Covering Carolina sports beyond just men's basketball and football — with the most complete women's basketball coverage
I’ve written this column (or a version of it) for over a decade. Sometimes, it writes itself, sometimes there’s a search to put things in the right slots, and sometimes there’s a wait until the clock hits zero to have it come together. And sometimes there is a Saturday night.
CHAPEL HILL — Hear what Coach Mack Brown and players Drake Maye, Bryson Nesbit, Kaimon Rucker and Cedric Gray had to say after No. 24 North Carolina’s homecoming game with Duke on Saturday night.
CHAPEL HILL — After blowing a double-digit fourth-quarter lead for the third consecutive ACC game, Carolina put together the big late drive that it couldn’t pull off against Virginia or Georgia Tech — only to blow the lead again. But Noah Burnette, who kept the No. 24 Tar Heels in the lead much of the way, wouldn’t let their homecoming game slip away.
North Carolina’s No. 16-ranked women’s basketball team faces the toughest of four non-conference home opponents to start the season on Sunday. But Davidson will also be playing on consecutive days, and must deal with the inside challenge of going up against junior Boston College transfer center Maria Gakdeng.
No. 19 North Carolina got a pretty good challenge in its opener on Monday night, but that probably won’t be the case on Sunday. The Tar Heels (1–0) welcome Lehigh to the Smith Center at 2 p.m. (ACC Network) after pulling away from Radford on Monday for an 86–70 victory.
DURHAM — The familiar No. 2 was back in Cameron Indoor Stadium but in an unfamiliar uniform. After three trips and two wins wearing Carolina blue, senior guard Caleb Love wore a dark-blue Arizona uniform with red trim Friday night. Despite some of the heat he got last season from UNC fans, he reminded the world of his love for UNC by scrawling “Tar Heel 4L” (Tar Heel for life) on one shoe that featured a light-blue Swoosh.
North Carolina’s quest for its 23rd women’s soccer national championship got off to a good start. After a 12-day break, the No. 13-ranked and No. 3-seed Tar Heels rallied from a one-goal first-half deficit to beat Towson 3–1 in the first round of the NCAA tournament at Dorrance Field in Chapel Hill.
In the first round of the NCAA tournament, top-seeded North Carolina looked like the dominant field hockey program that it has been for years. Paityn Wirth scored two goals and Katie Dixon added a goal and an assist as the Tar Heels rolled to 6–1 victory Friday afternoon over William & Mary at Karen Shelton Stadium.
Going home is working out very well so far for Destiny Adams. Adams collected 17 points, 10 rebounds, a career-high five assists, five steals and three blocks (tying her career-high) for a 26.0 game score in 24 minutes as Rutgers rolled to an 86–43 home victory Thursday night over Wagner.
Caleb Love will forever have a lofty spot in the history of the greatest rivalry in sports for his iconic 3-pointer over Mark Williams in UNC’s win over Duke at the 2022 Final Four. He also has a history of big games at Cameron Indoor Stadium. He gets a chance for another one Friday, this time wearing a different uniform, when his No. 12 Arizona team (1–0) visits No. 2 Duke (1–0) at 7 p.m. (ESPN2).
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