No. 19 UNC women's basketball overcomes 25 turnovers in win against No. 14 Duke

Bananas.

That’s how head coach Courtney Banghart described UNC’s women’s basketball’s overtime rivalry win over Duke on Thursday night. 

And at some points in the first half, it did appear as though the Tar Heels were slipping on banana peels as they stumbled and traveled with the ball, struggling to gain momentum on the offensive end of the floor. 

But despite allowing No. 14 Duke to score 11 points off turnovers in a half where both teams scored only 16 points, No. 19 North Carolina righted the ship in the third quarter, dominating the defensive boards and minimizing Duke’s offense to secure the top-20 win. After jumping out to a 16-0 run to start the second half, the Tar Heels held on in overtime to prevail, 53-46, over the Blue Devils. 

Just two games ago at Miami, UNC committed a season-low four turnovers. In Thursday’s game, it recorded a season-high 26. 

The turnovers kept Duke — which averages over 22 points off turnovers per game — in the game, despite shooting 22 percent from the field in the first half. The Blue Devils had 10 turnovers of their own in the first half, but UNC couldn’t capitalize. 

“I didn’t like that our turnovers turned into points for them in the first half,” Banghart said. “Their turnovers did not turn into points for us. That wasn’t ideal.”

But the third quarter turned the game on its head. 

The Tar Heels didn’t stop turning the ball over. In fact, they had more turnovers in the second half. But the defense stepped up to minimize the impact of the fumbled balls. 

For example, during North Carolina’s 16-0 run to begin the final half, UNC recovered the ball after turning it over multiple times. 

Duke head coach Kara Lawson stressed the impact of UNC’s defense on the Blue Devils.  

“We did not get off to a great start,” Lawson said. “And we had some turnovers there, they got some runouts and some loose [balls]— it says they only have two fast break points, but I don’t know how they calculate that stuff, it seemed like more.” 

This ability to get a jump on Duke’s defense was a key element in North Carolina’s success in the second half. It's something UNC had worked on during its game day preparation: identifying how to exploit the Blue Devils.

And according to Banghart, junior guard Indya Nivar was the first to recognize set actions. In shoot around on Thursday, Nivar immediately identified what sets the team's practice players were replicating, running through it before the full play was executed. 

This defensive presence resulted in several missed layups for Duke, especially in the third quarter, giving North Carolina the opportunity to grab the rebound and push the ball up the floor. 

In the third frame, a defensive rebound by first-year center Blanca Thomas off of a missed layup eventually made its way into the hands of Nivar in the corner for the first 3-pointer of the game. 

“Our big thing for the guards was for us to crash the boards and help the bigs rebound,” Nivar said. “Because that was our big thing against Notre Dame, we weren’t rebounding enough.”

Nivar led the Tar Heels with six rebounds in the second half. As a team, UNC grabbed 16 defensive rebounds to Duke’s eight in the final half of regulation, while holding the Blue Devils to just six points in the paint. 

It wasn't pretty, but it was enough to counteract a sloppy first half — two quarters in which North Carolina shot 21 percent from the field and went 0-4 from three. 

Still, Banghart suggested that the rivalry film might be best reserved for preparing for UNC’s away game at Duke, rather than their next game against Boston College. 

“I’m definitely not watching it tonight,” Banghart said. “I need to breathe through that one.”

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