Tag: Alyssa Ustby

UNC WBB starts season with a dominant victory thanks to star returners

The UNC women’s basketball team looked plenty strong in a season-opening blowout win over Charleston Southern on Monday.

Headlined by the return of 2023-2024 starters Alyssa Ustby, Maria Gakdeng and Lexi Donarski, the UNC women’s basketball team was itching to get back on the court for live game play.

North Carolina, ranked 15th in the preseason AP poll, had the first chance to prove its ranking earlier today against Charleston Southern.

After a slow start in the first quarter, the Tar Heels finally pulled away from the Buccaneers for an 83-53 victory.

UNC (1-0) and CSU had an early tip time for their season opener, with gameplay kicking off at 11 a.m.

If you were concerned about how North Carolina would gel in its first game, I don’t blame you. The Tar Heels said goodbye to leading scorer Deja Kelly in the offseason, as she transferred to Oregon. You shouldn’t feel too bad about Kelly leaving, as she recently professed how she carried the team on her back, all four years of her years in Chapel Hill.

UNC looked just fine against the Buccaneers, as Ustby, Donarski and Arizona State transfer Trayanna Crisp all scored in double-figures. Ustby led the charge with a well-rounded outing – recording 18 points, grabbing a game-high eight rebounds, dishing out four assists and adding a game-high two blocks.

I know it’s just the first game, but North Carolina showcased a potentially deep roster in the blowout win over CSU. 12 Tar Heels played, with 11 of those Tar Heels recording a minimum 10 minutes, led by 28 from Donarski.

UNC has a quick turnaround in Week One, welcoming the UNC-Wilmington Seahawks to Carmichael Arena on Thursday, Nov. 7 for a 7 p.m. tip-off.

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UNC WBB star Alyssa Ustby named to prestigious award watch list

Alyssa Ustby will be a leader on the UNC women’s basketball team this year. She gained some well-deserved preseason recognition Wednesday.

After years leading the UNC women’s basketball program alongside Deja Kelly, it’s now time for Alyssa Ustby to step up and be the captain we all known she can be.

Ustby was a double-double machine for the Tar Heels last year, recording 16 across 33 games. Ustby ended her senior year with 12.5 points and a career-best 12.5 points per game.

When Ustby announced her return for a fifth and final year, North Carolina immediately became an ACC favorite.

Ustby herself is also a favorite to earn a prestigious honor in women’s basketball, as she was recently named to the Cheryl Miller Award Watch List.

Ustby is one of 20 nominees for the Cheryl Miller Award – and one of just three from the ACC, joining NC State’s Madison Hayes and Boston College’s Andrea Daley.

Cheryl Miller is arguably one of the greatest women’s basketball players of all time. She was named Naismith National Player of the Year three times in college, then led USA to Olympic Gold in 1984.

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I’m not saying Ustby is the main reason for UNC’s on-court success, but she plays a major role in it. North Carolina has made the past four NCAA Tournaments – all with Ustby on the roster – with its deepest run to the 2022 Sweet 16.

While Ustby was counted on for most of the Tar Heels’ rebounding production two seasons ago, she got some much-needed help from Maria Gakdeng in the transfer portal last year. Gakdeng will return and form a formidable post duo with Ustby this coming season, which starts on Monday, Nov. 4 against Charleston Southern.

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Where does UNC WBB land in ESPN’s Way-Too-Early Top 25?

Can the UNC women’s basketball team play up to its Way-Too-Early preseason ranking?

The UNC women’s basketball team is going to look a little different this coming season, but it’ll still be full of talent.

North Carolina said goodbye to star guard and scoring leader Deja Kelly, plus reserves Anya Poole, Alexandra Zelaya, Teonni Key and Paulina Paris, in the transfer portal. The Tar Heels will return three starters, plus they bring in several stars from the recruiting trail .

In what’s typically a deep ACC, UNC is expected to thrive in its sixth year under head coach Courtney Banghart.

North Carolina is also predicted to thrive amongst all of college basketball. Just a month ahead of their first regular season game, on Monday, Nov. 4 at 11 a.m. against Charleston Southern in Carmichael Arena, the Tar Heels were ranked 13th in ESPN’s Way-Too-Early Top 25.

“Depth, with an interesting mix of experience and youth, should be the hallmark for the Tar Heels,” Charlie Creme wrote. “Lexi Donarski and Alyssa Ustby return for their fifth seasons, joined by 6-3 senior Maria Gakdeng and point guard Grace Townsend, a grad transfer from Richmond. Courtney Banghart added another point guard in freshman Lanie Grant, the Virginia player of the year, and 6-5 five-star recruit Blanca Thomas. The 6-4 Ciera Toomey is ready to go after redshirting last season.”

Ustby, Donarski and Gakdend are returning starters from 2023. Ustby was practically a walking double-double in 2023, averaging 12.5 points and 95 rebounds per game. Donarski is a sharpshooter, making a UNC-high 74 3-pointers last year, while Gakdeng’s 51 blocks at center led UNC.

Townsend is a do-it-all point guard, as she averaged 4.9 rebounds, 5.2 assists and a career-high 13.4 points per game for Richmond during the 2023-2024 campaign.

Grant and Thomas are two of the best recruits in recent North Carolina memory. Toomey is a former Miss Pennsylvania basketball winner.

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Coaches and players echo “connection” for UNC at ACC Tip-Off

“Connected” like never before is the sentiment from coaches and players alike for the upcoming women’s basketball season.

In Charlotte, North Carolina, the second day of women’s basketball was featured as a part of the ACC Tip-Off media event. Yesterday, a plethora of women’s college basketball teams were interviewed that finished today with a few teams including UNC women’s basketball.

Represented at the media event for the Tar Heels were head coach Courtney Banghart and veterans Lexi Donarski, Alyssa Ustby, and Maria Gakdeng.

Head coach Courtney Banghart was asked first media day what excites her most about the upcoming season.

I think that this is a really connected group. It’s a popular time to talk about those types of words, but it’s not a word I would have always used and this group is really connected with one another. We have a healthy blend of experience with a lot of youthful talent. Most importantly, our experience tangibly sheds that to their peer groups in a really connected way, and we’re healthy!

Coming into a season where the team lost its best scorer Deja Kelly to the transfer portal, hearing that the girls have come together and are seeking to play as one unit could be huge for the upcoming season.

In the same press conference, Alyssa Ustby, a fifth-year senior this year, echoed Banghart’s sentiment about the team saying “I attribute a lot of my successes to my teammates … just being a part of an incredible program that has coaches who are invested in my development.”

There will be ebbs and flows to the upcoming season for the preseason ranked No. 13 Tar Heels, but there is nothing better than seeing full-court basketball played when no one cares who gets the credit.

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Could a Top-20 recruit be headed to the UNC women’s basketball team?

Can the UNC women’s basketball program compile a convincing case to lure this top recruit in the Class of 2025?

Thanks to their rediscovered success in recent years, including four consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances, the North Carolina Tar Heels have become a premier destination for women’s basketball talent.

UNC can thank head coach Courtney Banghart, plus the star-powered duo of Alyssa Ustby and Deja Kelly, for that recent success.

North Carolina’s deepest run since Banghart took over came during the 2021-2022 campaign, making the Sweet 16 before falling to eventual champion South Carolina. The Tar Heels won an NCAA Tournament game in each of the past three years, with the most recent coming against Michigan State this March.

Ustby nearly averaged a double-double last season, with 12.5 points and 9.5 rebounds per game, not far above her career averages of 12 and 8.2. Kelly, now with Oregon, averaged at least 16.3 points per game in each of her past three years.

What UNC loses in Kelly, it gains in several talented freshman recruits entering the fall, highlighted by reigning Virginia Girls Basketball Gatorade Player of the Year Lanie Grant.

North Carolina is also in the mix for a Class of 2025 standout, with Top-20 recruit Jordan Speiser, a 5-star recruit and Missouri’s reigning Gatorade Girls Basketball Player of the Year, announcing the Tar Heels as finalists.

Iowa, Kansas State and Ohio State all made the NCAA Tournament last year, highlighted by the Hawkeyes making the Title Game, before losing to South Carolina. TCU hasn’t made the Big Dance since 2010.

If  the Tar Heels land Speiser, she’d be one of their greatest recruiting victories in program history. Speiser is fresh off a dominant junior campaign, in which she registered a career-high 22.9 points per game for Lutheran St. Charles, en route to a state championship.

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Alyssa Ustby announces return to UNC in nostalgia-provoking video

Good news, Tar Heel fans: Alyssa Ustby is BACK as she announced her return on Friday.

If you’ve been watching UNC women’s basketball games since the 2020-2021 campaign, then you’ve surely seen Alyssa Ustby tearng up the court.

Ustby, the senior forward from Rochester, Minn., is practically a walking double-double. She averaged 12.5 points and a career-high 9.5 rebounds per game last season, with her best outing undoubtedly being the 16-point, 16-rebound, 10-assist triple-double she recorded on Jan. 4 against Syracuse – the first triple-double in North Carolina program history.

She’s been fortunate to also have a player of Deja Kelly’s caliber by her side, with the two forming one of the ACC’s best guard-forward combos in the past few season. The duo led UNC to the Round of 32 in last year’s NCAA Tournament, but the Sweet 16 in 2022.

While Kelly might be gone next year, as she entered her name in the portal earlier this month, Ustby announced she’d be returning for her fifth and final season on Friday, April 26.

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Ustby’s announcement is a major win for the Tar Heels, who’ve already seen six players enter the transfer portal. UNC did nab a major win in the portal recently, though, snagging Grace Townsend from Richmond.

Ustby will be part of what’s expected to be a deep roster this coming fall, one that also returns starters from a season ago in 3-point machine Lexi Donarski and towering center Maria Gakdeng. Key reserves Reniya Kelly and Indya Nivar come back, as is Kayla McPherson from a knee injury, while incoming 5-stars Lanie Grant and Blanca Thomas join the roster.

Can Ustby lead the Tar Heels to the promised land in her final year?

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Best photos from UNC women’s basketball 2023-24 season

With the 2023-24 UNC women’s basketball season coming to an end, we take a look at the best photos.

It was a bitter ending for the UNC women’s basketball program, losing in blowout fashion to South Carolina in the Sweet 16.

Despite the loss, this season shouldn’t be washed away. Instead, as a stepping stone for what is to come. The Tar Heels finished with a 20-13 record, playing their best ball in Chapel Hill with a 14-2 home record.

This season had many highs, with big wins over Syracuse, Notre Dame, NC State, and Duke. With the wins came the heartbreaks, losing in a second-half collapse to South Carolina earlier in the season, going in and out of the AP Top 15 poll as a result.’

[autotag]Deja Kelly[/autotag] and [autotag]Alyssa Ustby[/autotag] added to their Tar Heel legacies, earning all-conference ACC honors. The transfer portal is already off to a fiery start with all eyes on the future, but before we get there, we take a look at the best photos from the 2023-24 season.

UNC WBB commit named Virginia HS POTY

Lanie Grant is amongst Virginia’s best high school basketball players. She’s committed to UNC for college hoops – when will she arrive?

The UNC women’s basketball team is getting ready for March Madness, as it will match up against Michigan State on Friday, March 22 at 11:30 a.m.

North Carolina (19-12), seeded eighth in the Albany 1 Region, most recently lost to Miami in its first ACC Tournament game. The Tar Heels had a very up-and-down regular season – ranked wins over Syracuse, NC State and Louisville, but bad losses to Boston College and Virginia.

At one point, UNC was tied for first in the ACC. The Tar Heels will try to show the first-place version themselves starting Friday, looking to advance further than last year’s Round of 32.

Despite all the focus being on March Madness right now, it’s never too early to start looking ahead.

For North Carolina, particularly in two years, the future looks very bright.

Lanie Grant, a junior at James River High School who’s committed to play college ball at UNC, was recently named the 2023-24 Gatorade Virginia Girls Basketball Player of the Year.

Grant played at an All-Star level this past year for James River, leading it to the VHSL Class 5 State Championship game by averaging 28.1 points and 6.2 rebounds per game.

Current UNC stars Deja Kelly and Alyssa Ustby will exhaust their college eligibility at the end of next season, so the arrival of Grant will be well-timed.

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UNC WBB captains bring home All-ACC Honors

Deja Kelly and Alyssa Ustby are the two greatest reasons UNC is a competitive team this season. They both earned recognition on Tuesday.

In a loaded ACC women’s basketball conference, the North Carolina Tar Heels sit right in the middle.

UNC (19-11, 11-7) is eighth heading into tomorrow’s ACC Tournament, which is rightfully so in Tournament Town (Greensboro, NC). North Carolina will matchup against ninth-ranked Miami (18-11, 8-10) at 1:30 p.m. ET on Thursday, March 7. The Tar Heels squeaked by the Hurricanes, 66-61, back on Thursday, Jan. 25 at home.

UNC is projected as a 6-seed in the latest NCAA Tournament Women’s Bracketology, with them slated for a matchup with potential 11-seed Auburn. North Carolina can possibly improve its seeding with a couple victories this week.

The Tar Heels wouldn’t be where they are today without their two best players, Deja Kelly and Alyssa Ustby. Kelly continues to lead UNC in scoring at 16.8 points per game, while Ustby nearly averages a double-double with 12.3 points and 9.5 rebounds per game.

Kelly and Ustby were recognized for their contributions earlier Tuesday, with Kelly earning All-ACC First Team Honors and Ustby joining the Second Team.

There’s a slim chance Kelly and Ustby could return next year, but both are likely to be selected in next month’s WNBA Draft. It would be a fitting end to their collegiate careers, with both being integral parts in building the program UNC is today.

Right now, the star-studded duo’s focus is on winning the ACC and – later – the NCAA Tournament.

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UNC WBB sets season-best shooting mark in win over Wake Forest

The UNC women’s basketball team won a close road game on Sunday at Wake Forest, but set a season-best mark in made shots while doing so.

Not a ton of time has passed since the UNC women’s basketball team was the ACC’s first-place team.

A 66-61 victory over Miami on Thursday, Jan. 25 moved the Tar Heels into a tie with Syracuse for first, with North Carolina holding the tie thanks to a head-to-head victory.

UNC then lost its next four games, falling down the ACC standings before righting the ship with consecutive wins against Pitt and Wake Forest, which bumped UNC back up to sixth.

Sunday’s road win at Wake Forest was anchored by a 25-point, 10-rebound double from star forward Alyssa Ustby.

The Tar Heels’ victory also saw them shoot a season-best 52.4 percent from the field, which was their best mark since last February.

Ustby shot a lights-out 10-of-11 on field goals, including her first made 3-pointer on the season, while Maria Gakdeng’s 4-of-6 field goal mark was second-best on North Carolina. Anya Poole, who tied a season-high with 18 minutes in her start, shot 3-of-6 from the field. Deja Kelly made 4-of-10 shots, while Lexi Donarski made one of just two attempts.

The Tar Heels have their toughest remaining regular-season test on Thursday night, as they welcome sixth-ranked rival NC State to Carmichael Arena for an 8 p.m tip.

Will UNC keep shooting lights out against one of the country’s best programs?

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