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#UNC guard Reniya Kelly and Coach Courtney Banghart after Heels avoid an upset at Clemson
Feb 9, 2025
#UNC guard Reniya Kelly and Coach Courtney Banghart after Heels avoid an upset at Clemson
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0:00
want to say how fun it was to come out
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of that locker room the game started and
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see so many Tar Hill fans here um a lot
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traveled um from Chapel Hill on Super
0:08
Bowl Sunday because they just have
0:09
really gotten behind this team obviously
0:11
our Chancellor and athletic director
0:12
were also here I mean um these guys have
0:14
earned it I know today we didn't play
0:16
our best um didn't shoot our best we
0:18
turn the ball over more than we
0:19
typically do especially in that second
0:21
quarter um couldn't get in any sort of
0:23
Rhythm at all like could find no
0:24
momentum One play good play and then the
0:26
next play wasn't so good um but you know
0:29
you got to win a lot of different ways
0:30
in the conference in a conference as
0:32
hard as this and um to win ugly is is
0:35
part of it and today we won ugly uh and
0:38
I can't say enough about the kids
0:40
sitting next to me she's just a dog um
0:42
and without her I don't think we'd be
0:43
anywhere near as good so career high and
0:45
rebounds big
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guard you have a message on that or
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something oh
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my good that's what I got any questions
0:55
questions on Zoom first you stics fan
0:58
yeah me too where are you from oh might
1:00
do grow up Boston that's right I'm a die
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hard I'm from New Hampshire okay anyway
1:04
further question uh if we don't have
1:05
questions on Zoom we'll open up for
1:07
questions in the
1:08
room what did you tell wayy after that
1:11
have you ever seen that happen before I
1:13
mean
1:14
for I said you're going to get made fun
1:16
of but what I love truthfully is uh her
1:20
her teammates literally Lexi looked at
1:22
me Ria all of them were like it's okay
1:24
Coach we'll get a stop um and that's
1:25
what this team's about right like one
1:27
mistake doesn't doesn't drown us um and
1:29
so you know I I told Laney after the
1:31
game that I trust you enough to have you
1:33
in you've made a lot of big free throws
1:35
for us this year um we knew they had to
1:36
foul um I trust you enough to be in and
1:39
it's going to take a whole lot more than
1:40
that to make me lose my trust in you but
1:43
uh Rah continues to be The Driver of you
1:47
and then she made two big plays on the
1:48
defensive end weight and made the big
1:51
bucket just talk about how Rai is really
1:54
driving everything here yeah I mean they
1:56
were trying to ISO us and you know Ione
2:00
runs over and I said isos for them
2:01
doesn't mean isos for us right and she
2:03
was had already kind of was saying the
2:05
same thing at the same time um you know
2:07
she plays the hardest position on the
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floor um and it takes a lot of
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communication and connection between
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coach and player and Trust for her to
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run our team um and I just I trust her
2:17
and she um continues to deliver on both
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ends um and then I asked her to rebound
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more and she does that too um but you
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know as she's matured so and in our
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program you know our relationship has
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matured right and so I think there's a
2:30
clear sense of what we need from her and
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and she trusts the work um and she's
2:34
becoming a lot of people's favorite for
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good reason R can you take me through
2:37
the the the the jumper there at the end
2:40
and then the rebound where you barely
2:42
stayed inbounds and then the steal at
2:44
the very end um yeah so obviously the
2:46
three wasn't going at first so I need to
2:48
touch paint a lot more um get to my
2:50
pull-up so the pullup was just there I
2:52
feel like the post players can't really
2:53
guard me so I think just attacking that
2:55
post player was the best option and then
2:57
defensively I think I just need to track
2:58
down the ball I've had what eight
3:00
rebounds like she said and I just need
3:02
to keep rebounding this game so that's
3:03
what I did but it it seems like you just
3:06
decided you were going to let the T go
3:09
lose today no we can't lose we can't I
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think that's the motive what was the
3:13
mentality there when you know you know
3:16
you have to look at the record and
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everything and and you probably didn't
3:20
expect such a tough game and to to be in
3:22
that kind of struggle and then come
3:25
through it again I mean truthfully we're
3:27
not really looking at the records we're
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just playing each game to win so I mean
3:30
Clemson is a tough team they've been
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winning some big games at home so we
3:33
just had to make sure we came out and
3:34
was fighting and we fell short at first
3:36
but we picked it up at the end and we
3:38
didn't shoot well either I mean right so
3:40
two for 11 from three in the first
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quarter I thought we missed Maria a few
3:43
times uh and then one for three in the
3:45
second quarter 0 for two in the third
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and 0 for two in the fourth I mean
3:48
really hard to win a basketball game at
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the power five level power four level
3:50
when you're three for 18 from
3:53
three what was your general impression
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just uh what Clemson brings to the table
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especially with this being coach Poppy's
3:58
first year running the program yeah I
4:00
remember my first year really well we
4:01
actually my first year point guard is
4:03
was here tonight and I got to talk to
4:04
her before the game and you know those
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first year kids that give it give it
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everything they've got for you you don't
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forget them right and so he I'm sure he
4:10
loves this team because it's his first
4:12
one right um and you know he's he's got
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a lot of dynamic pieces obviously we
4:17
know Ana pool really well she spent four
4:19
years with us um you know but you know
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he's he's going to be just like
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everybody else in this league there's a
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lot of people investing and caring about
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women's basketball you know and so I
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think it's the best basketball
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conference in the country and we're
4:29
certainly glad to to have them what
4:31
surprised you about what Clipson did and
4:32
how did they disrupt your offense I know
4:34
it was bad shooting but had to be more
4:35
than that not really I mean Maria Drew
4:38
11 fouls you know so they were really
4:39
physical with Maria she was you know she
4:42
she still shot over 50% from the field
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um you know we don't take contested
4:46
threes that's just not our that's not
4:47
our emojo um and so that means we had 18
4:50
15 open shots we completely missed three
4:52
for 18 from three so again I think if if
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you go if you trust your averages three
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that you just don't go three for 18 it
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just doesn't happen um and so I thought
5:01
you know they they crowded the paint a
5:02
bit and once once we saw we started the
5:04
game two for 11 they start they just
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crowded the paint and forced us to make
5:07
them and and we understandably were a
5:09
little shot hesitant because we hadn't
5:11
been shooting very well um and so you
5:14
know like I said we have to win tough
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sometimes you can't always win them
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pretty this see like you play Grace and
5:18
riah together as much as I've seen uh
5:22
was that dictated about what Clemson was
5:23
doing yeah you know I I thought I
5:25
thought in that particular in this
5:26
particular game Grace brought an
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aggressiveness at The Rim that we really
5:29
needed you know she attacked off the
5:30
dribble and and put pressure on the
5:32
defense which we needed we were kind of
5:33
playing a little bit around the arc a
5:34
little bit too much um and she does a
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really good job at attacking and then
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also you know Rah played 32 minutes and
5:40
45 seconds her she played her ass off
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the entire time it's exhausting so if I
5:44
can put a great if I can put Grace in
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and let Grace dog the ball for a little
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bit if I can let Grace bring the ball up
5:49
a little bit then you're almost getting
5:50
a rest for RIA while you're still
5:52
playing Ria right and so I think Grace
5:54
gave us a lot of um a lot I mean look it
5:56
she was she had eight points four for
5:58
five from the field a plus three on her
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numbers only one better was tied was
6:01
Maria so you know Grace continues to
6:04
really be an important part of our team
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and I thought tonight her aggressiveness
6:06
is what we needed at the rim and in a
6:08
will scor a game the the the lay the
6:11
shot clock among among others Jus really
6:14
gave you buckets when you needed him uh
6:15
Grace oh yeah for sure and they made a
6:17
lot of they made late ones that you know
6:19
that kind of hurt us from three um you
6:21
know we had to make up nine points on
6:22
the arc um but yeah she's when she's
6:25
aggressive we're better and um a lot
6:27
like when Ria first got here you know
6:28
these guys were kids that wanted make
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the team get what they want first and
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and we are imploring her to recognize
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that Ria can do that she can be the
6:35
facilitating point guard and you can be
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the aggressive driver or you can be the
6:38
point guard and R I can be the scorer
6:40
right but um her being aggressive is key
6:42
and we're better now than she is where's
6:44
this rebounding streak coming from uh
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the strength rebounding from you where's
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that coming from um CB actually said
6:50
that the guards have to rebound more so
6:52
I've been trying to rebound more cuz you
6:53
re it like twice in 10 games the first
6:56
10 games so yeah I think that's where it
6:57
comes from she's a dog right you know
6:59
that to win basketball games she has to
7:01
rebound her position point guards don't
7:03
go to the class offensively because
7:04
they're in the safety yeah so if
7:06
everyone else takes care of it then she
7:07
can go get it and um you know perfect
7:09
example you tell her what you need and
7:11
she'll do it as kids really locked in
7:13
any other questions in the room I I
7:15
would see you still undefeated on the
7:17
road you're supposed to have tough games
7:18
on the road I guess this was one of the
7:20
toughest uh just it it's just just just
7:23
hard to be perfect on the road
7:25
especially Duke man found out last night
7:27
so did um I think there's two teams on
7:29
the men's side and two teams on the
7:30
women's side that have lost that have
7:32
that are undefeated on the road we're
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doing that in a power five conference
7:35
right um yeah we we it's hard to win on
7:36
the road you're we didn't have a shoot
7:38
around because the men's game last night
7:39
we didn't practice here then it was such
7:41
an early shoot around time so not only
7:42
did we have the whole week off or at
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least the whole week with no game we had
7:45
no shoot around so the first time they
7:47
saw this gym was at 10 at 12:30 today um
7:51
and so that's not ideal obviously um so
7:55
that makes the road hard and you just
7:56
you don't have the confines of what you
7:58
usually are used to um so the fact that
8:00
they're undefeated on the road it shows
8:02
the defense travels it shows an enormous
8:04
amount of toughness and togetherness um
8:06
so which I I think really does speak to
8:08
our team what the lessons do you take in
8:10
practice after a game like this what did
8:11
you learn from this game as I told
8:14
them let's just rinse let's just shower
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it off literally let's just shower it
8:19
off right and then but finally going
8:21
back home for two uh great rival games
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that we're excited about um and so you
8:27
know I don't know yet without watching
8:29
back what we'll learn but I don't want
8:31
them I I don't I want them thinking
8:33
another second about it quite honestly
8:34
winning on the road is hard they did it
8:36
they what we we got what we needed when
8:38
we needed it the stops that we needed
8:40
and let's just we're a really good
8:41
basketball team let's just keep it
8:44
moving can you touch on how the offense
8:47
is different when Grace is is in the
8:49
back court with you what does that how
8:52
does that help
8:53
you um honestly it's really not that
8:56
different it's just the ball is in
8:58
someone else's hands I know how to play
8:59
many positions so it's really not that
9:02
different I think I like playing off
9:03
ball just to get a rest but it's really
9:05
not that
9:07
different great thanks everyone
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