UNC women's basketball's defense holds Kentucky to season-low 53 points

UNC's defensive scouting report against Kentucky was simple on the surface. 

Force the Wildcat's offense to Plan B. Then, “take away plan B.” 

In reality, the defensive plan was far more complicated. 

“If you give us four days for an opponent, watch out,” head coach Courtney Banghart said. “We feel like we can really understand how we want to play.” 

In No. 16 North Carolina women's basketball's 72-53 victory over No. 14 Kentucky on Thursday night, the Tar Heels held the Wildcats 25 points below their season scoring average to hand them their first loss of the season. A well-planned defensive strategy stifled Kentucky’s leading scorers and forced the Wildcats to record their lowest point total so far this year. This marks North Carolina's first ranked win over a non-conference opponent at Carmichael Arena since 2014. 

Kentucky guard Georgia Amoore was at the top of the scouting report. 

Banghart knows Amoore's game well. Amoore faced the Tar Heels ten times during her stint at Virginia Tech before transferring to Kentucky, averaging 15.1 points and 6 assists against North Carolina. 

The UNC head coach knows Amoore is a pass-first point guard. The senior averages 8.3 rebounds per game. She’s recorded 21 more assists than made shots this season. Defending Amoore became the priority. 

Banghart changed how UNC defended ball screen actions to shut her down. North Carolina's coaching staff chose to match up Amoore with guards Lexi Donarski and Reniya Kelly. The Tar Heels forced the Wildcat point guard into isolated pick-and-rolls where Amoore’s passing was limited. 

"[I trusted] everything I worked on," Kelly said.

Amoore finished 4-12 from the field and 0-5 from three. 

“We wanted to handle the ball screen two on two well and we didn’t need to incorporate all five,” Banghart said. “We changed a little bit of our ball screen coverage for her and that went really well.” 

Senior center Maria Gakdeng had the toughest assignment in the low post. 

Gakdeng matched up with Wildcat center Clara Strack. The 6-foot-5 player came into the game averaging 18.3 points and 11 rebounds. The Tar Heels held her to just four a piece. 

It was Gakdeng’s physicality in the post that hindered Strack. The senior rarely allowed Strack a clean post-up and made it hard for Kentucky to  get the ball down low. 

“They were a really big, long team and each player is a little different,” Gakdeng said. “So it's knowing how to defend them and keep them to a limited amount of points, but staying true to our scout, trusting our scout from the week.” 

When the Wildcats did, Gakdeng was there. She recorded two blocks and forced a pair of turnovers, ultimately leading UNC to a 42-10 difference in points in the paint. The Wildcats have recorded 72 points in the paint against the two ranked opponents they have faced this season. 

With the Tar Heels holding their last five opponents under an average of 45 points per game, defense is quickly becoming UNC’s calling card. 

@cadeshoemaker23

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