Covering Carolina sports beyond just men's basketball and football — with the most complete women's basketball coverage
Life without Alyssa Ustby — however long that is — is never going to be easy, but No. 9 North Carolina having junior transfer guard Tray Crisp back and Lanie Grant’s savvy sure make it easier. Both came off the bench to score career-highs and make crucial buckets as the Tar Heels rallied from 12 points down to win 79–75 Sunday at the KFC Yum! Center for the program’s first win in six tries at Louisville, becoming the only women’s team in the country unbeaten on the road.
CHAPEL HILL — There may be many surprised that Jae’Lyn Withers is North Carolina’s most accurate 3-point shooter this season, but the 6–9 graduate forward isn’t one of them.
CHAPEL HILL — While the bubble battle for the ACC’s possible fourth NCAA tournament berth took a lousy turn Saturday for Wake Forest and Pittsburgh, it couldn’t have gone better for North Carolina three weeks from Selection Sunday. With an 81–66 Saturday home Quad 3 victory over Virginia, the Tar Heels (17–11, 10–6 ACC) also gave themselves an outside shot at a double-bye in the ACC tournament while continuing on a possible path to a spot in the NCAA tournament.
CHAPEL HILL — Fighting through the NCAA tournament bubble, North Carolina continues to play well during a stretch where any loss would likely end the Tar Heels’ chances. The Tar Heels jumped to an early 19-point lead and fought some lulls on both ends to come away with an 81–66 victory Saturday at the Smith Center over Virginia for their third consecutive victory, never trailing in any of those games.
CHAPEL HILL — North Carolina coach Hubert Davis addressed the media on Friday at the Smith Center ahead of Saturday’s 4 p.m. home game against Virginia. Here’s a full transcript of the press conference and video:
Maria Gakdeng was nearly unstoppable when she got the ball inside Thursday night, and No. 9 North Carolina took advantage of that. The senior center produced her 10th career double-double and third this season with 21 points and 14 rebounds as the Tar Heels moved to 8–0 on the road for the third time in program history with a 68–58 victory over Syracuse at the JMA Dome in Syracuse.
Alyssa Ustby missed most of No. 9 UNC’s victory Sunday against N.C. State with a left knee injury and didn’t travel with the team for Thursday’s game at Syracuse, but there was good news.
CHAPEL HILL — The only way to help your NCAA tournament resume in a Quad 3 game is to win convincingly, and that’s exactly what North Carolina did with its 97–73 victory on a snowy Wednesday night at the Smith Center over N.C. State.
CHAPEL HILL — The shots fell for Carolina as hard as the snow outside the Smith Center before a rowdy crowd of mostly students. It turned into showtime for the Tar Heels, who forced turnovers for easy shots, dominated the boards and rolled to a 97–73 victory over N.C. State on Wednesday at the Smith Center.
CHAPEL HILL — Much like North Carolina’s 75–63 victory over Maryland in 2000, Wednesday night at the Smith Center should be a student-dominated affair.
It’s been a draining season for North Carolina basketball fans, with lots of last-second drama that has undoubtedly created plenty of heart palpitations. The men’s and women’s teams have combined for 14 one-possession games. Woody Durham used to say that fans need to “go where they go and do what they do” when the game is on the line. UNC fans who have followed that advice have made frequent trips.
Several former UNC players are putting up career-high numbers heading into the home stretch of the NBA season coming out of the All-Star break, during which Armando Bacot’s team won the G League Up Next event.
Roy Williams’ support was a big reason North Carolina hired Hubert Davis to succeed him, and the struggles of this season’s team haven’t changed that.
North Carolina is back in the top 10 for the first time in three seasons, moving up three spots to No. 9 after knocking off N.C. State 66–65 on Sunday.
After mentioning during his radio show two weeks ago that he would hire a general manager, UNC coach Hubert Davis didn’t want to talk about it when asked to expand on the subject during the weekly ACC Zoom press conference on Monday. But he was more than happy to talk about Jae’Lyn Withers’ performance against Syracuse.
tarheeltribune.com 