UNC Women’s Basketball stumbles vs Ohio State, ends season

The UNC Women’s Basketball team faced a tough test Monday afternoon in Columbus, Ohio vs the No. 3-seed Ohio State Buckeyes.  

The UNC Women’s Basketball team played the Ohio State Buckeyes in the second round of the NCAA Tournament Monday afternoon with a spot to the Sweet Sixteen on the line. Let’s dive into what happened.

Carolina got off to a rough start on Monday afternoon. The Tar Heels started the game down 11-2 and turned it over 5 times in the first 5 minutes of the game. Ohio State came out of the gate with a full-court press and it clearly gave UNC trouble getting the ball up the floor and sped UNC up and forced them into some mistakes. UNC was able to close the quarter on a 10-3 run to cut the Buckeyes’ lead to 16-14 thanks to Deja Kelly’s impressive first quarter, scoring 8 of UNC’s 14 points.

Earlier today, Drew Garrett gave us a preview of the game and pointed out that UNC needed to stop Taylor Mikesell to have a chance to win. She had 9 of Ohio State’s first 27 points, including 3-4 shooting from beyond the arc.

Ohio State began the second quarter on a 6-0 run to push the lead back out to 22-14. UNC was able to cut the lead back down to 27-22 with 4:32 remaining in the half. The Tar Heels couldn’t take advantage of three Ohio State turnovers toward the end of the half that would have helped get the deficit under 5.

The Tar Heels trailed 33-28 at the half. Ohio State shot 46% in the first half, while UNC only shot 38% (6-12 on layups), including 1-8 (12.5%) from three.

As Garrett provided to us in his preview, the Tar Heels needed Kelly to be on her ‘A’ game. She had 13 points at the half. Unfortunately, it didn’t come very efficiently on 4-12 shooting, including two missed layups, one on a fast break in the final minute of the half.  Kennedy Todd-Williams and Destiny Adams both entered the break with three fouls.

Ohio State began the third quarter the same way they did the game. Full-court press and causing issues for the Tar Heels bringing the ball up the floor and forcing turnovers. This allowed Ohio State to go on an 8-3 run to begin the half and push their lead to double digits at 41-31 for the first time of the day.

UNC cut the Ohio State lead down to one at 46-45 with just under a minute remaining in the third quarter, the closest they had been since it was 13-12. UNC trailed 48-46 with 9 seconds remaining in the third quarter, and Mikesell converted a three-point play on a controversial call to push the Buckeye lead back to 5 headed to the 4th quarter.  51-46

From the time the Tar Heels cut it to one at 46-45, Ohio State used a 16-5 run to give them a 62-50 lead with 6:59 remaining. Kelly went down with an apparent ankle injury with 6:59 remaining in the game.

Alyssa Ustby and Todd-Williams powered UNC to a 9-0 run once Kelly left the game and helped cut the lead to 62-59 with 4:59 left. But just like all afternoon, the Buckeyes had an answer for everything the Tar Heels threw at them. UNC got within one at 64-63, but Ohio State answered once again.

Kelly made her return with 2:33 remaining and trailing by 3 and immediately attacked the rim drawing a foul. She made both free throws once again cutting the deficit to one. After Ustby forced a turnover, Paulina Paris made a layup to give Carolina their first lead of the game at 67-66. UNC had the ball up one and couldn’t extend the lead any further. Ohio State took the lead back at 68-67 with 1:07 remaining.

The Tar Heels had the ball down 69-67 with 16.3 seconds remaining and went to their star in Kelly like they have all season and she delivered to tie the game with 9.8 seconds remaining. Unfortunately, the Tar Heels needed a stop to force overtime and couldn’t get it. Jacy Sheldon had 16 points on the day, including the game-winning basket for the Buckeyes with 1.8 seconds left.

UNC had one more chance to keep their season alive and just couldn’t do it as they never got a shot off.

The shots just weren’t falling for UNC as they shot only 27-60 (45%) and 5-15 (33%) from three-point range. Ohio State shot 25-50 (50%) and 5-15 (33%). The biggest issue for the Tar Heels was the lack of assists, 8, and too many turnovers, 17. This is what Ohio State has done well all season and continued to do so today to advance to their 13th Sweet Sixteen.

Also, a common theme Saturday was the free throw differential. That stayed true today as well. UNC went 10-12 from the line, however, Ohio State went 16-23 and it was ultimately the difference in the game.

The Buckeyes had four players in double figures, including Mikesell who led them with 17 points on 4-8 shooting from beyond the arc. For comparison, UNC only had three players in double figures, Kelly, Todd-Williams, and Ustby. Ohio State outrebounded the Tar Heels 33 to 29.

We should feel proud of how the Tar Heels fought today. Even when trailing by 12 with just 7 minutes remaining and Kelly out, UNC pushed back and never quit pushing the Buckeyes all the way until the final buzzer.

What’s next: Unfortunately, that’s the end of the 2022-2023 season for the Tar Heels. While the expectations were very high for this season, between wanting to host the first and second round in the NCAA Tournament in Carmichael and making a deeper run in March, the future is still very bright for head coach Courtney Banghart and the UNC Women’s Basketball program.

It felt like injuries to Eva Hodgson and Ustby set the team back a few weeks in February and may have messed with their rhythm which carried over into March. The good news for the Tar Heels is that, barring any unexpected departures, they expect to return all key players except for Hodgson in 2023-2024. Expectations will be the highest they have been during Coach Banghart’s tenure returning this much talent and experience. We look forward to bringing you the latest and greatest news regarding everything UNC Women’s Basketball in the future. As always, it’s still a Great Day to be a Tar Heel, win or lose.

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