Covering Carolina sports beyond just men's basketball and football — with the most complete women's basketball coverage
Recruiting can take crazy and sometimes unexpected turns. Paulina Paris, the only freshman on UNC’s women’s basketball team, wore No. 23 in high school because she is a big Michael Jordan fan, making Carolina a natural destination. But the four-star 5–9 guard’s route to becoming a Tar Heel — which nearly led to N.C. State — was circuitous.
Live Action With Carolina Basketball, scheduled for this Friday, has been postponed until Friday, Oct. 7, because of the forecast for remnants of Hurricane Ian to move through the Triangle area early Friday. The event will be the first public appearance for both the UNC men’s and women’s basketball teams. Numerous recruits were scheduled to attend the event.
The higher the expectations, the more likely a team will play games that start later, which is the case for Carolina’s women’s basketball team. After playing only two ACC games that started at 8 p.m. last season, the Tar Heels have four such games this coming season, including home games against Florida State (Dec. 29), Duke (Jan. 19) and Virginia Tech (Feb. 23) and a road game against N.C. State (Feb. 16). There could potentially be a fifth since the time for the Jan. 15 home game against the Wolfpack hasn’t been set.
You’ll get your first look at UNC men’s and women’s basketball teams that both have high expectations at Live Action with Carolina Basketball at 7:30 Friday night. The name comes from one of Coach Hubert Davis’ frequently used phrases, “live action,” which fans first learned about during a halftime television interview during the Final Four. While “Late Night” was the traditional name of the event, it never really happened late in the evening.
Carolina junior star Alyssa Ustby and the United States U23 three-on-three team split two games to advance in the FIBA 3×3 U23 Women’s Nations League Final in Constanta, Romania. The Americans moved out of the group stage and face Lithuania on Friday in the quarterfinals during the single-elimination phase of the event.
By R.L. Bynum Along with the high expectations for North Carolina’s women’s basketball team will come an upgrade in the … More
USA Basketball has named Carolina junior Alyssa Ustby to the team that will compete in the 2022 FIBA 3×3 U23 Nations League Final, which is scheduled next week on Sept. 14–16 in Constanta, Romania. Ustby was part of the American team that qualified for the Final of the three-on-three competition by winning the Nations League Americas conference last month in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Ustby scored 76 points in 15 games during that competition as the United States went 18–0.
In a nod to Coach Hubert Davis’ energetic halftime interview during UNC’s Final Four semifinals victory over Duke, the late night event this year will be called “Live Action with Carolina Basketball,” and is set for Friday, Sept. 30.
Just when you think that Alyssa Ustby, seen last spring kicking 35-yard field goals at Kenan Stadium, can’t show more of her athleticism, she impresses fans with more stuff. Well, one in particular.
Coach Courtney Banghart has announced that her Carolina women’s basketball team will play perennial power Connecticut in the 2023–24 and 2024–25 seasons. Banghart mentioned that scheduling on and The Tar Heel Show podcast episode released Monday.
North Carolina junior Alyssa Utsby was named to the USA Basketball Women’s 3×3 U23 Nations League roster on Tuesday. She joins Duke senior Celeste Taylor and Notre Dame junior Maddy Westbeld on the six-player roster after 11 players were invited to try out. Others on the team are Aaliya Moore of Texas, Kayla Wells of Texas A&M and Maddy Siegrist of Villanova.
The NCAA has dramatically changed how regionals will work in the women’s basketball tournament for the 2023 season. It could mean North Carolina’s potential path to the Final Four would include four games in the Carolinas. Instead of four regional sites for the Sweet 16 and the Elite Eight, there will only be two — at the Bon Secours Wellness Arena in Greenville, S.C., and the Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle. Each site will be the host for two regionals.
Coming off a Sweet 16 appearance last season, North Carolina’s women’s basketball team faces a challenging nonconference schedule that includes two opponents who also made it that far in last season’s NCAA tournament. The Tar Heels (25-7 last season) open at home on Nov. 9 against Jackson State, which won the SWAC and made the NCAA tournament.
Today’s Carolina fans couldn’t imagine the humble roots of women’s basketball on campus, even after Title IX passed, for a program that has won a national championship and could contend for another next season.
When it’s UNC’s turn during ACC Network School Takeovers on Tuesday, you’ll see 10 memorable victories in nine sports from the last school year that aired on an ESPN channel. You won’t see the Tar Heels’ Final Four victory over Duke because that aired on TBS, but you’ll get a chance to relive their 94–81 victory in Durham to ruin Coach Mike Krzyzewski’s last home game (6 p.m.), a softball no-hitter, an amazing football comeback and three ACC Tournament championship wins.
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