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CHAPEL HILL — North Carolina got just the sort of feel-good win it needed to flush away a frustrating weekend with an offensive assault against UNCW. With a pair of three-run homers and the most RBI by a Tar Heel in 19 years, Mac Horvath drove home a point in more ways than one.
Two individual national champions — wrestler Austin O’Connor and diver Aranza Vazquez — earned Athlete of the Year honors at the Rammy Awards on Monday night at Memorial Hall. The awards program recognizes excellence in Carolina athletics over the previous year. Women’s basketball center Malu Tshitenge of women’s basketball and football defensive lineman Kaimon Rucker were the hosts for the event, which was back at Memorial Hall for the first time since 2019.
Coach Courtney Banghart picked up another significant transfer on Monday when former Iowa State guard Lexi Donarski, a former five-star recruit, picked the Tar Heels. The Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year last season with 32 steals is ranked as the No. 4 player in the portal by 247 Sports and she is considered the best shooter in the portal. She played three seasons with the Cyclones and has two seasons of eligibility remaining.
CHAPEL HILL — Getting swept in a late April ACC series is discouraging for No. 18 North Carolina, but the memory of last season gives the Tar Heels hope that they can still achieve plenty this season. No. 20 Boston College rallied for a 6–2 victory Sunday at Boshamer Stadium to finish off a sweep of the Tar Heels a year after UNC got swept at Virginia for its fifth consecutive conference series loss.
CHAPEL HILL — On a night when No. 18 Carolina finally got the sort of excellent outing from a starting pitcher that the Tar Heels have lacked lately, a bullpen that recently has been reliable quickly wasted it. To make it worse for UNC, it continued recent failures with the bases loaded only to see No. 20 Boston College produce in that situation.
Carolina picked up its fourth offseason transfer and most significant Saturday afternoon when former Stanford forward Harrison Ingram, who visited Chapel Hill on Wednesday, committed to the Tar Heels. Last Saturday, Coach Hubert Davis had an in-home visit with the 6–7, 230-pound junior, who originally picked Stanford out of high school over UNC, Purdue, Michigan, Harvard and Howard. Ingram was the No. 2 player in Evan Miya’s transfer portal rankings.
CHAPEL HILL — High-level ACC games can turn on the strangest plays, and one of those led to No. 18 North Carolina’s downfall in a crazy 10-inning battle. One strike away from getting out of the top of the 10th, Boston College’s Sam McNulty hit a grounder that looked routine. But the ball took a wicked hop off the edge of the grass and went over shortstop Colby Wilkerson’s head.
It was a rough night for Harrison Barnes and Cameron Johnson as they both scored 17 points but their teams lost Game 3s in their NBA first-round series Thursday. It was particularly frustrating for Johnson, whose Brooklyn Nets made a game of it but missed chances to win it or tie it at the end as Philadelphia took a 3–0 series lead with a 102–97 victory in Brooklyn.
DURHAM — For a program with one loss in the previous three seasons, North Carolina has faced unfamiliar challenges after losing plenty of talent from last season’s unbeaten national champions. No. 6 UNC added another new challenge Friday when they trailed Duke for the first time since 2018. The Tar Heels haven’t overcome all those challenges this season but withstood a spunky Blue Devils team to win 13–12 in the regular-season finale for their 14th consecutive win over their rivals.
Carolina picked up another transfer Thursday in former Notre Dame guard Cormac Ryan. Ryan, a 6–5, 195-pound graduate transfer, has one year of remaining eligibility.
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