By R.L. Bynum
North Carolina not only solved its recent issues at Boston College but did so in a historically dominant fashion.
The No. 16 Tar Heels had lost three of their last four games at BC, but they used unrelenting defense, hot shooting and a height advantage to end their troubles at Conte Forum on Monday night.
UNC (12–3, 1–1 ACC), with streaks of 18 and 28 straight points, led by 53 points before taking a 90–39 victory in the largest league win in program history, with the best shooting in an ACC game in 18 seasons.
Coach Courtney Banghart, who grew up in New Hampshire and enjoyed the big win with about 80 family and friends, and said that the performance was a result of a reset since the loss to Louisville.
“We knew that, coming back from Christmas, we needed some time away,” Banghart said.
“It was a long grind to get this young team ready to go, and then after exams, we really thought we didn’t play very well against Louisville and wanted to regroup, and we did that. I really liked their response, and it’s a great start as we start the second semester of ACC basketball.”
BC (4–11, 0–2) shot 21.3%, a season-low for a UNC opponent this season (UNCW shot 25%), and lost its seventh consecutive game. The Tar Heels shot 57.3%, their best in an ACC game since shooting 57.9% against Georgia Tech on Jan. 1, 2008.
With only one Eagles player in uniform taller than 6–0, UNC feasted inside with 52 points in the lane and shot 73.2% from two-point range, led by Nyla Harris’ season-high 19 points and a team-high nine rebounds in 19 minutes. Ciera Toomey added 11 points, eight rebounds and two blocks.
“We’ve really implored that we need more interior touches and more power in that position,” Banghart said, noting that five players had at least four rebounds, and four had at least three assists. “We’re getting better and better every game, which you expect with a young team.”
Freshman Nyla Brooks collected 15 points, two 3-pointers, three rebounds, two assists and a steal and was a team-high +39. Banghart says that she continues to see growth from Brooks.
“She came in with a sense of confidence and a sense of the work that she put in,” Banghart said. “Defensively, I told her, I want you to be one of the best freshmen in the country, if not the best freshman in the country, and so I’ve got to force you to understand the importance of the defensive end. [Since the Louisville game,] she has spent nothing but all the energy she can on defending with accountability, defending with reliability, and she’s becoming a much more complete player.”
The good defense was spread throughout the team.
“Winning on the road in the ACC is a mentality, and defensively it’s a connection and communication thing,” Banghart said, pointing out that BC only scored a pair of two-point field goals in the first half. “This team really can be good defensively if it’s something that they’re locked into. We walled up well, we were in gap help well. We guarded their actions well. They deserve that one.”
Reniya Kelly, now with no minutes restrictions, looked like she was finally finding a rhythm, finishing with nine points, five rebounds, three assists and two steals in 21 minutes. Lanie Grant dished out a career-high five assists, all in the first half.
Banghart said the plan was always to bring Kelly back slowly.
“For the first semester, she used her entire weekly load in games, so she wasn’t practicing any more than a very small amount of time,” Banghart said. “There’s a rhythm to the game that she was a little off. She practiced the week before the break, and then she’s practiced every day since the break, and you’re seeing her come into form.”
UNC scored the first seven points, five from Grant. A Harris follow shot capped a 7–3 run to push the lead to eight, 16–8, and Carolina had a 20–13 lead after one quarter.
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Carolina took control with the first eight points of the second quarter, going up by 15, 28–13, on Brooks’ driving three-point play. Three Harris layups and 3-pointers from Brooks and Kelly as UNC finished the first half with a 16–0 run, holding BC scoreless for the final 4:52 to take a 46–18 halftime lead.
Toomey’s layup stretched UNC’s run to 18–0 as BC finally ended a long scoring drought 77 seconds into the second half. BC pulled within 24 before Carolina finished the third quarter with 14 consecutive points to lead 69–31.
The streak stretched to 28, including seven straight Brooks points, to go up 50 on a Laila Hull free throw with 6:23 left.
BC went scoreless for 8½ minutes before getting a Jocelyn Grier jumper with 6:04 remaining, and UNC scored the next four points to shove the lead to 52. A Laila Hull 3-pointer put the Tar Heels ahead by 53 points with 48 seconds left.
Kaia Henderson led BC with 10 points.
Notes
— UNC returns home for two games against the ACC’s West Coast schools, facing California (9–5, 0–1) at noon Thursday (ACC Network) and Stanford (12–2, 1–0) at 1 p.m. Sunday (ESPN). Stanford plays at N.C. State at 2 p.m. Thursday, and Cal faces the Wolfpack at 2 p.m. Sunday.
— Elina Aarnisalo (9 points, 4 assists, 4 steals) was out of the UNC starting lineup for the second time this season and first since the second game of the season against Elon.
— Carolina leads the series with BC 19–5, including 8–3 at Conte Forum.
— UNC is 5–2 in road ACC openers under Banghart.
— Indya Nivar got whistled with three first-half fouls and scored a season-low four points.
— Carolina’s streak of double-figure 3-pointer games ended at four as the Tar Heels were 8 of 25 from outside the arc.
— Harris’ career-high is 22 points for Louisville against Syracuse on Feb. 11, 2024.
— UNC went up three spots in the NET rankings to 17 with the victory.
No. 16 UNC 90, BC 39
| Team | League | Overall | NET* | WAB* |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. 13 Duke | 16–2 | 21–8 | 10 | 13 |
| No. 12 Louisville | 15–3 | 25–6 | 13 | 10 |
| No. 16 North Carolina | 14–4 | 25–6 | 19 | 14 |
| N.C. State | 13–5 | 20–9 | 23 | 27 |
| Syracuse | 12–6 | 22–7 | 40 | 31 |
| Virginia Tech | 12–6 | 22–8 | 41 | 34 |
| Notre Dame | 12–6 | 20–9 | 24 | 23 |
| Clemson | 11–7 | 20–10 | 44 | 40 |
| Virginia | 11–7 | 19–10 | 36 | 49 |
| California | 9–9 | 18–13 | 53 | 60 |
| Stanford | 8–10 | 19–12 | 42 | 56 |
| Miami | 8–10 | 16–13 | 58 | 65 |
| Georgia Tech | 7–10 | 12–17 | 76 | 109 |
| Florida State | 5–13 | 10–20 | 107 | 138 |
| Wake Forest | 4–14 | 14–16 | 121 | 134 |
| SMU | 2–16 | 9–21 | 220 | 209 |
| Pittsburgh | 1–17 | 8–23 | 262 | 238 |
| Boston College | 1–17 | 5–26 | 247 | 283 |
* — Through Sunday games
Thursday’s results
No. 16 North Carolina 82, Virginia 70
No. 12 Louisville 69, Georgia Tech 50
Notre Dame 72, Syracuse 62
Miami 79, Pittsburgh 58
N.C. State 65, Wake Forest 58
No. 13 Duke 80, Florida State 52
Stanford 87, SMU 57
Clemson 70, California 63
Sunday’s results
No. 16 North Carolina 74, No. 13 Duke 69
Virginia Tech 83, Virginia 82
Georgia Tech 79, Miami 49
N.C. State 93, Pittsburgh 43
Stanford 85, Clemson 50
Syracuse 90, Boston College 65
Notre Dame 65, No. 12 Louisville 62
Florida State 77, Wake Forest 74, OT
California 78, SMU 34
End of regular season
ACC tournament
Gas South Arena
Duluth, Ga.
March 4–8
| Date | Day/month | Scores | Opponent/event (current ranks) | Record |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| October | ||||
| 30 | Thursday | L, 91–82 | No. 4 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. 2 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. 3 Texas | 8–2 |
| ——————————— | ||||
| 7 | Sunday | W, 82–40 | vs. Boston Univ. | 9–2 |
| 14 | Sunday | L, 76–66, OT | vs. No. 13 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 No. 22 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 | W, 77–71, OT | vs. Syracuse | 17–5, 6–3 |
| February | ||||
| 2 | Monday | W, 61–59 | at N.C. State | 18–5, 7–3 |
| 5 | Thursday | W, 53–44 | vs. Clemson | 19–5, 8–3 |
| 8 | Sunday | W, 84–56 | vs. Wake Forest | 20–5, 9–3 |
| 12 | Thursday | W, 94–42 | vs. SMU | 21–5, 10–3 |
| 15 | Sunday | L, 72–68 | at No. 8 Duke | 21–6, 10–4 |
| 19 | Thursday | W, 66–63, OT | at Virginia Tech | 22–6, 11–4 |
| 22 | Sunday | W, 78–50 | vs. Pittsburgh | 23–6, 12–4 |
| 26 | Thursday | W, 82–70 | at Virginia | 24–6, 13–4 |
| March | ||||
| 1 | Sunday | W, 72–69 | vs. No. 8 Duke | 25–6, 14–4 |
| ACC tournament | Gas South Arena, Duluth, Ga. | |||
| 6 | Friday | W, 85–68 | Quarterfinal vs. Va. Tech | 26–6 |
| 7 | Saturday | L, 65–57 | Semifinal vs. No. 13 Louisville | 26–7 |
| NCAA tournament Fort Worth 1 Regional | ||||
| 21 | Friday | W, 82–51 | First round in Chapel Hill: vs. Western Illinois | 27–7 |
| 23 | Sunday | W, 74–66 | Second round in Chapel Hill: No. 17 Maryland | 28–7 |
| 27 | Friday | L, 63–52 | Sweet 16 in Fort Worth, Texas: vs. No. 1 UConn | 28–8 |
Photo courtesy of UNC Athletics
