The UNC women's basketball team will be a No. 3 seed in the Birmingham regional and will host the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament in Carmichael Arena. The Tar Heels will take on No. 14 seed Oregon State on Saturday in the first round.
This is the first time UNC has hosted since 2015, where the team went 29-6 and eventually lost to South Carolina in the Sweet 16. This is the best seed North Carolina has earned under head coach Courtney Banghart, who is in her sixth year with the program.
UNC went 27-7 this season and 13-5 in the ACC. The Tar Heels only lost one away game in the 2024-25 season and it came in their final road test against then-No. 16 Duke. North Carolina was the longest team to remain undefeated away, leading the squad to its best regular season performance since the 2012-13 season.
The Tar Heels suffered a slew of injuries starting in February. Leading scorers Alyssa Ustby and Reniya Kelly missed several games due to unspecified injuries to close out the season. Both players appeared in UNC's 66-55 loss to N.C. State in the ACC tournament semifinals.
Heading into the NCAA tournament, both players will be healthy, according to Banghart. The furthest the Tar Heels have gone under the head coach is to the Sweet 16 in 2022.
