By R.L. Bynum
CHARLOTTE — Carolina coach Courtney Banghart could see it in her players’ eyes and Florida never saw it coming. The Tar Heels’ relentless defense claimed another victim on Wednesday night.
Florida came into the Jumpman Invitational averaging 83.2 points and shooting 50.1%, but the No. 19 Tar Heels knocked the Gators off their game, particularly in the first half.
The Gators shot a season-low 31.4% and scored 17 points fewer than their previous season-low as UNC rolled to a 77–57 victory at the Spectrum Center.
“I can see it in their eyes when they’re going to really defend,” said Banghart, whose team held the Gators to 26.7% shooting in the first half. “And when they really defend, that’s so fun, because it allows us to show our connectedness, and then the offense can flow from that.”
UNC (11–2) rebounded from a rough defensive effort in Sunday’s 82–66 home loss to undefeated Georgia Tech and has held 10 teams to 56 points or fewer.
“For [the first] three quarters, we didn’t like any of our defensive possessions,” Banghart said of the 82–76 loss to the unbeaten Jackets. “Really great bounce-back, getting to what we do defensively and made their plan A and B very difficult.”
UNC’s 6–3 senior center Maria Gakdeng gave up three inches in her matchup with Florida senior Ra Shaya Kyle. But Gakdeng held her own with a game-high 14 points and a team-high eight rebounds, getting Kyle (who came into the game averaging 16.5 points) into foul trouble and holding her to a season-low eight points.
“I take pride in defense, so knowing that she’s going to be a rebounder and scorer, I knew it would be a big game for me,” said Gakdeng, who has led UNC in scoring for three of the last four games. “I knew that also I’d have to attack her on offense, get her in foul trouble.”
There were issues at times with post-entry passes going too high, but when Gakdeng got the ball, she was hard to stop, making five of six shots.
“She’s just a problem,” Banghart said. “Her footwork is impeccable. She’s well-conditioned. She’s got a really good touch. She now can go over her left side as well. She’s gotten a lot better here. She’s a much different player than she was last year, and I can’t tell you much work went into that with her physicality.”
Gakdeng scored eight first-half points when Carolina quickly took control of the game.
“It’s important for me to demand [the ball] early on,” Gakdeng said. “That’s how I started the game, getting some low-post touches just to get me going, get my confidence going. So that’s what kind of fueled me throughout the rest of the game.”
Gakdeng was a huge factor on defense, but it was an outstanding team effort to muffle the offense for the Gators (7–5). The Tar Heels did a good job of guarding their assigned player, ensuring they were in good position to help, and being active in the passing lanes.
“I thought our guys really did a good job making sure there were no islands out there, either in the low post or in the perimeter,” Banghart said. “I thought our angles were great. I thought our angles were not so great on Sunday. That means that you’re not in help and you’re not guarding, you’re not really doing anything, you’re just on the floor. And our angles were excellent. I think off ball of one and two passes away, our contest at the point of the ball was really good.”
Florida committed 20 turnovers, only the third time this season that it has had at least 20, and UNC scored 21 points off of them. The Gators came in averaging six 3-pointers but were 2 of 13 from outside the arc.
Cool and confident beyond her years, freshman guard Lanie Grant — the age of a high school senior — was impressively efficient with 13 points, three 3-pointers, four rebounds and two steals in 18 minutes while battling foul trouble.
“I take all of my confidence from my preparation and the work that I’ve known that I put in, and I know that I’ve logged the hours at Carolina and before I got here,” Grant said. “Coach said she’s very confident of my skills on the offensive end, so I have the freedom to kind of get my teammates involved and also look for my own shots.”
The biggest adjustment from high school junior to college freshman has been on the defensive end. But she’s put in the work to learn how to be a good college defender and it’s shown through 13 games.
“We were watching film in my room [Tuesday],” Banghart said, “and we talked about angles, and I showed her some defensive growth, and just told her, ‘I trust you on the offensive end; I’m not even going to talk about that.’ The kid’s totally locked in.”
After a choppy first few minutes, UNC went on a 19–3 run over the last 5:13 of the first quarter to lead 23–7 with four 3-pointers, two from Grant.
Grant scored 10 of 12 UNC points during a stretch that gave the Heels a 17-point lead with 6:58 left in the first half. The lead was 21, 41–20, at halftime on a Grace Townsend bucket at the buzzer.
Like in some other games, UNC hit a third-quarter lull after Reniya Kelly (9 points, 3 assists) hit a jumper to cap a 10–4 run to start the period. Sloppiness and poor shooting helped the Gators score 14 consecutive points — 10 from the free-throw line — as UNC went scoreless for nearly 4½ minutes before Laila Hull scored a 3-pointer.
After a game-high 27-point lead shrank to 13, UNC scored nine consecutive points and led 59–40 after three quarters. With the bench cleared, Carolina only outscored Florida 18–17 in the fourth quarter, when the lead never got under 18.
Guard Liv McGill, Florida’s leading scorer at 16.5 points per game, led Florida with 15 points. Guard Jeriah Warren, who averages 14.7, scored only six.
NOTES — Carolina returns home at noon Saturday to face Norfolk State (11–3) in the Tar Heels’ final nonconference game. The fourth HBCU opponent this season, the Spartans beat Drexel at home Wednesday night 68–56. … UNC is 2–1 in the Jumpman Invitational after losing to Michigan 76–68 in 2022 and beating Oklahoma 61–52 in 2023. … Carolina leads the series with the Gators 4–1, with all five games at neutral sites; the last previous meeting was a 68–48 in Champaign, Ill, on Nov. 23, 1997. … UNC was Florida’s fourth ACC opponent. The Gators lost at home Nov. 16 to Miami 83–73, at Florida State 98–73 on Nov. 22 and won Dec. 5 at Clemson 77–64. … The crowd was substantially smaller than the first night of the Jumpman Invitational, so much so that curtains obscured the upper arena of the Spectrum Center. … Florida’s season-low point total came in a 77–62 Nov. 29 loss to James Madison, and its previous worst shooting game was 42.4% in an 82–54 win on Nov. 3 against Florida Atlantic.
No. 19 UNC 77, Florida 57
| Team | League | Overall | NET* |
|---|---|---|---|
| No. 10 Louisville | 6–0 | 16–3 | 11 |
| Duke | 6–0 | 11–6 | 21 |
| Virginia | 5–1 | 13–4 | 39 |
| N.C. State | 5–1 | 12–5 | 27 |
| Syracuse | 4–2 | 14–3 | 42 |
| Notre Dame | 4–2 | 12–4 | 23 |
| Stanford | 3–2 | 14–4 | 35 |
| Virginia Tech | 3–3 | 13–5 | 51 |
| Clemson | 3–3 | 12–6 | 40 |
| Miami | 3–3 | 11–6 | 43 |
| Georgia Tech | 3–3 | 8–10 | 92 |
| No. 22 North Carolina | 2–3 | 13–5 | 26 |
| Wake Forest | 2–4 | 12–6 | 118 |
| California | 1–4 | 10–8 | 61 |
| Pittsburgh | 1–4 | 8–10 | 243 |
| SMU | 0–5 | 7–10 | 153 |
| Florida State | 0–5 | 5–12 | 105 |
| Boston College | 0–6 | 4–14 | 250 |
* — Through Sunday games
Sunday’s results
Notre Dame 73, No. 22 North Carolina 50
Virginia Tech 78, Boston College 56
No. 10 Louisville 86, Pittsburgh 46
Syracuse 79, Virginia 60
Miami 89, Florida State 73
Georgia Tech 58, Clemson 55
Duke 67, Stanford 60
California 61, Wake Forest 52
N.C. State 91, SMU 54
Thursday games
No. 10 Louisville at Notre Dame, 6 p.m., ACC Network
Florida State at Pittsburgh, 6 p.m., ACCN Extra
Stanford at Boston College, 6 p.m., ACCN Extra
N.C. State at Wake Forest, 6 p.m., ACCN Extra
Miami at No. 22 North Carolina, 7 p.m., ACCN Extra
Virginia Tech at SMU, 7:30, ACCN Extra
Virginia at Duke, 8 p.m. ACC Network
Sunday games
California at Boston Colleges, noon, ACCN Extra
Wake Forest at Clemson, noon, ACC Network
No. 10 Louisville at N.C. State, 1 p.m., ESPN2
SMU at Pittsburgh, 1 p.m., ACCN Extra
No. 22 North Carolina at Florida State, 2 p.m., The CW
Stanford at Syracuse, 2 p.m., ACC Network
Georgia Tech at Duke, 6 p.m., ACC Network
| Date | Day/month | Time | Opponent/event (current ranks) | TV/ record |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| October | ||||
| 30 | Thursday | L, 91–82 | No. 3 South Carolina in Atlanta | Exhib. |
| November | ||||
| 3 | Monday | W, 90–42 | vs. N.C. Central | 1–0 |
| 6 | Thursday | W, 71–37 | vs. Elon | 2–0 |
| WBCA Challenge Las Vegas | ||||
| 13 | Thursday | L, 78–60 | vs. No. 4 UCLA | 2–1 |
| 15 | Saturday | W, 82–68 | vs. Fairfield | 3–1 |
| ——————————— | ||||
| 20 | Thursday | W, 85–50 | at N.C. A&T | 4–1 |
| 23 | Sunday | W, 94–48 | vs. UNCG | 5–1 |
| Cancun Challenge Cancun, Mexico | ||||
| 27 | Thursday | W, 83–48 | vs. South Dakota St. | 6–1 |
| 28 | Friday | W, 85–73 | vs. Kansas State | 7–1 |
| 29 | Saturday | W, 80–63 | vs. Columbia | 8–1 |
| December | ACC/SEC Women’s Challenge | |||
| 4 | Thursday | W, 79–64 | at No. 2 Texas | 8–2 |
| ——————————— | ||||
| 7 | Sunday | W, 82–40 | vs. Boston Univ. | 9–2 |
| 14 | Sunday | L, 76–66, OT | vs. No. 10 Louisville | 9–3, 0–1 ACC |
| 17 | Wednesday | W, 84–34 | vs. UNCW | 10–3 |
| 21 | Sunday | W, 93–74 | vs. Charleston Southern | 11–3 |
| 29 | Monday | W, 90–38 | at Boston College | 12–3, 1–0 ACC |
| January | ||||
| 1 | Thursday | W, 71–55 | vs. California | 13–3, 2–0 |
| 4 | Sunday | L, 77–71, OT | vs. Stanford | 13–4, 2–1 |
| 11 | Sunday | L, 73–50 | at Notre Dame | 13–5, 2–2 |
| 15 | Thursday | 7 p.m. | vs. Miami | ACCN Extra |
| 18 | Sunday | 2 p.m. | at Florida State | The CW |
| 22 | Thursday | 8 p.m. | at Georgia Tech | ACCN |
| 25 | Sunday | 2 p.m. | vs. Syracuse | The CW |
| February | ||||
| 2 | Monday | 6 p.m. | at N.C. State | ESPN2 |
| 5 | Thursday | 7 p.m. | vs. Clemson | ACCN |
| 8 | Sunday | 2 p.m. | vs. Wake Forest | ACCN |
| 12 | Thursday | 6 p.m. | vs. SMU | ACCN |
| 15 | Sunday | 1 p.m. | at Duke | ABC |
| 19 | Thursday | 6 p.m. | at Virginia Tech | ACCN |
| 22 | Sunday | Noon | vs. Pittsburgh | ACCN |
| 26 | Thursday | 7 p.m. | at Virginia | ACCN Extra |
| March | ||||
| 1 | Sunday | Noon | vs. Duke | ESPN |
| ACC tournament | ||||
| 4–8 | Wed.-Sun | Gas South Arena, Duluth, Ga. | ||
| NCAA tournament | ||||
| 20–24 | Fri.-Mon. | First, second rounds | ||
| 27–30 | Fri.-Mon. | Regionals Fort Worth, Texas, and Sacramento, Calif. | ||
| April | ||||
| 3, 5 | Fri., Sun | Final Four Phoenix |
Photos courtesy of UNC Athletics
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