Covering Carolina sports beyond just men's basketball and football — with the most complete women's basketball coverage
It’s been a draining season for North Carolina basketball fans, with lots of last-second drama that has undoubtedly created plenty of heart palpitations. The men’s and women’s teams have combined for 14 one-possession games. Woody Durham used to say that fans need to “go where they go and do what they do” when the game is on the line. UNC fans who have followed that advice have made frequent trips.
CHAPEL HILL — Coach Scott Forbes insists that the home runs will come, but No. 6 North Carolina hasn’t needed power to get off to a 4–0 start. Clutch two-out hitting Tuesday carried the Tar Heels to a 12–9 victory over Kansas State — a Super Regional team a year ago — on a chilly evening at Boshamer Stadium despite the program’s longest power drought in seven seasons.
Roy Williams’ support was a big reason North Carolina hired Hubert Davis to succeed him, and the struggles of this season’s team haven’t changed that.
North Carolina is back in the top 10 for the first time in three seasons, moving up three spots to No. 9 after knocking off N.C. State 66–65 on Sunday.
After mentioning during his radio show two weeks ago that he would hire a general manager, UNC coach Hubert Davis didn’t want to talk about it when asked to expand on the subject during the weekly ACC Zoom press conference on Monday. But he was more than happy to talk about Jae’Lyn Withers’ performance against Syracuse.
CHAPEL HILL — Without No. 12 North Carolina’s star veteran, the Tar Heels showed plenty of heart in beating their rival with improvised lineups. Two clutch Grace Townsend free throws with 5.2 seconds left and a huge defensive stop at the end lifted the Tar Heels to a 66–65 upset of No. 10 N.C. State before a packed Carmichael Arena on Sunday, doing it without Alyssa Ustby for the last 37½ minutes.
While making the NCAA men’s tournament still is a long shot for North Carolina, the Tar Heels took the first step toward giving them a chance with their 88–82 Quad 3 victory Saturday night at Syracuse.
In a season full of games when Carolina couldn’t hold leads, the Tar Heels finally ended that trend with a game they never trailed.
CHAPEL HILL — The tall and short of it was that No. 6 North Carolina made quite a statement with its three-game opening-series sweep of Texas Tech.
CHAPEL HILL — Once No. 12 North Carolina’s defense dug in, the Tar Heels wouldn’t be denied. Virginia Tech didn’t score again after tying it with 2:51 left as the Tar Heels pulled out a 67–62 win Thursday at Carmichael Arena for UNC’s fourth straight win to end a six-game losing streak against the Hokies.
Armando Bacot had it all going Wednesday afternoon, ahead of playing in Sunday’s G League Up Next event, the week he’s featured on “The Break” docuseries.
CHAPEL HILL — During a press conference on Tuesday at the Kenan Football Center, UNC general manager Michael Lombardi said he thinks of the Tar Heels as the 33rd NFL team and he is approaching it that way. Here’s a compete transcript of the press conference, along with a video of it:
CLEMSON, S.C. — North Carolina’s early-season pattern of falling behind by double digits in the first half is back, dooming the Tar Heels’ NCAA tournament chances with another embarrassing effort.
After escaping Clemson with its third consecutive win, all on the road, North Carolina has earned its highest AP Top 25 women’s basketball poll ranking in more than two years. The Tar Heels (21–4, 9–3 ACC), unbeaten on the road at 7–0, moved up one spot to No. 12 in the latest poll, released Monday, their best ranking since being No. 11 on Jan. 30, 2023. UNC, which dropped one spot in the NET rankings to 14th after Sunday’s win, has been ranked no lower than 19th this season after going unranked for the final six polls last season.
CLEMSON, S.C. — The road resembled Easy Street for No. 13 North Carolina most of the season until the Tar Heels veered into a path full of potholes Sunday, including a self-inflicted one at the end. The Tigers had lost seven of their previous eight games but didn’t play like it. Add to that UNC’s offensive struggles and poor shooting, and it produced a much more challenging-than-expected 53–51 victory at Littlejohn Coliseum.
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