Tag: UNC Women’s Basketball

Deja Kelly gifts teammates and coaches with NIL deal

UNC Basketball’s Deja Kelly uses Beats by Dre NIL deal and shares with her teammates and coaches.

As one of the most popular hoopers in college basketball, [autotag]Deja Kelly[/autotag] has racked up plenty of NIL deals and has recently spread that love to her team.

Coach Courtney Banghart took to Instagram and posted a message, thanking  Kelly for gifting the team their own Beats headphones.

It was announced that Kelly inked the deal with headphone empire, Beats by Dre, back in March, adding to her impressive list of NIL endorsements. Last season, the sophomore helped lead the UNC women’s basketball team to the Sweet 16, where they fell just short, 61-69 to the eventual national champions, South Carolina.

Kelly broke out as a star for the Tar Heels as Banghart has really turned this program around and now expectations are high going into the coming season.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Ce4sRzYNLNU/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

 

Last season, Kelly averaged 16.5 points, 3.6 rebounds, and 1.4 steals per game. Her best game of the season came against Clemson, where Kelly dropped 31 points, going 5 for 11 from three.

Going into next season, UNC is expected to tack on more success using the momentum from last season. Kelly is anticipated to have another break-out year. And if that happens, the Tar Heels should find themselves threatening to get past the Sweet 16.

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UNC Women’s basketball adds Jessika Carrington to staff

The UNC women’s basketball program has added to its staff, announcing the hire of Jessika Carrington.

Courtney Banghart and the UNC Women’s basketball program have added to their staff this offseason.

On Tuesday, the program announced that [autotag]Jessika Carrington[/autotag] has been hired as Assistant to the Athletic Director/Director of Operations. She joins the program after spending the past nine years working with the Pac-12 conference for women’s basketball.

After graduating from Oklahoma, Carrington worked with the women’s basketball program there for a few years including being a team manager for four years. She then went over to the Pac-12 spending four years as administrative assistant to the USC head coach. Carrington has held the role of Director of Basketball Operations at Arizona since 2017.

Banghart released this statement to announce the hiring, praising Carrington and what she can bring to the program here in Chapel Hill:

“As I conducted our national search, I was overwhelmed by the respect Jessika has earned from so many people in this business,” Banghart said. “She is a welcoming smile, a committed worker, and a proven teammate. She builds relationships that last and her values are perfectly aligned with our collective commitment to servant leadership. We look forward to sharing Jessika with the Carolina Family.”

After making a Sweet 16 run this past season, expectations are high for the program going into this season. And it should be another fun one in Chapel Hill for Banghart and her team.

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ESPN thinks highly of the UNC women’s basketball team going into next season

ESPN thinks highly of the UNC basketball women’s program going into next season in their way too early rankings.

Courtney Banghart has really turned around the UNC women’s basketball program since she arrived on campus a few years ago in Chapel Hill. And the Tar Heels are coming off one of their best seasons since 2015 as they made a run to the Sweet 16.

Now, going into next season ESPN thinks highly of the Tar Heels’ chances as evident in their updated way-too-early top 25 rankings. The Tar Heels checked in at No. 10 in Charlie Creme’s rankings.

Here is what Creme said about UNC going into next year as they are entering a big year with a lot of top talent returning for the program:

With the NCAA’s decision not to grant former and current Ivy League players the year they lost due to the COVID-19 pandemic, former Princeton star and last year’s UNC point guard Carlie Littlefield will not be back. North Carolina could still exceed last season’s 25-win total. Deja Kelly, Kennedy Todd-Williams and Alyssa Ustby will form the club’s backbone and Kelly will be a candidate for ACC Player of the Year. Paulina Paris, a top 30 recruit, could be a possible replacement for Littlefield.

That’s a reasonable ranking for a team that made it to the Sweet 16 before losing to the eventual champion. They do return Deja Jelly, Alyssa Ustby, and Kennedy Todd-Williams while also welcoming in a good recruiting class.

It’s safe to say that Banghart has this team going in the right direction.

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Morasha Wiggins leaves UNC, enters transfer portal

UNC Womens’ Morasha Wiggins has entered her name in the transfer portal. The 18th ranked Guard of 2021 should have plenty of suitors .

After one season at North Carolina,  Morasha Wiggins has decided it’s time to move on and is in the transfer portal.

The Michigan native from Kalamazoo Central High School was one of UNC’s top recruits, ranking 18th in the ESPNW 2021 class. Wiggins also received multiple honors as a top recruit, including Michigan’s AP All-State Division 1 co-player of the year. That year she averaged 24.3 points, seven rebounds, and five assists.

In her freshman season with the Tar Heels, she didn’t see much action averaging 8.6 minutes per game and was down in the rotation a bit.

Wiggins did have a break-out game of the season where she dropped 10 points, four rebounds, and a steal in just 14 minutes of play against Appalachian St.

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Courtney Banghart, UNC beat out UCONN for top recruit

Courtney Banghart and the UNC Women’s Basketball program just landed a big five-star recruit in the 2023 class.

The UNC women’s basketball team is coming off their best season in years, making it to the Sweet 16 before falling to eventual champion South Carolina. And now this offseason, the program took another step forward.

On Monday night, UNC landed a commitment from five-star post player [autotag]Ciera Toomey[/autotag]. The 6-foot-3, stretch five picked the Tar Heels over UCONN and six other schools, announcing her decision via Twitter.

Toomey is a five-star recruit that is the top player at her position and the No. 3 overall player in the 2023 class. Landing a player of this caliber is huge for the program, especially coming off a good 2022 recruiting cycle as well.

The job that Banghart has done in her time at UNC has been incredible, especially with where the program was at when she took over. A trip to the Sweet 16 is a heck of a start and now she’s getting it done on the recruiting trail as well.

UNC women’s basketball program punches ticket to Sweet 16

The UNC women’s basketball program punched their ticket to the Sweet 16 with a win over Arizona on Monday night.

The University of North Carolina basketball programs are feeling a little extra sweet this week.

Just a few days after the men’s program beat Baylor to earn a spot in the Sweet 16, the women’s program did the same. UNC’s 63-45 win on the road at No. 4 Arizona helped Courtney Banghart and her team reach the Sweet 16 for the first time since the 2015 season. It’s the 18th trip to the Sweet 16 for the Tar Heels as their impressive season continues on.

From the start, the Tar Heels looked like the better team jumping out to a 14-9 lead after one. They built on that lead and took a 28-17 at halftime over the Wildcats.

After a few runs by Arizona that cut the lead down just a tad, UNC was able to have a firm grip on the lead. And in the fourth quarter, they pulled away to earn the win.

Kennedy Todd-Williams led the way with 19 points while Deja Kelly added 15 and Alyssa Ustby added 12 points and had 12 rebounds. The Tar Heels shot 41.2 percent from the field and assisted on 15 of their 21 made field goals.

It was an all-around impressive game for Banghart’s team but the test gets tougher. UNC will take on No. 1 South Carolina in the Sweet 16.

UNC opens up tournament with win over SFA

Courtney Banghart and the UNC women’s basketball team opens up their NCAA Tournament with a win over Stephen F. Austin.

Just a few hours after the UNC men’s basketball team held off a furious Baylor comeback to beat the Bears in overtime, the women’s team opened up their tournament in Arizona.

The No. 5 seeded Tar Heels drew No. 12 Stephen F. Austin and found themselves trailing early in the first quarter. But Courtney Banghart’s team locked in and tied the game at 18 all at the end of the first quarter. After Stephen F. Austin took a three-point lead into the break and then led the Tar Heels 56-54 after three quarters, UNC went on a run in the fourth to seal the win.

UNC outscored Stephen F. Austin 25-10 in the final quarter to advance on to the round of 32 against No. 4 Arizona on Monday. That effort was led by Deja Kelly who scored 28 points in the win to lead all scorers. She went 8-of-15 from the field and drained four three-pointers to help UNC go on that fourth-quarter run.

Zya Nugent led Stephen F. Austin with 26 points as they controlled the game for the first three quarters.

Kennedy Todd-Williams scored 15 points while Alyssa Ustby and Carlie Littlefield added 13 each.

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