UNC women's basketball shows ability to compete with top teams in loss to No. 3 Notre Dame

Perennial powerhouses have long dominated the landscape of women's college basketball.

Whether it was Tennessee throughout the '90s, UConn in the early 2000s and 2010s or South Carolina in recent history, success has continued to divide the upper echelon of elite programs from the rest of the bunch. 

But under head coach Courtney Banghart, North Carolina has appeared in the Top 25 four out of six seasons and found success against top-five opponents — boasting a 3-4 record on its home court and 17-27 overall record against ranked opponents — ushering the Tar Heels into a tier of collegiate programs that isn't far off from defeating the best in the sport. 

Despite Sunday's 76-66 loss to No. 3 Notre Dame in Carmichael Arena, the Tar Heels have shown resilience against top-five opponents this season. They're still in search of more program-defining title wins that set apart the elite from the programs on the fringe, but games like Sunday's are preparing North Carolina for those opportunities in March. 

“I feel like they are in the conversation,” Notre Dame head coach Niele Ivey said, before later adding, “[They're a] very well-coached team, they have great players, and it's a really successful program. So I think they're there.” 

During Banghart's six-year tenure thus far, the Tar Heels have not shied away from scheduling heavyweight opponents. This season, UNC has faced two top-three teams in the country, with a total of eight ranked matchups on the slate. 

“Part of the reason I came here was to play against really good teams,” senior center Maria Gakdeng said. 

UNC isn't concerned about winning every marquee matchup either. The Tar Heels understand the advantage of a heavy non-conference schedule and that strenuous ACC games will prepare the team come March.  

Instead, Banghart looks to the growth that such games provide, regardless if UNC is able to steal a top-five win or not. 

“We've beaten top-three teams before,” Banghart said. “I'm not great at stats or records, I don't really know when or how or who, but this particular team has continued to get better, and that's what I care about.”

In their first true test of the season, the Tar Heels fell to No. 2 UConn in mid-November, 69-58. Although the loss was double figures, North Carolina trailed the Huskies by single digits in the fourth quarter and gave itself a fighting chance late after storming back from 19 down near the end of the third quarter. 

Likewise, UNC fell behind Notre Dame in the first half on Sunday and couldn't overcome the deficit, despite mounting another comeback and outscoring the Fighting Irish in the second half. 

The Tar Heels have played well in spurts throughout big games, but lack a complete four-quarter performance that it takes to knock off a highly-ranked giant. 

“This never felt out of reach,” Banghart said. “It just was like, we got to make one more shot or we got to get one more stop or we need to have one more 50-50 ball.” 

Graduate forward Alyssa Ustby reiterated several what-ifs that have plagued North Carolina's locker room after each loss to a ranked opponent. What if the team boxed out one more time? What if they executed one more play? 

But Ustby doesn't dwell on those what-ifs. Instead, she refocuses the team's perspective. 

“The biggest thing that we can take away from this game is that we can compete with the best teams in the country,” Ustby said, later adding, “Obviously it wasn't enough to win, but we know that any team that's coming in here, or places that we go next, we can compete with anybody.” 

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