ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

March 3, 2023

Courtney Banghart

Deja Kelly

Alyssa Ustby

North Carolina Tar Heels

Postgame Press Conference

Duke 44, North Carolina 40

COURTNEY BANGHART: You guys, we treated you to a great basketball game. I didn't think we could score less. I didn't think it would be as low scoring as it was the last time we played them, but it actually was. It was actually less scoring. So you're seeing two of the very best defensive teams in the country go at it in our state. How cool.

We had a lot of chances in that fourth quarter to make shots, a lot of them, and I'm not the coach that says if you make shots you win. I'm the coach that says you've got to do it all right. So we have other mistakes, as well.

But we had -- I like a lot of the looks that we had, and we just weren't able to finish them. Two really good teams, and a great basketball game today, and you never want to be the one that loses, but somehow it's not really fair someone has got to lose these games.

Q. Coach, what went into the decision of playing Kayla more on the ball and Deja off the ball down the stretch? I saw Kayla was really the primary ball handler for most of the game?

COURTNEY BANGHART: Yeah, I think that's the beauty of having multiple guards that can handle it. They were really able in the highways to find Deja, and the length that they had at the rim created a challenge clearly. She shot 4 for 22, so it was a challenge. So if we could have her off the ball a little bit and then she could work in the wing areas and that could get to another part of her game. Because she's got a lot of different layers she can use.

So multiple ball handlers helps us, it lets us mix things around, and try to make the defense have a secondary read off her.

Q. Was Duke doing anything differently on defense in that fourth quarter, or was it just you guys missing more shots?

COURTNEY BANGHART: Yeah, Duke doesn't have to change what they do defensively. They're giving teams so few shots and so few great shots. Offense was really hard to come by. If you make a few of those open shots, it's a different outcome.

We took 12 more shots. Usually if you take 12 more shots, you win that game. That's kind of a statistical deal there, and we only turned it over 12 times. There's a lot of things these guys did well. We didn't make enough shots, unfortunately. Defensively they were solid all day. One of the better defensive teams that there is.

Q. Was it ultimately the rebounding that made the difference in this game?

COURTNEY BANGHART: I think even though they out-rebounded us by 16, we turned them over more, and we got more shots. It's easy to look at a stat sheet and say, rebound better. I think even that very last possession, DK had an open three, they fought hard for rebound. Toddy made that great pass over to Eva, open three. If those go in, we're sitting here differently.

I want these guys to continue to have chances to win basketball games, and they did that, so this was not -- this was one of those games that it really can go either way, and I think it more came down to not making open shots.

Q. Can you please speak to the physicality of Duke-Carolina games but particularly tonight?

COURTNEY BANGHART: Yeah, I mean, the physicality of the game in general, it's very different than the game I played, which is a good thing because look at my frame. The physicality in general is remarkable, what we're asking these women to play through. I don't think it was one-sided in any way, and I don't think it was a Duke-Carolina thing.

Clemson yesterday played zone, so it was a little bit different, but against Virginia Tech, you should see these kids' bodies. It's really the way basketball is becoming, and I'm not sure if it's because the game is so much faster and the refs are the same. I don't know the answer to that. But it's a pretty physical game, and I don't think it's unique to Carolina-Duke.

But you guys are the ones playing. Did you feel like it's unique to that or did it feel physical all the time?

DEJA KELLY: Yeah, it's definitely always a physical game. I feel like in our games, the refs let us play a little more on both sides. It's a rivalry game, emotions are high, so it's definitely going to get physical.

Q. Part of the way tournaments work, you guys were playing your second game in two days against a team that had a double bye and didn't play yesterday. Was that a factor in the offensive woes in the fourth period do you think?

COURTNEY BANGHART: No, we beat them, I think, 45-41 the last game we played. It was about the same. Again, I didn't play, but I think these guys wish they played a third game and a fourth games. These guys practice. I think we're at 104 or whatever it is on the year, so you don't play college basketball for days off. That's what I would say. I don't know. I didn't play much.

ALYSSA USTBY: Yeah, our bodies are well-trained for this, and especially our mentality going into this game. We just kept pushing forward, and being tired wasn't an option for us. I felt great. I know a lot of my teammates felt great. It was just a matter of putting the ball in the basket.

Q. What are the difficulties in playing a team like Duke three times this year and twice now in the same week?

DEJA KELLY: I think it's to our advantage because you're so familiar with them. You know each other really well. I think this was the game we were most excited for just because we've already played them. We just played them, I think, five days ago, so we're very familiar. So we knew what kind of game it was going to be and that it would really come down to us putting the ball in the basket because of how low scoring the game was last time we played them. So I think that was kind of to both sides' benefit.

ALYSSA USTBY: With that familiarity, you know each other's plays quite well. You know what people like to do. So especially on the defensive end, it was all about us trying to take away what they do best and try to force them to make a play other than what they were comfortable making.

Q. I know you don't know the answer to this question, but do you feel like you've done enough to host?

COURTNEY BANGHART: Yeah, I mean, it depends on what -- typically they said -- I thought we could have hosted last year and they said, you know, your schedule -- your non-conference schedule has to be harder. Well, we have the 12th-hardest schedule in the country of the 362 Division I teams.

I think because we had some guys out, I don't think those losses hurt us as bad. This is a top -- I don't know what they're ranked, but this is a top-10 matchup or whatever it is, so I think so. I'm just glad that these guys have done enough work that it's not over. I'm pretty biased, but I'm also pretty analytical. When you look at the numbers and you look at the quality wins and you look at top-25 wins and you look at bad losses, we don't have any of those. Whatever your metric is, it seems pretty promising. Plus Chapel Hill is a really cool place to be. We call it Blue Heaven.

Q. Courtney, you played Virginia Tech in a tight game, two straight weeks of games like this against Duke, and there's been a lot of discussion about parity in the ACC, that the margins weren't very wide. What's your takeaway in terms of going forward? What that might say for what's ahead in March for teams, especially ones like you guys that are in the mix in the national rankings and so forth?

COURTNEY BANGHART: Yeah, absolutely. I think -- I remember when I was at Princeton, I was always like, why don't we get any more -- my schedule was really different back then. So I was like, come on, we're 28-4. And I look at how many games I won in the top 25, and I'm like, well, I guess it makes sense.

Now I'm sitting here and I'm thinking these are the guys we're battling night after night after night after night after night. These are second weekend teams that we've played over the last two weeks, and we're finally healthy, and a few shots go a different way, the outcome is different.

It's just the ACC is as healthy as it's ever been. I feel responsible in part for that because Carolina needs to be good at basketball. I know that. These guys are a huge reason why the Triangle area is so strong. But this is an awesome basketball league, and I think we do have the national respect thanks to the work that you guys have done to promote our teams.

But we've also done a lot -- again, I'm not sure exactly, but I think it's like six top-25, maybe seven top-25 wins. That's a lot. That includes the neutral site of playing Oregon at Oregon.

I think there's a lot of good work to be done and a lot of good work that's been completed this year by this group.

Q. Another question for the players, just wanted to ask after I think it was the back to back three-point misses and you guys go into the huddle for the time-out, what was the message there?

DEJA KELLY: That there was still a lot of time left, a lot of basketball left, and we got the looks that we wanted, and just to get the stop on the other end and get the rebound to get another possession.