A season-defining three-week stretch is on the way for Courtney Banghart’s Tar Heels.
Some fans may have checked out on Carolina after it hit a rough patch around the holidays and the new year. UNC blew late leads against Louisville and Stanford in overtime home losses, then was a no-show in a 23-point loss at Notre Dame on Jan. 11.
But since then, Carolina (20-5, 9-3 ACC) has found its stride with seven consecutive wins. And the Tar Heels haven’t just been feasting on cellar dwellers. Included in the streak is a win at NC State (the first ever for Banghart) and home wins against ACC contenders Syracuse and Clemson. Carolina now has head-to-head tiebreakers against all three, which is no small thing when the Wolfpack are a half-game ahead in the ACC standings, the Orange a half-game behind and the Tigers 1.5 games back.
UNC should be heavily favored tonight at Carmichael Arena when it hosts SMU, currently 1-11 in the ACC. But after that begins one of the Tar Heels’ toughest portions of the schedule, beginning with a visit to ACC leaders Duke Sunday afternoon on ABC. The Blue Devils have rebounded from an awful start to the season and are a perfect 13-0 in the league after winning last year’s ACC Tournament. They also ended UNC’s season in the NCAA Sweet 16 a few weeks later.
After Duke, UNC pays visits to Virginia Tech and Virginia – both hot on the Heels’ heels in the standings – and wraps up the regular season with the Blue Devils again in Chapel Hill on March 1. If Carolina wants to secure a double-bye in the ACC Tournament for just the second time under Banghart, it will need to play some of its best basketball during this stretch. The double-bye is crucial, considering no team seeded lower than fourth in the field has won the ACC Tournament since 1986.
UNC’s last ACC triumph came when the Tar Heels and MOP Erlana Larkins capped off a four-peat in 2008, and the Tar Heels haven’t been back in the title game since losing to Duke in 2013. Carolina made it as far as it ever has at the ACC Tournament under Banghart last year when it reached the semifinals, but very clearly ran out of gas against NC State there. That UNC team was playing its third game in three days as the No. 5 seed, while No. 1 State had only played one game.
With Banghart now in her seventh season in Chapel Hill, fans should reasonably expect her to start bringing home some hardware. Winning key games in the season’s home stretch would be an excellent first step in that direction.
Featured image via UNC Athletic Communications/Dalton T. Wainscott
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