North Carolina used just seven players against UConn with several rotational pieces out of the lineup.
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — Courtney Banghart opened her post-game press conference after North Carolina’s 76-64 loss to UConn on Sunday with an apology to the attending media.
“Sorry that we were so injured,” the UNC head coach said.
North Carolina used just seven players on Sunday against the Huskies. Kayla McPherson and Paulina Paris have both missed the last two games. Teonni Key was in uniform for the first time all season, but didn’t enter the game. Ciera Toomey and Laila Hull are taking redshirt years, which the team announced before the season started.
Reniya Kelly, who scored six points in 12 first-half minutes, couldn’t play in the second half after getting hurt in the second quarter. The short-handed Tar Heels’ loss to the Huskies was their fourth in the last five games.
UNC, now holding on to the No. 25 spot in the AP Poll, is 0-3 in ranked matchups. Two of those three losses were by single digits.
North Carolina used a shorter rotation against the Gamecocks last month, and the team’s availability was even tighter against UConn.
“I love our roster, we’ve just gotta get healthy,” Banghart said. “Because if we do, then all this experience we’re gaining is really valuable. But you can’t beat another good team with five players. You just can’t. It requires too much energy.”
So far this season, UNC has used five different starting lineups. Injuries have played a factor in the constant variance, as McPherson came off the bench early to recover from an early injury. Lexi Donarski sat the first half against Vermont with a minor injury but ultimately played in the second half of that game.
All five starters played at least 26 minutes on Sunday, with Deja Kelly playing all but a few seconds. With McPherson and Paris out, the guard rotation has been significantly hindered.
“We knew that we were coming into this game (with a) short roster, but I think that we still, as an experienced guard and with other experienced guards, I think we still could have handled it better,” Kelly said. “Yeah, we know that we’re short, we’re going to be fatigued, but I think that was even more of a reason for us to push through. And we lacked that in crucial moments.”
North Carolina’s next game is at home on Friday against Western Carolina, giving the team a few days for its players to recover for the last portion of the non-conference schedule.
“With multiple All-Americans out, we’ve got to get healthy,” Banghart said. “But we’re on the road to recovery. We’ll say it that way.”
Donarski Drains Season-High From 3
North Carolina’s 81-66 win at home last Wednesday over UNCG snapped the team’s three-game losing streak.
The Spartans of the SoCon were hot from outside, shooting 8-15 from 3-point range. They recovered from an early 20-4 deficit to make the score 36-34 going into halftime.
UNC leaned on Donarski’s 3-point shooting on offense, as the Iowa State transfer finished with 22 points on 6-8 shooting from beyond the arc. Those 22 points and six threes were season highs for her.
“As a team we’ve been working on basically the exact shots that we all got all night, especially the last two to three days, it’s been a huge focus in practice,” Donarski said. “Five-on-(zero) and five-on-five, half-court and full-court. Those are the shots we’ve been working on, so it feels good to see the ball go in, but also as a team, we got the looks that we wanted.”
North Carolina hadn’t scored 70 or more points since the first two games of the season prior to Wednesday, but did so on 51.6% shooting from the floor. The Tar Heels secured 20 assists on 33 made shots.
Six Tar Heels finished with double-digit scoring. Nivar, Kelly and Ustby each finished with at least five assists. Kelly’s eight assists tied her career high.
Bueckers Too Much For UNC
A few days before UNC matched up with UConn, Banghart acknowledged the esteemed presence of Paige Bueckers as the Huskies’ main spark plug. Bueckers, the 2021 National Player of the Year, was the No. 1 focus in North Carolina’s game plan.
“She’s their quarterback,” Banghart said on Wednesday. “She’s their Tom Brady. You can’t gently ask Tom Brady to not play well. You’re gonna have to outplay him.”
Bueckers was as advertised at the Hall of Fame Women’s Showcase, scoring 26 points on the Tar Heels and eclipsing the 1,000-point mark in UNC’s 76–64 loss in Uncasville on Sunday. Bueckers was also active defensively, rejecting four shots.
The Huskies forced UNC into 19 turnovers, scoring 21 points off those giveaways. They led by as many as 18 points at Mohegan Sun Arena.
Though UConn led for most of the night, North Carolina managed to cut into the lead at times. UNC took a brief lead in the second quarter after erasing a double-digit deficit, and the score was tied at halftime. But the Huskies opened the third quarter on an 11-0 run and never looked back from there.
“I think in those (ranked) games specifically, we’ve either played really well on the defensive end or really well on the offensive end, and we just can’t win games like that,” Kelly said. “I think this game, it was a little bit of both, but it just wasn’t as consistent and especially that third quarter killed us. But I think progressively, in those games, we’ve seen ourselves get better at certain things that we had to get better at.
“I think for this game specifically, it just came down to the toughness and turnovers and just some layups we missed, just things like that that were ticky-tack that we could have done better.”
And-One
No. 25 North Carolina has held an AP Top 25 ranking for the last 32 polls. The last time UNC lost its place in the poll was January 2022. The Tar Heels started the 2023-24 season at No. 16.
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