Alyssa Ustby dominates with double-double in UNC women's basketball's win over Clemson

Walking down the street the day before Sunday’s 82-76 win over Clemson, head coach Courtney Banghart noticed a five-year-old boy sporting an Alyssa Ustby jersey. 

 

She said the little boy hasn’t quite figured out how to pronounce the senior forward’s name yet — to him, Ustby is better known as “OOTS-bee” — but the head coach believes the jersey on his back highlights the kind of leader Ustby has become: she’s the kind of player people recognize.

“She’s just special,” Banghart said. “It’s a gift to Carolina to watch her play basketball.”

On Sunday, Ustby’s 21 points and 11 rebounds in the ACC opener carried the No. 24 Tar Heels to victory over the Tigers. Her effective action around the basket in the first half and momentum-building fourth-quarter plays highlighted her leadership on both ends of the floor. 

Against Clemson’s aggressive zone defense, UNC struggled to connect from the 3-point line in the first half.

Cue Ustby. 

When shots missed their mark, she was there to dominate in the paint or around the glass for second-chance points. In the first half, she led the team with four rebounds and 13 points, missing only one shot from the field. By the final buzzer, she recorded a team-best 11 boards and secured her sixth double-double of the season. 

“I love going after rebounds,” she said. “It’s so fun to me, and that’s why I just keep telling the guards whenever I can to keep shooting because I love to rebound.”

After Clemson trimmed UNC’s lead down to three points in the fourth quarter, senior guard Deja Kelly bounced-passed to Ustby, who twisted around her 6-foot-3 defender to guide in a layup. 

Four minutes later, Ustby stormed through the lane to lay in another. Next play. The senior forward picked off a pass at the top of the key for a steal, leaves potential defenders in the dust and pushes the Tar Heels up ten with a shot in transition. Quickly, a one-possession game spiraled into an 11-6 run and chances for a late-game comeback dwindled. 

“I kind of think about, like, every possession matters and trying to pay attention to detail,” Ustby said. “At the end of the game, everybody’s tired — both teams — and so that’s when I really try to get myself to focus.”

Ustby said she doesn’t remember those fourth-quarter plays. She cares about the win and the 1-0 start to ACC play. She takes things day by day, play by play. That’s it.

But her teammates remember those moments. They recognize her impact. 

“She just plays hard,” graduate guard Lexi Donarski said. “There’s never a second off with her. Every single play, she’s going as hard as she can.”

For Donarski, who led the Tar Heels in scoring with 23 points on Sunday, it could take a while to list all the ways Ustby complements the graduate guard’s playing style. Her rebounding and steals are one part of the equation, sure, but it’s also her “relentless pursuit” on every possession and on both ends of the floor.

With the bulk of conference play looming, Ustby, as the team’s co-captain and a seasoned ACC veteran, said she tells her teammates to focus on taking it one day, one game and one win at a time. 

“She leads with her intentionality,” Banghart said. “I think she gets a lot of credit for her motor, but she’s gotten better at basketball. She’s becoming a really good basketball player, and I think that’s her goal here – not just to be a high-effort player.”

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