By R.L. Bynum
CHAPEL HILL — The No. 12 North Carolina women are off to an impressive start, thanks to playing well with a radically different offense and turning up the defense each game.
The Tar Heels (9–2) have stretched the floor and gone inside with slashing drives in the lane or skilled post moves from redshirt sophomore Ciera Toomey, whose level of play has soared compared to last season.
Toomey was the player guest at the Monday season premiere of the “Holding Court with Courtney Banghart” radio show at the Sheraton Chapel Hill before a large audience. Banghart said her team is learning fast with a group of newcomers after losing several players to graduation, saying that the transfers are as advertised.
The Tar Heels had practice No. 92 on Monday, but she said the first 40 practices included a lot of animated coaching, with the staff imploring the team to maintain the standard of how hard the team is expected to play defensively.
“We’re a bit ahead of schedule from where I would have thought defensively on day one and day 40. But, offensively, we’re about where we expected,” said Banghart, who said the Tar Heels have played to their strengths.
“Playing to the strengths of this team is playing with more space, playing with more driving attacks, playing with more versatility in the post,” Banghart said. “We’ve had to change ourselves entirely offensively, and it’s a change I was excited about. These guys had a lot to learn, and they’ve been totally dialed in. This team has been incredibly focused on the next day.”
Early on, Banghart said that she showed the team lots of video when the rhetorical question, “What in the world?” came up a few times in what she called “not good enough” clips.
— Read more: Quad 1 chances, like ACC opener vs. Louisville, big for UNC women with league down
She has delivered “daily vitamins,” a metaphor for the concepts that she has her team digest as the focus at the start of practice each day, whether it’s ball pressure, ball-screen defense, recovery, or communication.
“That’s really worked for them, and it’s new to this year,” she said. “We’ll do it as long as it’s helping.”
She’s said the biggest benefit has come on the defensive end, but added that her team certainly isn’t where it wants to be yet.
“They start practice with a heavy dose of urgency and high rep at defending the things that happen all the time,” Banghart said. “[It] could be pursue rebounding, could be on-ball defense, closeouts or taking away the middle, whatever our priorities are going into the week. They get a high rep, high urgency [assignment], beginning to start every day, and they’ve carried that through.”
She praised the roster’s mindset as much as its mechanics, saying the group is truly competitive and wants to win. She added that the Tar Heels are sharpened daily in practice by the male students who scrimmage against them.
Many of those guys would have been on the junior varsity men’s team had the program not been forced to disband due to changes in NCAA rules. They mirror how upcoming opponents play offense and defense, acting as a scout team.
“Oh, it gets very heated,” she said of the scrimmages. “It’s not really fair to say that we win those because we’re telling them how to do it, how to defend. But it’s super-competitive. They’re like our brothers. I yell at them if they don’t do what they’re told.”
The practice players arrive at 2:15 p.m. to watch video ahead of the 3 p.m. practice and learn how they should play and understand the six or seven plays they are supposed to run.
“If they don’t do it well, they hear about it,” Banghart said. “We have a good sense of what the other team’s doing, thanks to our guys.”
Banghart credited the rise in Toomey’s play to patience, work and trusting the process.
Toomey is averaging 11.2 points and a team-high 7.0 rebounds, and has blocked a team-high 16 shots in her first season exclusively playing the five spot.
Toomey said her takeaway from her meeting with Banghart after last season was that she had to get better, and that discipline drove her improvement.
“I created a schedule at the beginning of every week, and I stuck to it,” Toomey said. “I lifted because I needed to get stronger. I did mobility, did all the conditioning that was asked of me. And I worked out with my trainer, got as many shots up as I could. I feel like I came back with a different mindset, just a different player.”
Toomey said she was more of a finesse player in high school and has adjusted to the physicality of battling big opposing centers inside.
Her confidence has soared, particularly after she scored a season-high 19 points against UNCG in a game where she received low-post entry on five consecutive second-half possessions and scored each time.
“It’s been a long time since I felt like the player that I was, and that was kind of a little stretch where I got a glimpse of it again, and it felt really nice,” Toomey said. “It obviously gave me a lot of confidence.”
Looking ahead to Carolina’s ACC opener at 4 p.m. Sunday (ACC Network) against No. 22 Louisville (8–3), Banghart said that the Tar Heels will need to be versatile and competitive on both ends to match the stakes of a battle between two of the ACC’s three ranked teams.
“[We’ve] got to play well on both sides of the ball. You really do to beat good teams,” Banghart said. “We have to be against Louisville. We have to play a variety of different ways. They’ve got slashing guards, they have stretch forwards. They’ve obviously had a competitive schedule, so they’re battle-tested. Two really, really good teams.”
You can listen to the entire show here.
| Team | League | Overall | NET* |
|---|---|---|---|
| No. 8 Louisville | 9–0 | 19–3 | 8 |
| No. 21 Duke | 9–0 | 14–6 | 17 |
| N.C. State | 7–2 | 14–6 | 26 |
| Syracuse | 6–2 | 16–3 | 40 |
| Virginia Tech | 6–3 | 16–5 | 47 |
| Virginia | 6–3 | 14–6 | 38 |
| North Carolina | 5–3 | 16–5 | 20 |
| Notre Dame | 5–3 | 13–6 | 27 |
| Stanford | 4–3 | 15–5 | 36 |
| Clemson | 4–4 | 13–7 | 41 |
| Miami | 3–5 | 11–8 | 46 |
| Georgia Tech | 3–5 | 8–12 | 94 |
| California | 2–5 | 11–9 | 59 |
| Wake Forest | 2–6 | 12–8 | 117 |
| Florida State | 2–6 | 7–13 | 102 |
| SMU | 1–7 | 8–12 | 180 |
| Pittsburgh | 1–8 | 8–14 | 255 |
| Boston College | 0–9 | 4–18 | 257 |
* — Through Thursday games
Thursday’s results
North Carolina 54, Georgia Tech 46
Notre Dame 74, Miami 66
Virginia Tech 71, Clemson 68
Virginia 84, Pittsburgh 46
Florida State 73, SMU 51
Saturday’s results
No. 8 Louisville 85, Boston College 56
N.C. State 78, Virginia 76, OT
No. 21 Duke 95, Pittsburgh 41
Virginia Tech 85, Wake Forest 57
Sunday’s games
Syracuse at North Carolina, noon, TV TBA
Clemson at Notre Dame, 3 p.m., ACCN Extra
Miami at SMU, 4 p.m., ACCN Extra
Georgia Tech at Florida State, 4 p.m., ACC Network
Stanford at California, 6 p.m., ACC Network
Thursday’s games
Virginia at Wake Forest, 6 p.m., ACCN Extra
Pittsburgh at Virginia Tech, 6 p.m., ACCN Extra
Georgia Tech at Syracuse, 6 p.m., ACCN Extra
N.C. State at Boston College, 6 p.m., ACC Network
SMU at Clemson, 7 p.m., ACCN Extra
No. 8 Louisville at Stanford, 8 p.m., ESPN
No. 21 Duke at Miami, 8 p.m., ACC Network
Notre Dame at California, 10 p.m., ACCN Extra
| 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. 8 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, 1–1 ACC |
| January | ||||
| 1 | Thursday | W, 71–55 | vs. California | 13–3, 2–1 |
| 4 | Sunday | L, 77–71, OT | vs. Stanford | 13–4, 2–2 |
| 11 | Sunday | L, 73–50 | at Notre Dame | 13–5, 2–3 |
| 15 | Thursday | W, 73–62 | vs. Miami | 14–5, 3–3 |
| 18 | Sunday | W, 82–55 | at Florida State | 15–5, 4–3 |
| 22 | Thursday | W, 54–46 | at Georgia Tech | 16–5, 5–3 |
| 25 | Sunday | noon | vs. Syracuse | TV TBA |
| 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 No. 21 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. No. 21 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 |
Photo courtesy of UNC Athletics
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