Covering Carolina sports beyond just men's basketball and football — with the most complete women's basketball coverage
CHAPEL HILL — After navigating opponents packing in defenders behind the ball most of the young season, the No. 4 North Carolina women’s soccer team dealt with a contrasting — and more entertaining — challenge against No. 8 Arkansas. The physical Razorbacks pressed, challenging the Tar Heels over the entire field. It was a refreshing change of pace for UNC, which won 3–1 on a brutally hot day at Dorrance Field to give Arkansas its first loss.
Well, that was a pleasant surprise. UNC built a 17-point, third-quarter lead and then turned away their brethren from Lesser Carolina multiple times in the 4th quarter to leave Charlotte with a season-opening 31–17 win.
Coach Mack Brown and quarterback Drake Maye comment on UNC’s victory over South Carolina.
CHARLOTTE — Even without his best two wide receivers, talented redshirt sophomore quarterback Drake Maye still found a way. And UNC finally found a way to keep pressure on an opposing quarterback. Showing elusiveness and poise in the opener of likely his final college season, Maye led No. 21 North Carolina to a 31–17 opening-game victory Saturday for Coach Mack Brown’s 100th win as UNC’s head coach.
With Carolina’s opener with South Carolina in Charlotte coming up on Saturday night, Coach Mack Brown says they are still waiting to hear back from the NCAA about the status of wide receiver Tez Walker. It’s a tremendous source of frustration for Walker, a transfer from Kent State, and the entire program.
Remember the glory days of the classic ACC when it was eight teams, the league played a double round-robin in the regular season in basketball and the tournament lasted three days? Those days ended when the league raided the Big East in 2013. But that seems like ancient history after the ACC added Stanford, Cal and SMU on Friday for the 2024–25 school year.
CHAPEL HILL — Still grieving about Monday’s tragic campus shooting and processing the week’s events, the No. 4 North Carolina women’s soccer team tried to find joy on the pitch the evening after classes resumed. If only for two hours, Thursday night’s match against Gardner-Webb offered the Tar Heels players a distraction from the mental fatigue of what happened. Most of the players wore black wristbands in memory of professor Zijie Yan.
Leaky Black got the royal treatment in Charlotte. As part of a Charlotte FC tradition, the Major League Soccer team has a pregame coronation before each match. The guest of honor sits on a throne in the supporter’s section of the stadium the team shares with the Carolina Panthers after being crowned.
Tyler Hansbrough is one of five who will be inducted in Chicago on Wednesday night into the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame. The four-time first-team All-American at UNC will enter the Hall with legendary Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski, former Duke star Johnny Dawkins, longtime Division II Jefferson coach Herb Magee and late talent scout Tom Konchalski.
NFL teams waived seven former UNC players in the last week, many on Tuesday when rosters had to be trimmed to 53 players ahead of season openers the weekend after next. Rookie wide receiver Antoine Green was among those making the cut after an impressive final exhibition game for the Detroit Lions.
Anybody who has watched North Carolina’s women’s soccer team this season knows that the Tar Heels, who fell one spot in the United Soccer Coaches national poll to No. 4, have performed as well as any team in the country defensively, and it’s showing in the weekly ACC awards. UNC (2–0–2), which has only allowed one goal in four games, slipped in the poll after playing Wisconsin to a scoreless draw on Thursday before blowing out USC 4–0 Sunday. The Trojans moved up five spots to No. 19.
As ACC adds Stanford and Cal beginning in the 2024–25 school year, the first concern should be for the athletes who must routinely take cross-country flights while also being students. The travel sounds daunting because it is. But there are scheduling models that could make it easier.
With no news yet on Carolina’s appeal to the NCAA on Tez Walker’s status, Mack Brown says his coaching staff is preparing two game plans. With Walker, the Tar Heels would have one of the best wide receivers in the country with game-changing ability. UNC must adjust its approach if the Kent State transfer can’t play in Saturday’s 7:30 opener in Charlotte against South Carolina (ABC).
The Athletic came out with its preseason Top 25 men’s basketball rankings Monday morning, with Kansas atop the list, with Marquette No. 2 and Duke No. 3. When it came to assessing the rebuilt North Carolina team, writers CJ Moore and Sam Vecenie, rated the Tar Heels No. 18.
CHAPEL HILL — No. 3 Carolina continued its unyielding defensive ways and turned up the offense to match Sunday, thanks to one of the heralded members of the Tar Heels’ No. 1-ranked freshman class. Midfielder Evelyn Shores, playing in only her second game since recovering from an injury, came off the bench to earn a brace with two second-half goals in less than 2½ minutes and spark the Tar Heels’ 4–0 rout of No. 24 USC on a hot afternoon at Dorrance Field.
tarheeltribune.com 