The injuries to the main rebounding Alyssa Uytby puts the status of UNC tournament, ACC in flow

Syracuse, NY – The North Carolina head coach, Courtney Banghart, found himself looking around the bus for Alyssa Ustby before an ACC inclination in Syracuse. It was a routine for the fifth year to be there, and for Banghart, whose mandate of Caroline du Nord extends over a year beyond the arrival of Ustby, to turn to her.

In a rarity, this was not the case on Thursday, and it may not be in the coming week when North Carolina No. 9 plays some of the best of AC to close the regular season And continue to build a strong CV NCAA. It is another blow at the conference if USTBY lacks a lot of time.

USTBY did not trace with the team during a treatment for a left knee injury that limited its Sunday. The 68-58 victory against Syracuse on Thursday was the first match that Ustby has missed since February 19, 2023, and only the 13th time of her 149 games in North Carolina, she did not start. The team officially listed its best rebounder as “week to week”.

“She will be back, which, I think, is really good for the ACC,” said Banghart. “We have a real chance as a league to do something really special.”

An ACC team has reached the last four in the last three seasons (Louisville in 2022, Virginia Tech in 2023 and NC State in 2024) despite end -of -season injuries to play players in the past two years. He did not have a champion since Notre Dame in 2018. The North Carolina in 1994 is the only other ACC team to raise the conference trophy (Stanford won his three in PAC-12).

The Tar Heels were one of the four ACC teams in the first revelation of the NCAA women’s basketball committee, the first revelation of the 4 p.m. committee last weekend. The Tar Heels made the series n ° 3 at n ° 11 behind n ° 4 Notre Dame (1 seed), n ° 8 nc state (2 seeds) and n ° 10 DUKE (3 seeds). The first 16 welcome the first and second round of the NCAA tournament.

That the sets will end with the next revelation on February 28. They received another bump during the rise of Louisville upset Thursday. And two of their last three games are main opportunities on the road.

La Caroline du Nord (24-4, 12-3), in third place in ACC, ends its season with trips en route to Louisville (19-7, 12-3) and Duke (20-7, 11 -4) Before closing at reception against Virginia (13-14, 5-10). A harvest of teams, including second place in NC State (21-5, 13-2) and the state of Florida (21-6, 11-4), are fighting for the seeding of the ACC tournament, mainly aiming A seeded n ° 2 to avoid avoiding Notre Dame (24-2, 15-0) to the ACC championship match.

This hard slate becomes more difficult without the pillar of Tar Heels. USTBY has an average of 10.7 points, 9.4 rebounds, three assists, 1.1 interceptions and one block per game while entering the conference’s best defense (55.7 ppg authorized). Earlier this month, she was appointed one of the 10 finalists in the Cheryl Miller Prize awarded to the best attacker in the country.

“It’s a big match,” said Banghart about Sunday’s match in Louisville. “I know that (Ustby) wants to be there, but I don’t know. In a way, we make these decisions as you go. »»

It is not clear the extent of the injury or when it occurred. Ustby left two minutes after the victory over NC State and did not return. She has 41 rebounds in possession of the career of all time to bounce back Mark, a Banghart record said “means the world towards (Ustby)” and the coach thinks that they will get for her.

Banghart refused to provide details on the injury, but said that the designation is more involved in the precaution than serious. She said that if it was in Ustby, she would play, but the program kept in mind the situation as a whole.

“If she had no professional career (ahead of her), it’s a little different,” said Banghart. “But you want to make sure it is solid and, honestly, it gives you a very good chance to develop your depth a little.”

Banghart will now turn to the recruit of Redstirt Cie Toomey, who started in Syracuse, the first Lanie Grant inscription, and the junior transfer Trayanna Crisp, whose 12 points dragged the team of Maria Gakdeng 21 on Thursday.

This is the third consecutive year that an injury at the end of the season has an impact on ACC before March.

In 2023, Notre Dame’s playmaker Olivia Miles underwent a contactless knee injury playing against Louisville in the regular season final. Miles did not play in the ACC tournament, where the seeded n ° 1 Notre Dame lost in the semi-finals. The program waited for the team to get a seeded n ° 3 of the NCAA tournament before announcing that Miles suffered a tear from the LCA and would not play.

Fighting Irish were a solid candidate in upheaval to reach the last four; They lost against Maryland in Sweet 16. Virginia Tech arrived in the Final Four.

There is a season, Virginia Tech’s quest for a repeated appearance was crushed when the national player of the year Elizabeth Kitley injured his knee in the regular season final. On the eve of the NCAA tournament three weeks later, the fifth year striker announced the injury and that she would not play. The Hokies lost against Baylor in the second round. NC State has entered the Final Four.