Banghart’s blueprint has UNC exceeding expectations ahead of big challenge at No. 2 Texas

By R.L. Bynum

After losing 70% of North Carolina’s offense from last season, Coach Courtney Banghart’s team was picked to finish third in the ACC.

Now her No. 11 Tar Heels are the highest-ranked team in the league and getting plenty of national attention.

She laments that in June, she would have said that the Tar Heels had a long way to go to reach their goals. But the hard work since the summer has paid off, with Carolina off to an 8–1 start.

There’s still a long way to go as the Tar Heels try to keep improving, but it’s an impressive start.

“I spent a lot of time in the summer really talking and living and sharing and showing on film and drilling just the standard, the competitive standard,” Banghart said during a Tuesday press conference. “People assumed that we weren’t going to be better because of what we lost.”

When, where to watch, scouting the Longhorns, storylines, stats, comparisons and notes

Carolina still can get a lot better. Banghart estimates that star guard Reniya Kelly, who suffered a right knee injury last season, is still about 90% in her recovery and working toward the high level of play she produced over the first half of last season.

But the senior leadership of ACC Player of the Week Indya Nivar, the recent resurgence of Lanie Grant, the offensive fire off the bench from freshman Nyla Brooks ,and Ciera Toomey’s outstanding play inside have UNC on a roll.

“Honestly, I didn’t think we’d be able to defend as well this early,” Banghart said.

That progress will get a major test Thursday when UNC visits No. 2 Texas in the ACC/SEC Women’s Challenge (7 p.m., ESPN2).

If UNC were to pull off the upset, Banghart said it would fit the story she’s been telling all along — that her group is evolving faster than outsiders realized.

“We’re young enough that we’re going to be really good,” she said, adding that beating the No. 2 team would be a powerful way of showing it.

The Longhorns (8–0) looked like the best team in the country last week at the Players Era Challenge in Las Vegas when they beat then-No. 3 (now No. 4) UCLA 76–65 and then-No. 2 (now No.3) South Carolina 66–64.

UNC played the Bruins tough for one half before losing in Las Vegas and were competitive for much of an exhibition game in Atlanta against the Gamecocks before falling.

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“Their team’s a very good team,” Banghart said of Texas. “Another thing is their pressure. They make every entry difficult on all parts of the floor. You’ve got to guard really solid players.”

Banghart, whose team was dominant in wins over South Dakota State, Kansas State and Columbia to win a title last week at the Cancun Challenge, said that a challenging nonconference schedule was intentional.

“It was all by design; an opportunity to really figure out where our holes were and where we had to grow and what the standard was,” she said. “South Carolina has been setting the standard for a long time, and for us to be able to kind of see that from the beginning and make athleticism more of an equal, was great.”

Texas is loaded with stars, and that starts with junior forward Madison Booker (16.8 points, 7.0 rebounds 3.8 assists and 3.6 steals), who is the Preseason SEC Player of the Year and an AP Preseason All-American.

You can’t expect to stop the Longhorns by stopping Booker.

Sophomore guard Lee Jordan (14.6 points) and freshman Aaliyah Crump (13.2 points), are dangerous scorers, and senior point guard Rori Harmon is the program’s all-time assist leader (6.2 per game).

It will be a contrast between Carolina, which likes to get out in transition and has scored 82 3-pointers, and Texas, which has scored only 36 3-pointers, likes to set up its half-court offense and is proficient with mid-range jumpers.

“We’re just really different teams,” said Banghart, who sees the rebounding battle as a key to the game. “If you let them score, they’re going to press you. So that’s the obvious math of it, but it’s also the added challenge of the fatigue of that. When you get stops, you’re able to play against a compromised defense for a bit, and it’s harder for them to get into their pressure.”

Banghart said that her team’s depth and versatility will help.

“We have multiple primary ball handlers now, and that should be an advantage,” Banghart said. “The 3-point shot is a huge part of our offense, and you’ve got to play with space in order to allow that.”

The good news since Carolina got back from Mexico is that Blanca Thomas, who didn’t play in Cancun, has been fully cleared, giving the Tar Heels even more depth. Freshman Taissa Queiroz is still out but Jordan Zubich and Liza Astakhova, who each only played one game in Cancun, will be available.

Thomas was excellent on defense last season and will complement Toomey to make UNC even more of a force inside.x

Team	League	Overall	NET*
No. 9 Louisville	7–0	17–3	10
Duke	7–0	12–6	19
N.C. State	6–1	13–5	25
Syracuse	5–2	15–3	41
Virginia	5–2	13–5	39
Stanford	4–2	15–4	34
Virginia Tech	4–3	14–5	47
No. 23 Notre Dame	4–3	12–5	26
North Carolina	3–3	14–5	24
Clemson	3–3	12–6	40
Georgia Tech	3–3	8–10	92
Miami	3–4	11–7	42
Wake Forest	2–5	12–7	118
California	1–5	10–9	62
Pittsburgh	1–5	8–11	244
Florida State	1–5	6–12	105
SMU	0–6	7–11	169
Boston College	0–7	4–15	252

* — Through Thursday games
Thursday results
North Carolina 73, Miami 62
No. 9 Louisville 79, No. 23 Notre Dame 66
Florida State 69, Pittsburgh 65
Stanford 77, Boston College 52
N.C. State 95, Wake Forest 77
Syracuse 90, California 87, 3 OTs
Virginia Tech 79, SMU 42
Duke 65, Virginia 58
Sunday’s games
California at Boston College, noon, ACCN Extra
Wake Forest at Clemson, noon, ACC Network
No. 9 Louisville at N.C. State, 1 p.m., ESPN2
SMU at Pittsburgh, 1 p.m., ACCN Extra
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
Monday’s game
No. 23 Notre Dame at No. 1 UConn, 5 p.m., Fox
Thursday, Jan. 22, games
Miami at No. 23 Notre Dame, 6 p.m., ACC Network
Clemson at Virginia Tech, 6 p.m., ACCN Extra
Pittsburgh at Virginia, 7 p.m., ACCN Extra
Florida State at SMU, 7:30, ACCN Extra
North Carolina at Georgia Tech, 8 p.m., ACC Network

Date	Day/month	Time	Opponent/event (current ranks)	TV/ record
	October
30	Thursday	L, 91–82	No. 2 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. 3 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. 4 Texas	8–2
			———————————
7	Sunday	W, 82–40	vs. Boston Univ.	9–2
14	Sunday	L, 76–66, OT	vs. No. 9 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 No. 23 Notre Dame	13–5, 2–2
15	Thursday	W, 73–62	vs. Miami	14–5, 3–2
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