# 2018–19 North Carolina Tar Heels women's basketball team

The 2018–19 North Carolina Tar Heels women's basketball team represented the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill during the 2018–19 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The Tar Heels, led by thirty-third year head coach Sylvia Hatchell, played their games at Carmichael Arena and were members of the Atlantic Coast Conference. They finished the season 18–15, 9–9 in ACC play to finish in eighth place. They defeat Georgia Tech in the first round before losing in the second round of the ACC women's tournament to Notre Dame. They received an at-large bid to the NCAA women's tournament, where was their first trip since 2015. They lost in the first round to California.
On April 18, Hatchell resigned after an external review confirmed reports that she had made racially insensitive comments and mismanaged players' medical issues. Hatchell, the only coach with national titles in the AIAW, NAIA, and NCAA, left Chapel Hill with 1,023 wins overall and 751 in 33 seasons with the Tar Heels, including the 1994 NCAA title. The school tabbed Princeton's Courtney Banghart as their new head coach on April 29, officially announcing her the next day.

## Previous season

For the 2017–18 season, the Tar Heelss finished 15–16 overall and 4–12 in ACC play which was 12th place. North Carolina was eliminated in the second round of the ACC tournament by North Carolina State. The Tar Heels were not invited to post-season play

## Off-season
### Recruiting class

Source:
US college sports recruiting information for high school athletes :
| Name | Hometown | High school / college | Height | Weight |
| Kennedy Boyd PG | Mint Hill, North Carolina | Providence Day School | 5 ft 7 in (1.70 m) | N/A |
| Recruiting star ratings: Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN: ESPN grade: 90 ||||||
| Claudia Dickey G | Charlotte, North Carolina | Charlotte Latin School | 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) | N/A |
| Recruiting star ratings: Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN: ESPN grade: 88 ||||||
| Overall recruiting rankings: ||||||
| Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height and weight. In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale. Sources: ||||||

## Schedule

| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Exhibition ||||||
| November 1, 2018* 6:00 pm, ACCN Extra | | Carson-Newman | W 115–74 | | Carmichael Arena Chapel Hill, NC |
| Non-conference regular season ||||||
| November 6, 2018* 7:00 pm | | at Elon | W 100–69 | 1–0 | Schar Center (1,622) Elon, NC |
| November 9, 2018* 6:00 pm, ACCN Extra | | Kent State | W 73–60 | 2–0 | Carmichael Arena (2,005) Chapel Hill, NC |
| November 14, 2018* 11:00 am, ACCN Extra | | VCU | W 59–47 | 3–0 | Carmichael Arena (2,893) Chapel Hill, NC |
| November 18, 2018* 3:00 pm | | at Colorado | L 74–86 | 3–1 | CU Events Center (1,739) Boulder, CO |
| November 22, 2018* 3:00 pm, FloHoops | | vs. UCLA Paradise Jam tournament Island Division | W 83–49 | 4–1 | Sports and Fitness Center (874) Saint Thomas, USVI |
| November 23, 2018* 3:00 pm, FloHoops | | vs. No. 17 South Florida Paradise Jam Island Division | W 71–69 | 5–1 | Sports and Fitness Center (715) Saint Thomas, USVI |
| November 24, 2018* 1:00 pm, FloHoops | | vs. Kentucky Paradise Jam Island Division | L 75–85 | 5–2 | Sports and Fitness Center (814) Saint Thomas, USVI |
| November 29, 2018* 7:00 pm, BTN+ | | at Ohio State ACC–Big Ten Women's Challenge | L 69–76 | 5–3 | Value City Arena (4,997) Columbus, OH |
| December 2, 2018* 2:00 pm, ACCN Extra | | Maine | L 73–85 | 5–4 | Carmichael Arena (2,159) Chapel Hill, NC |
| December 5, 2018* 3:30 pm, ACCN Extra | | UNC Wilmington | W 82–55 | 6–4 | Carmichael Arena (2,007) Chapel Hill, NC |
| December 14, 2018* 7:00 pm, ACCN Extra | | UNC Greensboro Postponed from 12/9 | W 83–62 | 7–4 | Carmichael Arena (2,149) Chapel Hill, NC |
| December 18, 2018* 8:30 pm | | vs. Rice Carolinas Challenge | W 71–50 | 8–4 | Myrtle Beach Convention Center Myrtle Beach, SC |
| December 20, 2018* 6:30 pm, Stadium | | vs. Auburn Carolinas Challenge | L 81–86 $^{OT}$ | 8–5 | Myrtle Beach Convention Center Myrtle Beach, SC |
| December 28, 2018* 2:00 pm, ACCN Extra | | Howard | W 85–63 | 9–5 | Carmichael Arena (3,005) Chapel Hill, NC |
| ACC regular season ||||||
| January 3, 2019 7:00 pm, ACCN Extra | | at No. 3 Louisville | L 66–73 | 9–6 (0–1) | KFC Yum! Center (8,506) Louisville, KY |
| January 6, 2019 1:00 pm, RSN | | Florida State | L 63–64 | 9–7 (0–2) | Carmichael Arena (2,497) Chapel Hill, NC |
| January 13, 2019 3:00 pm, ACCN Extra | | at No. 12 Syracuse | L 77–90 | 9–8 (0–3) | Carrier Dome (4,982) Syracuse, NY |
| January 17, 2019 7:00 pm, RSN | | Wake Forest | W 84–61 | 10–8 (1–3) | Carmichael Arena (2,056) Chapel Hill, NC |
| January 20, 2019 7:00 pm, RSN | | at Miami | L 68–76 | 10–9 (1–4) | Watsco Center (1,560) Coral Gables, FL |
| January 24, 2019 7:00 pm, ACCN Extra | | at Virginia Tech | W 81–69 | 11–9 (2–4) | Cassell Coliseum (1,450) Blacksburg, VA |
| January 27, 2019 2:00 pm, ACCN Extra | | No. 1 Notre Dame | W 78–73 | 12–9 (3–4) | Carmichael Arena (4,704) Chapel Hill, NC |
| January 31, 2019 2:00 pm, ACCN Extra | | Georgia Tech | W 91–90 | 13–9 (4–4) | Carmichael Arena (1,954) Chapel Hill, NC |
| February 3, 2019 2:00 pm, ACCN Extra | | at No. 7 NC State Rivalry | W 64–51 | 14–9 (5–4) | Reynolds Coliseum (5,500) Raleigh, NC |
| February 7, 2019 7:00 pm, ACCN Extra | | Duke Rivalry | L 69–85 | 14–10 (5–5) | Carmichael Arena (3,123) Chapel Hill, NC |
| February 10, 2019 2:00 pm, ACCN Extra | | at Clemson | W 70–64 | 15–10 (6–5) | Littlejohn Coliseum (2,224) Clemson, SC |
| February 14, 2019 7:00 pm, ACCN Extra | | at Pittsburgh | L 78–91 | 15–11 (6–6) | Peterson Events Center (754) Pittsburgh, PA |
| February 17, 2019 3:00 pm, RSN | | Virginia | W 70–53 | 16–11 (7–6) | Carmichael Arena (3,445) Chapel Hill, NC |
| February 21, 2019 7:00 pm, ACCN Extra | | Boston College | W 93–78 | 17–11 (8–6) | Carmichael Arena (1,950) Chapel Hill, NC |
| February 24, 2019 12:00 pm, ESPNU | | No. 9 NC State Rivalry | L 69–74 | 17–12 (8–7) | Carmichael Arena (4,863) Chapel Hill, NC |
| March 3, 2019 12:00 pm, ESPN2 | | at Duke Rivalry | L 44–62 | 17–13 (8–8) | Cameron Indoor Stadium (9,314) Durham, NC |
| ACC Women's tournament ||||||
| March 7, 2019 2:00 pm, RSN | (8) | vs. (9) Georgia Tech Second Round | W 80–73 | 18–13 | Greensboro Coliseum (3,413) Greensboro, NC |
| March 8, 2019 2:00 pm, RSN | (8) | vs. (1) No. 4 Notre Dame Quarterfinals | L 77–95 | 18–14 | Greensboro Coliseum (4,024) Greensboro, NC |
| NCAA Women's tournament ||||||
| March 23, 2019 3:30 pm, ESPN2 | (9 G) | vs. (8 G) California First Round | L 72–92 | 18–15 | Ferrell Center Waco, TX |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. G=Greensboro. All times are in Eastern. ||||||
Source

## Rankings

Legend :
| | Increase in ranking |
| | Decrease in ranking |
| | Not ranked previous week |
| (RV) | Received Votes |
^Coaches did not release a Week 2 poll.