Covering Carolina sports beyond just men's basketball and football — with the most complete women's basketball coverage
Nassir Little’s best game of the season wasn’t enough for his short-handed Portland team, as Harrison Barnes’ Sacramento Kings rolled to a 133–116 home victory on Thursday as the NBA returned from the All-Star break. Little started for the second time this season, scoring 26 points and five 3-pointers with four steals and a block.
CHAPEL HILL — All of North Carolina’s starters are back, and the No. 22 Tar Heels showed Thursday that they’re loaded for a big late-season run. But that nearly full roster ran up against one of the hottest teams in the country. With junior wing Alyssa Ustby and guard Eva Hodgson back, UNC battled No. 9 Virginia Tech well all night before losing a heartbreaker, 61–59, as the Hokies won their seventh game in a row and ninth in the last 10 games.
Whew. For a team fighting for its postseason life, UNC showed a less-than-inspired effort for the first 20 minutes against Notre Dame in South Bend on Wednesday night.
After one of Carolina’s ugliest first halves in years, the Tar Heels somehow came alive after halftime and took the first step toward possibly saving their season. It took UNC less than nine minutes in the second half to match its first-half point total to get back into the game. From there, the Tar Heels did enough to win 63–59 Wednesday night over Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind.
CHAPEL HILL — No. 12 North Carolina continued a productive early pattern of impressive pitching from newcomers and mixed in a power surge. Junior transfer right-hander Jake Knapp delivered the latest outstanding pitching debut, yielding two hits and striking out four in 5⅔ shutout innings in UNC’s fourth consecutive victory.
CHAPEL HILL — Carolina’s young pitchers continue to be impressive in the first few games of the season, and the offense keeps piling up the runs. Freshman left-hander Kyle Percival threw together the Tar Heels’ best start of the young season as No. 12 UNC blew out Radford 14–2 Tuesday at Boshamer Stadium on a beautiful spring-like day.
UNC coach Courtney Banghart said after the No. 22 Tar Heels’ win Sunday over Wake Forest that Alyssa Ustby was “day to day or even minute to minute maybe,” suggesting that the junior wing was nearing a return. Ustby posted a powerful suggestion on Instagram on Monday night — a photo of her in uniform and the words “tell a friend to tell a friend …” Officially, she still is listed as day-to-day, but her post seems to indicate that she will play this week.
It’s a big week for Carolina baseball with five games in six days, including a three-game weekend series against No. 11 East Carolina. The No. 12 Tar Heels (2–1) won two of three games in the opening series against Seton Hall.
North Carolina fell three spots to No. 22 in the AP Top 25 women’s poll heading into a challenging week that could go a long way toward determining if the Tar Heels will be first- and second-round hosts in the NCAA tournament.
Carolina coach Hubert Davis talks about where the season stands heading into Wednesday’s game at Notre Dame.
It was an emotional and thrilling opening day in the XFL for former Carolina wide receiver Austin Proehl. He was part of an amazing comeback that only could have been pulled off because of the league’s quirky rules.
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before. In desperate need of a Quad 1 win, UNC builds a second-half lead only to fall apart down the stretch and fumble away yet another opportunity for a quality win in a season where opportunities are quickly running out. For the sixth time in nine Quad 1 games this season, the Tar Heels led in the final 20 minutes and, for the sixth time, Carolina was unable to finish the game and hold on for a victory.
CHAPEL HILL — Whenever Deja Kelly adds hot shooting to her all-around good game, opponents are helpless to stop her. And they aren’t about to stop No. 19 North Carolina. Wake Forest had no answers for her or any other Tar Heels on a day when they shoot 50.8% from the floor and made 35.3% of their 3-point attempts.
RALEIGH — The questions keep coming for North Carolina’s men’s basketball team. There are no easy answers for the Tar Heels, who after this latest slippage might find that time is ticking a bit too fast.
CHAPEL HILL — The offense kept coming for No. 12 North Carolina, and freshman right-hander Cameron Padgett gave the Tar Heels the pitching performance they were missing in their opening-game loss. Padgett threw 4⅓ shutout innings in relief, giving up only two hits with three strikeouts, as UNC (1–1) rebounded with an impressive 11–2 win Saturday over Seton Hall at Boshamer Stadium to even the season-opening series.
tarheeltribune.com 