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Star Carolina guard Deja Kelly is headed to Mexico to represent her country. USA Basketball named Kelly on Thursday to one of the last four spots on the U.S. team that will play in the FIBA Women’s AmeriCup starting July 1 in León, Mexico, 250 miles northwest of Mexico City.
You’ll get a chance to watch the highest-ranked player in Carolina’s Class of 2024 starting Saturday morning when five-star 6–5 guard Ian Jackson goes for his third gold medal in as many summers. Jackson will play for the United States in the FIBA U19 World Cup in Debrecen, Hungary, as he tries to follow up on gold medals he won in 2021 at the FIBA U16 Americas tournament and last summer at the FIBA U17 Basketball World Cup.
CHAPEL HILL — Between schools cheating in the NIL game and the competition telling recruits that Coach Mack Brown is going to retire, the veteran coach battles plenty that he can’t control on the recruiting trail. Brown says that he’s in the best shape in 20 years and wouldn’t be recruiting Class of 2026 players if he expected to stop coaching any time soon. But the talk from rival coaches isn’t likely to stop for the Hall of Fame coach who will turn 72 before the Sept. 2 opener against South Carolina in Charlotte.
Watch UNC coach Mack Brown’s press conference as he talks about the upcoming season, NIL, realignment and other topics.
Five-star Carolina commitment Lanie Grant scored in double figures for the second straight night and the third time in the tournament as the United States easily upended Canada for its fourth consecutive gold medal at the FIBA Women’s U16 Americas Championship.
Hubert Davis has made a point to hire a coaching staff of Carolina alums, figuring there are many advantages, particularly on the recruiting trail. Who better to convince an athlete to play and study at UNC than a coach who did just that? With recent hirings, more head coaches on campus will have that advantage.
Argentina was helpless to stop the United States and a gritty effort from future Tar Heel Lanie Grant.
The five-star Carolina commitment in the Class of 2025 scored more than a point a minute as the Americans coasted into the championship game of the FIBA U16 Women’s Americas Championship in Merida, Yucatan, Mexico, with a 112–48 semifinal victory over Argentina for their 23rd consecutive win in the competition.
Future Tar Heel Lanie Grant dished out a game-high six assists as the United States moved one win away from a likely championship-game clash with Canada with another blowout victory at the FIBA U16 Women’s Americas Championship in Merida, Yucatan, Mexico.
Ian Jackson, a Carolina commitment who is the No. 3 player in the Class of 2024, is one of four rising high school seniors to earn a spot on the United States team that will play in the FIBA U19 Men’s World Cup in Debrecen, Hungary.
In addition to UNC playing UConn in the Basketball Hall of Fame Women’s Showcase, the Tar Heels will play in an eight-team tournament with Iowa and star Caitlin Clark. The Tar Heels are one of eight teams in the Gulf Coast Showcase, a tournament that will reportedly include UNC, Iowa and Kansas State. The tournament hasn’t announced its field, so the other five teams for the event aren’t known yet.
The United States team rolled into the medal round with three blowout victories at the FIBA U16 Women’s Americas Championship, and future Tar Heel Lanie Grant returned for Thursday’s win over Mexico after missing a game. After Grant scored 12 points in the Americans’ 124–39 Tuesday victory over Puerto Rico, she was one of several players from other teams, all staying at the same hotel in Merida, Yucatan, Mexico, who started feeling sick.
The inexplicable absence of Carolina junior Mac Horvath from the All-ACC first team continues to look like a massive injustice as more postseason awards roll out. On Thursday, Horvath made the Perfect Game All-America first team in one of the three outfield spots three days after the American Baseball Coaches Association named him to the All-Atlantic Region First Team.
Carolina senior guard Deja Kelly will try out next week for one of the four remaining spots on the United States Women’s AmeriCup team, which includes LSU star Angel Reese. The 5–8 Kelly travels to Colorado Springs, Colo., on Wednesday, where the team’s training camp for the competition begins next Thursday at the U.S. Olympic Training Center. The FIBA Women’s AmeriCup is July 1–9 in León, Mexico.
Under Coach Courtney Banghart, North Carolina is becoming a nationally respected program, and more evidence of that comes next season when the Tar Heels play perennial national power Connecticut for the first time in nearly 12 years in a showcase tripleheader. UNC (22–11 last season) takes on UConn (31–6) at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn., on Sunday, Dec. 10, as part of the Basketball Hall of Fame Women’s Showcase, with perennial national power South Carolina (36–1) facing Utah (27–5) and UCLA (27–10) going up against Florida State (23–10) in that facility the same day. Starting times and television will be announced later, with tickets going on sale Sept. 8.
Two Carolina seniors, guard Lexi Donarski and forward Alyssa Ustby, were named Thursday to the United States women’s U24 three-on-three team. The team will compete in select three-on-three events this summer with the goal of qualifying for the FIBA 3×3 Women’s Series final in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, on Sept 16 and 17.
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