	at SMU	ESPN3
19	Sunday	2 p.m.	at Pitt	ACCN
23	Thursday	7 p.m.	vs. Wake Forest	ESPN3
26	Sunday	Noon	vs. Florida State	ACCN
30	Thursday	TBA	at Cal	ESPN3
	February
2	Sunday	3 p.m. ET	at Stanford	The CW
9	Sunday	2 p.m.	at Clemson	ESPN3
13	Thursday	7 p.m.	vs. Virginia Tech	ESPN3
16	Sunday	2 p.m.	vs. No. 13 N.C. State	ESPN
20	Thursday	6 p.m.	at Syracuse	ACCN
23	Sunday	2 p.m.	at No. 18 Louisville	ESPN
27	Thursday	7 p.m.	at No. 16 Duke	ESPN
	March
2	Sunday	2 p.m.	vs. Virginia	The CW
5–9	Wed.–Sun.		ACC tournament First Horizon Coliseum Greensboro

Top photo via @UConnWBB