# 2020–21 North Carolina Tar Heels women's basketball team

The 2020–21 North Carolina Tar Heels women's basketball team represented the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill during the 2020–21 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The Tar Heels, were led by second year head coach Courtney Banghart, played their games at Carmichael Arena, and are members of the Atlantic Coast Conference.
The Tar Heels finished the season 13–11 and 8–9 in ACC play to finish in eight place. In the ACC tournament, they lost to Wake Forest in the Second Round. They received an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament where they were the ten seed in the HemisFair Regional. In the tournament they lost to Alabama in the First Round to end their season.

## Previous season

For the 2019–20 season, the Tar Heels finished 16–14 and 7–11 in ACC play to finish in a tie for eleventh place. As the twelfth seed in the ACC tournament, they lost to Wake Forest in the First Round. The NCAA tournament and WNIT were cancelled due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

## Off-season
### Departures

| Name | Number | Pos. | Height | Year | Hometown | Reason for Departure |
| Taylor Koenen | 1 | G | 6'2" | Senior | Savage, MN | Graduated |
| Madinah Muhammad | 3 | G | 5'8" | Senior | Chicago, IL | Graduated |
| Liz Roberts | 14 | G | 5'8" | Senior | Chapel Hill, NC | Graduated |
| Olivia Smith | 15 | G | 6'0" | Senior | Raleigh, NC | Graduated |
| Leah Church | 20 | G | 5'8" | Junior | Purlear, NC | Graduated early |
| Shayla Bennett | 22 | G | 5'9" | Senior | Piedmont, SC | Graduated |
| Nia Daniel | 32 | G | 5'10" | Freshman | Charlotte, NC | Transferred to Gulf Coast State |
| Lexi Duckett | 33 | G | 5'11" | Freshman | Daytona Beach, FL | Transferred to Wisconsin |
| Naomi Van Nes | 34 | C | 6'6" | Senior | Dorchester, England | Graduated |

### Incoming transfers

| Name | Number | Pos. | Height | Year | Hometown | Previous School |
| Petra Holešínská | 2 | G | 5'10" | Graduate Student | Vracov, Czech Republic | Illinois |
| Stephanie Watts | 5 | G | 5'11" | Graduate Student | Wesley Chapel, NC | USC |

### Recruiting class

Source:
College recruiting information :
| Name | Hometown | High school / college | Height | Weight |
| Deja Kelly G | San Antonio, TX | Duncanville | 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m) | N/A |
| Star ratings: Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN: ESPN grade: 98 ||||||
| Anya Poole F | Raleigh, NC | Southeast Raleigh | 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) | N/A |
| Star ratings: Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN: ESPN grade: 96 ||||||
| Alexandra Zelaya F | Goodyear, AZ | Millennium | 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) | N/A |
| Star ratings: Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN: ESPN grade: 92 ||||||
| Kennedy Todd-Williams G | Jacksonville, NC | Jacksonville | 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) | N/A |
| Star ratings: Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN: ESPN grade: 90 ||||||
| Alyssa Ustby G | Rochester, MN | Lourdes | 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) | N/A |
| Star ratings: Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN: ESPN grade: 90 ||||||
| 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

Source
| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Non-conference Regular Season ||||||
| November 25, 2020* 1:00 p.m., ACCNX | | Radford | W 90–61 | 1–0 | Carmichael Arena (0) Chapel Hill, NC |
| November 28, 2020* 1:00 p.m., ACCNX | | UNC Greensboro | W 96–35 | 2–0 | Carmichael Arena (0) Chapel Hill, NC |
| November 29, 2020* 1:00 p.m. p.m., ACCNX | | High Point | W 95–70 | 3–0 | Carmichael Arena (0) Chapel Hill, NC |
| December 3, 2020* 6:00 p.m., ACCNX | | South Carolina State | W 98–28 | 4–0 | Carmichael Arena (0) Chapel Hill, NC |
| December 6, 2020* 4:00 p.m., ACCNX | | Charlotte | W 81–75 | 5–0 | Carmichael Arena (0) Chapel Hill, NC |
| ACC Regular Season ||||||
| December 10, 2020 6:00 p.m., ACCN | | at Wake Forest | L 54–57 | 5–1 (0–1) | LJVM Coliseum (0) Winston-Salem, NC |
| December 13, 2020 4:00 p.m., ACCN | | at No. 2 Louisville | Postponed | Postponed | KFC Yum! Center Louisville, KY |
| December 14, 2020 2:00 p.m., ACCN | | Miami (FL) | L 63–67 | 5–2 (0–2) | Carmichael Arena (0) Chapel Hill, NC |
| December 17, 2020 6:00 p.m., ACCNX | | No. 18 Syracuse | W 92–68 | 6–2 (1–2) | Carmichael Arena (0) Chapel Hill, NC |
| December 20, 2020 1:00 p.m., ACCNX | | Wake Forest | W 77–74 $^{OT}$ | 7–2 (2–2) | Carmichael Arena (0) Chapel Hill, NC |
| December 31, 2020 2:00 p.m., ACCNX | | at No. 22 Syracuse | Postponed | Postponed | Carrier Dome Syracuse, NY |
| January 1, 2021 Noon, ACCNX | | at No. 2 Louisville | Postponed | Postponed | KFC Yum! Center Louisville, KY |
| January 3, 2021 1:00 p.m., RSN | | at Pittsburgh | Postponed | Postponed | Petersen Events Center Pittsburgh, PA |
| January 10, 2021 1:00 p.m., RSN | | Miami (FL) | L 59–69 | 7–3 (2–3) | Carmichael Arena (0) Chapel Hill, NC |
| January 14, 2021 6:00 p.m., ACCNX | | Virginia Tech | L 54–66 | 7–4 (2–4) | Carmichael Arena (0) Chapel Hill, NC |
| January 17, 2021 2:00 p.m., ACCN | | Duke Rivalry | Canceled due to Duke ending season | Canceled due to Duke ending season | Carmichael Arena Chapel Hill, NC |
| January 19, 2021 Noon, ACCN | | at No. 23 Syracuse | L 76–88 | 7–5 (2–5) | Carrier Dome (0) Syracuse, NY |
| January 21, 2021 6:00 p.m., ACCNX | | at Virginia | Canceled due to Virginia ending season | Canceled due to Virginia ending season | John Paul Jones Arena Charlottesville, VA |
| January 24, 2021 Noon, ESPNU | | Notre Dame | W 78–73 | 8–5 (3–5) | Carmichael Arena (0) Chapel Hill, NC |
| January 28, 2021 7:00 p.m., ACCN | | at No. 1 Louisville | L 68–79 | 8–6 (3–6) | KFC Yum! Center (2,748) Louisville, KY |
| January 31, 2021 2:00 p.m., ACCNX | | at Virginia Tech | L 69–73 | 8–7 (3–7) | Cassell Coliseum (250) Blacksburg, VA |
| February 4, 2021 6:00 p.m., ACCNX | | Florida State | L 51–61 | 8–8 (3–8) | Carmichael Arena (0) Chapel Hill, NC |
| February 7, 2021 2:00 p.m., ACCN | | No. 4 NC State Rivalry | W 76–69 | 9–8 (4–8) | Carmichael Arena (0) Chapel Hill, NC |
| February 11, 2021 6:00 p.m., ACCNX | | Boston College | Postponed | Postponed | Carmichael Arena Chapel Hill, NC |
| February 14, 2021 4:00 p.m., ACCN | | Virginia | Canceled due to Virginia ending season | Canceled due to Virginia ending season | Carmichael Arena Chapel Hill, NC |
| February 14, 2021 2:00 p.m., ACCNX | | at Pittsburgh | W 81–72 | 10–8 (5–8) | Petersen Events Center (0) Pittsburgh, PA |
| February 18, 2021 7:00 p.m., ACCNX | | at Clemson | W 77–64 | 11–8 (6–8) | Littlejohn Coliseum (326) Clemson, SC |
| February 21, 2021 Noon, ESPN2 | | at No. 4 NC State Rivalry | L 63–82 | 11–9 (6–9) | Reynolds Coliseum (25) Raleigh, NC |
| February 25, 2021 6:00 p.m., ACCNX | | Georgia Tech | W 84–59 | 12–9 (7–9) | Carmichael Arena (0) Chapel Hill, NC |
| February 28, 2021 2:00 p.m., RSN | | at Duke | Canceled due to Duke ending season | Canceled due to Duke ending season | Cameron Indoor Stadium Durham, NC |
| February 28, 2021 2:00 p.m., ACCNX | | at Virginia Tech | W 68–63 | 13–9 (8–9) | Cassell Coliseum (250) Blacksburg, VA |
| ACC Women's Tournament ||||||
| March 4, 2021 Noon, RSN | (8) | vs. (9) Wake Forest Second Round | L 72–81 | 13–10 | Greensboro Coliseum (609) Greensboro, NC |
| NCAA Women's Tournament ||||||
| March 22, 2021 Noon, ESPN | (10 H) | vs. (7 H) Alabama First Round | L 71–80 | 13–11 | Alamodome San Antonio, TX |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. H=HemisFair. All times are in Eastern. ||||||

## Rankings

Legend :
| | Increase in ranking |
| | Decrease in ranking |
| | Not ranked previous week |
| (RV) | Received Votes |