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UNC's Courtney Banghart, Reniya Kelly and Alyssa Ustby after win over Florida State
Mar 7, 2025
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0:00
I'll have right here there thank
0:07
you come on 23 away how crazy
0:12
I you had 18 ril 23
0:15
more ala that's ridiculous you know who
0:18
else is
0:20
ridiculous I only when you're
0:24
answering lean into the m and you're
0:26
answering coach knows she's oh I've done
0:28
this before guys I'm so proud of you
0:31
holy bananas oh my gosh thank you you
0:35
Ela okay thanks everybody we're gonna go
0:38
ahead and get started in here appreciate
0:41
it joining us from North Carolina is
0:44
head coach Courtney bangart along with
0:45
student athletes Ria Kelly and Alysa
0:48
usie if you have a question please raise
0:50
your hand and we'll get a mic over to
0:52
you please introduce yourself and
0:54
provide the name of the media Outlet
0:55
you're representing for those on Zoom
0:58
please use the raised hand feature if
0:59
you have a question question we'll begin
1:01
with an opening statement from coach
1:02
before taking questions from the room so
1:04
coach go ahead whenever you're ready
1:06
yeah I mean you guys were all treated to
1:08
a really good college basketball game um
1:10
there's no one who watched that game and
1:11
didn't think these were two of the
1:12
better teams in the country um man
1:14
Florida State's formidable they've got
1:16
Elite uh Talent um they've got
1:19
versatility they've got great coaching I
1:21
mean that's just a really tough team to
1:23
beat um and we knew we were going to
1:25
have to bring our best um and we did
1:27
that I felt like our guys really uh took
1:29
care of of kind of they won it their way
1:31
and we talked about winning it our way
1:33
and what this uh group has become you
1:35
know every team sort of at this point in
1:36
the season has their identity and
1:38
there's a toughness to this group and a
1:39
togetherness to this group and a courage
1:41
to this group uh that was on display uh
1:43
tonight so I'm I'm really proud to be
1:46
next to two of our um two of our guys
1:49
that have been such a huge part of of
1:51
this team um and I'm sure they're ready
1:53
to talk about what just happened thank
1:55
you coach we'll go ahead for with
1:57
questions in the room if we can hit
1:59
Brendan on the front second in the
2:02
front uh Brendan pots World exposure
2:05
report hey coach um uh two questions one
2:09
uh you held T Lawson to to 13 points
2:12
including one point in the uh in the
2:14
third quarter what was the uh the game
2:16
plan I know I know uh we talked about uh
2:19
uh allowing uh their their last player
2:23
to to a low as well so yeah what what
2:26
was that uh game plan and um the the big
2:30
shot in the closing seconds how uh how
2:33
conf or how proud were you to see uh to
2:36
see her um shoot that shot especially
2:39
after she missed the last couple of
2:41
weeks yeah tough uh well first thing you
2:43
know you said what did I do um you know
2:45
these guys get all the credit this is a
2:47
ladson's a perennial top two top three
2:51
WNBA draft pick if she came out this
2:52
year much less uh next year and so um
2:56
what I did was try to give us a um a
2:58
game plan that that we could execute and
3:00
asked our bigs to sort of be really
3:02
crowdy which meant our backside had to
3:04
be really present um and then we needed
3:06
a chest up they do a lot of slipping um
3:09
and so if you if you get to the ball
3:11
screen coverage before the ball screen
3:12
you're going to be in trouble um and our
3:14
guys just were totally locked in we the
3:17
Scout last night we redid it this
3:18
morning and kind of quizzed them on how
3:19
we want to defend it and they held it to
3:21
a te you know it's a really good player
3:23
um and then your second question was how
3:24
PR proud of I of Rah Kelly I mean talk
3:27
about a dog right she's been itch into
3:30
play um you know but she's been leading
3:33
this team um from the bench and um to
3:36
see her come in and and be what we need
3:38
when we need it it's just Ria Kelly
3:40
right this is I think one of the best
3:42
point guards in the country I I thought
3:43
that last year when I started her as a
3:45
freshman um but she just continues to
3:47
mature and continues to play to her
3:49
personality um which makes our team
3:51
better so I'm super proud of her and
3:52
really glad she's here we'll stay in the
3:54
front on our right and then go to the
3:56
front middle with RL coach skip Foreman
3:59
with the news and record of Greensboro
4:01
uh multiple part question number
4:03
one for those of us who don't know there
4:06
was a factor of Revenge in today's game
4:10
or something you had to get done and you
4:13
did it what set that in
4:16
motion well the Revenge was that we um
4:19
lson hit a game winner at our place um
4:22
and so you know that's at home and
4:24
that's a a game winner after we thought
4:26
we had played well enough to win um and
4:28
we totally missed our coverage on that
4:29
last last possession um so the the
4:31
Revenge was that it sits in their mouth
4:33
and then what did I do um I just sort of
4:35
look Alyssa in the eye and I say do you
4:36
remember um and you know she's that's
4:40
all you have to say to Alyssa and then
4:41
she takes care of the rest and so she
4:43
had her teammates totally prepared ready
4:45
with playing with the urgency of a
4:47
senior um you know that that that's
4:49
really an Alyssa question I
4:51
think yes you talked yesterday about
4:55
Alyssa yeah she's good basically
4:58
basically brow beating you to get back
5:00
on the court Y is Rah the same way oh
5:02
yeah Rah is a little bit more subtle
5:04
about it which sometimes it's like when
5:06
your dad's mad at you it's way worse
5:07
than when your mom's mad at you um
5:09
Alyssa is just in my face and like Ria
5:12
just gives me that look you know and
5:14
it's like I know um but they also know
5:16
that this team really wants to do
5:18
something special in March and so um we
5:20
trust our bench and and she needed the
5:22
time that she needed to be better now um
5:25
and it it proved right it was a hard
5:27
decision she wants to play every minute
5:28
of her season right but um she trusts us
5:31
she trusts our sport performance team
5:32
and and she knows we're not holding kids
5:34
out unnecessarily you know we're we're
5:36
making sure that they're at their best
5:37
when we need them we'll go to the front
5:39
M middle one more can I toss it to arel
5:42
please thank
5:44
you boom AR ALB with t Hill Tribune for
5:47
all three of you can you address the
5:49
defense you held Florida State to a
5:50
season V 56 points and you're now 25-0
5:53
when you whole a team under 67 just talk
5:55
about the defensive effort today all
5:57
three of you please Alyssa first yeah
6:00
our defensive effort really came from
6:02
our preparation and our individual Buy
6:04
in I felt like we were always on the
6:06
same page defensively and when our five
6:10
are feeling like that we are a really
6:12
hard team to score on and we also carry
6:14
a lot of Pride with our defense so we we
6:17
don't take it lightly when somebody
6:18
scores on us like we're frustrated we're
6:20
going to figure out why they scored on
6:21
us and we're going to fix it the next
6:22
time down just that's that's just how
6:24
competitive this group is Ria do you
6:27
have anything to add um no
6:30
she coach anything for you you know I
6:32
just I don't think this is one of the
6:35
best offensive team if not the best
6:36
offensive team in the country and 56
6:38
points and US rebounding 53 times is you
6:41
know is is what was needed honestly is
6:44
what was needed um and super proud of
6:47
them because that's just not an easy
6:48
team to hold the way that we did we'll
6:50
go to the third row
6:53
please Debbie and then if we can get a
6:56
Mike second row Debbie strowman Chapel
7:00
chapelboro wchl uh can you speak to the
7:03
defense specifically on Latson yeah and
7:06
also Alyssa it's pretty dangerous to say
7:08
you want some smoke before the game so
7:10
you obviously had to have a lot of
7:12
confidence can you speak to that comment
7:13
prior to this game go ahead Liz because
7:16
you'll forget the question um so those
7:20
specific words actually never came out
7:21
of my mouth it was just um it's fine I'm
7:25
all for it but that's just kind of like
7:27
what journalists do looking for a story
7:29
and so I was like great you can run with
7:30
it but I was saying when I was on live
7:33
TV they were asking me about the FSU
7:35
matchup and I was like this is one that
7:36
we're really looking forward to because
7:38
we lost on our home court in front of
7:40
our friends our family our alumni off of
7:42
a buzzer beater and that again this
7:44
group is competitive and we have pride
7:46
especially on our home floor I was like
7:48
that hasn't sit that hasn't sat right
7:50
with us for so long so to get another
7:52
opportunity at a team like that that's
7:54
something that we really look forward to
7:56
and we're not going to take that
7:57
opportunity for granted so call it smoke
7:59
whatever but we did have a lot of
8:01
confidence because we knew our
8:02
preparation would help us take care of
8:04
it mean you just got to love her right
8:06
that's who she is right go this second
8:08
row please she wanted to ask about
8:10
Latson oh yeah um Latson um like I said
8:13
we just wanted to make sure that we
8:14
chest it up on the ball we've got great
8:15
Elite Defenders uh on ball Defenders but
8:18
we needed our second line to be also
8:19
Elite so we wanted to be high in the
8:21
gaps we wanted our taggers which is the
8:23
backside D um to be really um present
8:27
and accountable right and so you're
8:28
basically guarding and a half when
8:30
laton's on the team everybody right and
8:32
our guys did that um I think when we
8:34
watch that back we'll be pleased about
8:36
our angles the whole night whole day I
8:38
guess it's only the day still Lord Megan
8:41
Smith the daily Tar Heel uh Rai you were
8:43
three of 12 um before that last minute
8:46
when you made those two shots um what is
8:48
just what does that show about your your
8:50
trust in your shot and just how you're
8:52
feeling coming back um first off like I
8:55
would risk my whole body to be on the
8:57
court with my team so my body told me I
8:59
couldn't play and I didn't play I
9:00
listened to my body so you know it is
9:02
what it is but um I'm going to trust the
9:04
process I'm going to trust the work that
9:05
I put in with my shot um obviously I
9:07
missed a lot of shots tonight but that
9:09
didn't you know down my confidence or
9:11
you know made me hits into the about it
9:13
so I just kept shooting and trusting my
9:14
work that I put
9:15
in we'll go here remember the Baseline
9:17
out of bounds took it at The Rim I mean
9:19
she had two huge finishes in that game
9:22
we'll go here in the third row
9:25
please Marissa sesker Hoops that's Ria
9:28
I'm just curious what's that made you
9:30
have that reaction as you were sitting
9:31
down huh oh sorry you're good you're
9:34
fine uh when you sat down you kind of
9:36
looked at the stat sheet and went ooh or
9:37
whatever what what that was giving you
9:39
that reaction um I just missed a lot of
9:41
shots and you know I just don't like
9:45
missing a lot but it's okay I'm going to
9:47
do better next game rebound yeah like oh
9:49
yeah Alissa she had how many 18 rebounds
9:53
and had 16 like that's ridiculous I know
9:55
we didn't have a ton of O boards but
9:57
still between me and Maria almost 10 o
9:59
boards that's why we keep encaging ours
10:01
tooot because and I loveash for rebounds
10:04
sometimes like you
10:07
seen it's a two-way it's a two-way thing
10:10
yeah we'll go fourth row in the center
10:13
to Aaron
10:16
please Aaron beard with the AP this is
10:18
for Courtney we've been asking you
10:20
minute-by-minute updates on your injured
10:21
players before this tournament yeah I
10:24
know that you're focused on winning
10:25
games but there is a big picture about
10:27
hosting and being healthy going into the
10:29
tour tournament I'm curious can you at
10:30
least take a breath to be a little bit
10:33
of a sigh of relief that they're on the
10:34
court they're playing and you guys are
10:36
whole again absolutely yeah you know I
10:38
trusted him you know I trusted him that
10:40
that we can we we'll be able to host you
10:43
just got to have you got to you got to
10:44
have to get to that semis right um and
10:46
they did and that's another top quad one
10:48
win it's against one of the best teams
10:50
in the country you know I think our work
10:52
has spoken for itself a lot of credit to
10:54
our bench um they've also been what
10:56
we've needed while these guys have
10:57
rested but um yeah full strength for any
11:00
team this time of year is rare um and
11:02
we're certainly glad to be back to full
11:03
strength go second in on the front row
11:06
please front row yeah thank
11:09
you uh hi uh Michael Co wchl chap.com
11:13
Courtney Alyssa took that really hard
11:15
fall and the second half fell right on
11:16
her shoulder but I don't believe she
11:18
came out for the entire rest of the game
11:20
what can you say about her toughness
11:22
especially coming back from an extended
11:23
absence like she had big time I mean
11:25
that she played really 36 minutes really
11:27
hard only her second game back um you
11:30
know this program for 5 years has gotten
11:32
a a rare treasure in getting a kid like
11:34
Alyssa um who will do anything for her
11:37
team you know this college basketball
11:39
you can say what you want about it it's
11:41
never going to be up about anything
11:42
besides the players who play it and
11:43
those that support it and for everyone
11:45
who watches list usby play it's a treat
11:47
and I've gotten to do it every day for
11:48
five years um and so I I just I I'm
11:51
thrilled for you guys that you get to
11:53
see that toughness because we see the
11:55
like so exhausted at times and she still
11:57
runs we see that offense tip out on the
12:00
free throw last yesterday when she was
12:02
tired but she's a treasure and um you
12:05
know I think those who've played with
12:06
her and those who've coached her and
12:07
those who've watched her that's the word
12:09
you think of when you think of Alyssa
12:10
thanks we've got time for a few more in
12:12
here and then we'll send you all back to
12:14
the locker room as well if we can go
12:15
second row in the
12:19
gray kmaker with the daily Tar Heel um
12:22
Courtney first quarter there was seven
12:24
different scorers from Carolina and then
12:25
four different in double figures how how
12:28
dangerous is this team when you have
12:30
such balanced scoring big time that we
12:32
got to win our way and that's how we're
12:33
going to do it right and um we've got to
12:35
we got to respond to how they're
12:37
defending I thought we picked on
12:38
matchups well um I thought we trusted
12:41
each other well and continued to go to
12:42
Ria and Maria two of our kind of main
12:44
horses um you know so yeah it's we you
12:48
have to win your way you don't win 27
12:49
games by like mixing up who you are all
12:51
the time um and these guys stuck to who
12:54
they are we have a shot differential
12:55
that pretty spread out because that's
12:57
what the game calls for go Lindsay on
12:59
the
13:02
left Alyssa you are you know in many
13:06
ways the face and the Heart of this team
13:08
and you love the school so much uh what
13:10
is like the drive to get to host meant
13:13
to you and how do you feel about what
13:16
you've accomplished yeah this drive to
13:18
host has been something that has been
13:21
really my Center focus for a long time
13:23
when it comes to the opportunity to do
13:25
it because of the community that we have
13:27
back in Chapel Hill there's so many
13:30
families with kids and all the
13:32
supporters that we have and as somebody
13:36
that is trying her best to lead this
13:38
group I just want to give it back to the
13:40
people that continue to fill Carmichael
13:42
and to make playing basketball at this
13:44
school such a special experience so I've
13:46
always felt a sense of Pride and I've
13:48
been taking trying to take
13:50
responsibility of like getting that
13:51
opportunity to bring it back home to
13:53
Chapel Hill I almost just real quick add
13:55
to that you know I really thought about
13:56
starting her in senior night even though
13:58
she wasn't cleared necessarily because I
14:00
wanted her to get that Ovation one more
14:02
time and I looked at our a couple of our
14:04
guys and I was like you have to find a
14:06
way to host you have to keep winning so
14:08
that that kid can have one more um one
14:10
more two more chances to to be to get
14:13
that we'll go in the back Center and
14:15
then RL and front center will be our
14:17
last question in here yeah uh Brian
14:20
Murphy with wrl uh coach two two quick
14:23
ones I I know you don't know who you're
14:24
going to play but can you talk about the
14:25
possibility of playing NC State here in
14:28
the state in a semi-final what that
14:30
would mean and then tied 5454 did you
14:33
draw up a play for RIA is that is that
14:35
what happened and then you know what
14:36
were you looking for and she obviously
14:38
made the shot yeah you know I the first
14:41
question is I'm you know it'd be great
14:43
if the ACC wants to give a cut of the
14:45
tickets to uh the two schools um because
14:48
we're doing you all a favor here um
14:50
having two North Carolina schools um if
14:52
if NC State is to advance um and then uh
14:56
Rai yeah I mean we I felt like to get to
14:58
54 before we were able to go to Alyssa
15:00
on an ISO to the high post um we were
15:02
able to get um uh Indiana RI and go and
15:05
it was just it was time for RIA to to do
15:08
what she does um so yeah we drew up both
15:10
of those for her and it makes me good it
15:12
makes me look really smart when she
15:13
makes
15:15
them we'll take our last one front and
15:17
center hey rudai how how have the last
15:20
few uh Games been having to sit you
15:23
missed a few your freshman year but it
15:25
was it tougher this time because you
15:27
were playing so well and you've been
15:29
such an incal part of this
15:31
team oh it was very depressing to say
15:34
the least like I really want to you know
15:35
play with my team and go to war with
15:37
them every night so just to be on the
15:38
bench was really like sad for me but I
15:40
did teer them on like every time um but
15:44
I've been working at trying to get back
15:45
and now I'm back and you know we it's
15:47
time to win
15:48
games Okay thank you how about our
15:50
17-year-old making those big free throws
15:53
L she should be in class today school
15:55
but she made two big free throws thanks
15:58
guys we'll see you you there's about 15
16:00
minutes left in unc's open locker room
16:03
so please head back that way and we'll
16:05
have Florida State in here momentarily