CHARLESTON SOUTHERN BUCCANEERS 2-9 (0-0 Big South)
Ranking 339 (Massey) (UNC 24), NCAA NET 346 (UNC 16), RPI (Nolan) 351 (UNC 31), Torvik 348 (UNC 11)
Last Season 14-16 (10-6, 4th), 0-1 Big South Tournament; no postseason
It should be noted that the NCAA NET and Warren Nolan do not count games against non-D1 teams in their calculations.
Sunday noon’s game for #18/#16 and 10-3 North Carolina is with a familiar opponent, Charleston Southern. We have played them twelve times, the last time an 83-53 win in Chapel Hill as the season opener last season. UNC scoring was led by Ustby (18) and Donarski (14). That game was the first appearance as a Tar Heel for Blanca Thomas (8 points/6 rebounds) and Lanie Grant (4 points).
Carolina is 12-0 with the Buccaneers. They had, for them, a good season last year and at 10-6 were tied for third in conference. Big South is a nine-team conference, so every team has a home-and-away with everyone else.
For Sunday’s game Carolina is favored by 52 points (Massey), 41 points (Nolan), and 51 points (Torvik). The algorithms that produce spreads like these are always subject to some skepticism.
CSU was chartered in 1960 as Charleston Baptist College and is still affiliated with the SC Baptist Convention. Enrollment is 3418; it is a private school. Although called Charleston Southern it is actually in North Charleston. It is considered conservative by most college standards and students under 21 are “encouraged” to live on campus - in gender-segregated dorms. Their home attendance for WBB is just 397.
Like most schools in their position, they play a few P4 teams (for the money) and then a group of fellow mid-majors. They started with four straight road games, and all were losses: 84-86 to Jacksonville, 65-80 to Charleston, 62-91 to East Carolina, and 40-87 to Georgia Tech. The Jacksonville game went to overtime.
Next came four home games: a win vs. S. Carolina State 53-51, and losses to Georgia Southern 57-65 and Mercer 45-71. The fourth was an 83-62 win over Allen, a D-II school. The SCS win was on a lay-up with 0:01 on the clock.
The non-conference schedule wraps up with a trip to Wofford (L 42-70) and a visit from Clemson (L 52-78). The most recent game was with Furman, and the 9th loss 53-66. Contests (?) with UNC and Georgia remain. Thirteen n/c games are needed to fill out the schedule with just 16 Big South games, and to CSU’s credit four of them are against P4 teams.
Charleston Southern has a roster of 14, and 7 are returning from last year’s campaign although two, 6-4 senior C Saniya Jones and 5-10 GS G Laura Ortega, have not yet played. Leading scorer Cat Alben (16.6) is gone, so the new leading scorer is 5-6 redshirt junior PG Caelan Ellis (11.3 ppg). Ellis is one of the returnees as is Asha Sra, a 5-9 redshirt junior G (11.0 ppg/6.0 rpg). She leads in assists, steals, and at 5-9 blocked shots. Sra spent her first two years at Grand Canyon. The website does not say so but Sra is usually a Hindi surname.
Charleston Southern has two other double figure scorers, including one who played in last year’s game: 5-10 junior G Tyonna Bailey. She adds 10.3 ppg as a starter this year. 5-7 redshirt junior G Alaina Nettles also started last year and this year averages 6.5 ppg but is the leading rebounder with 7.5 boards.
The other player in double figures is Thelma Barbitch, a 5-10 redshirt sophomore G (10.0). She is a transfer from UTEP.
Once past these five, there are five more that can see action. These are Sydney Bradley, a 5-10 junior G (2.1 ppg); Aiseé Coulibaly, a 5-9 freshman G (2.1); Nevaeh Jones, a 6-2 freshman C (2.2); 6-0 senior G Alba Garcia (2.6); and Courtney Davis, a 5-4 GS PG (0.9 ppg). All of them except Couilbaly have picked up a start or two here and there.
There is also Mya Dotson, who has played in five games, but has started three of them. She is a 5-10 redshirt sophomore and had a similar employment pattern last year.
There is a nice international flavor to the roster. Barbitch and Couilbay are French; Garcia and the still-absent Ortega Spanish.
As is often the case with a 2-9 team, starting lineups can vary game-to-game as coaches search for a consistent effective lineup. With that in mind, the lineup for UNC based on the starters for the Furman game would be Nettles, Ellis, Sra, Bradley and Nevaeh Jones with Bailey and Barbitch quickly off the bench if they do not start.
Charleston Southern is picked as finishing fifth in the Big South. CSU may not be a P4 opponent but one thing they will do is shoot the 3-ball. They have 325 attempts so far – 30 a game – at 29.8%. More than half of their shot attempts – 325 of 634 are threes. Carolina also shoots the three, 324 attempts (25 per game at 36.1%) but account for only 38% of total shots. Ellis and Barbitch account for 54% of the threes taken and 64% of those scored (35.2%) so they are the two to watch.
Charleston Southern is coached by Clarisse White, in season #5. Her record there is 34-98. That may not seem impressive but her first two seasons produced 7 wins total so there is clear improvement, White has had multiple AC stints: Auburn, Wake Forest, Alabama, and Stetson. She is a Villanova grad (’07) where she played for Harry Perretta, the originator of the 5-out offense.
The Heels had a nice recovery Wednesday from the painful loss to Louisville and victimized UNCW with a 50-point shellacking. Not a pretty game overall but one that was needed. Another one can't hurt. December 29th things will get very serious with the continuation of ACC play
The game is 12:00 Noon Sunday and will be streamed by ACCNX. Go Heels through On Demand will have Matt Kraus’s call.
Ranking 339 (Massey) (UNC 24), NCAA NET 346 (UNC 16), RPI (Nolan) 351 (UNC 31), Torvik 348 (UNC 11)
Last Season 14-16 (10-6, 4th), 0-1 Big South Tournament; no postseason
It should be noted that the NCAA NET and Warren Nolan do not count games against non-D1 teams in their calculations.
Sunday noon’s game for #18/#16 and 10-3 North Carolina is with a familiar opponent, Charleston Southern. We have played them twelve times, the last time an 83-53 win in Chapel Hill as the season opener last season. UNC scoring was led by Ustby (18) and Donarski (14). That game was the first appearance as a Tar Heel for Blanca Thomas (8 points/6 rebounds) and Lanie Grant (4 points).
Carolina is 12-0 with the Buccaneers. They had, for them, a good season last year and at 10-6 were tied for third in conference. Big South is a nine-team conference, so every team has a home-and-away with everyone else.
For Sunday’s game Carolina is favored by 52 points (Massey), 41 points (Nolan), and 51 points (Torvik). The algorithms that produce spreads like these are always subject to some skepticism.
CSU was chartered in 1960 as Charleston Baptist College and is still affiliated with the SC Baptist Convention. Enrollment is 3418; it is a private school. Although called Charleston Southern it is actually in North Charleston. It is considered conservative by most college standards and students under 21 are “encouraged” to live on campus - in gender-segregated dorms. Their home attendance for WBB is just 397.
Like most schools in their position, they play a few P4 teams (for the money) and then a group of fellow mid-majors. They started with four straight road games, and all were losses: 84-86 to Jacksonville, 65-80 to Charleston, 62-91 to East Carolina, and 40-87 to Georgia Tech. The Jacksonville game went to overtime.
Next came four home games: a win vs. S. Carolina State 53-51, and losses to Georgia Southern 57-65 and Mercer 45-71. The fourth was an 83-62 win over Allen, a D-II school. The SCS win was on a lay-up with 0:01 on the clock.
The non-conference schedule wraps up with a trip to Wofford (L 42-70) and a visit from Clemson (L 52-78). The most recent game was with Furman, and the 9th loss 53-66. Contests (?) with UNC and Georgia remain. Thirteen n/c games are needed to fill out the schedule with just 16 Big South games, and to CSU’s credit four of them are against P4 teams.
Charleston Southern has a roster of 14, and 7 are returning from last year’s campaign although two, 6-4 senior C Saniya Jones and 5-10 GS G Laura Ortega, have not yet played. Leading scorer Cat Alben (16.6) is gone, so the new leading scorer is 5-6 redshirt junior PG Caelan Ellis (11.3 ppg). Ellis is one of the returnees as is Asha Sra, a 5-9 redshirt junior G (11.0 ppg/6.0 rpg). She leads in assists, steals, and at 5-9 blocked shots. Sra spent her first two years at Grand Canyon. The website does not say so but Sra is usually a Hindi surname.
Charleston Southern has two other double figure scorers, including one who played in last year’s game: 5-10 junior G Tyonna Bailey. She adds 10.3 ppg as a starter this year. 5-7 redshirt junior G Alaina Nettles also started last year and this year averages 6.5 ppg but is the leading rebounder with 7.5 boards.
The other player in double figures is Thelma Barbitch, a 5-10 redshirt sophomore G (10.0). She is a transfer from UTEP.
Once past these five, there are five more that can see action. These are Sydney Bradley, a 5-10 junior G (2.1 ppg); Aiseé Coulibaly, a 5-9 freshman G (2.1); Nevaeh Jones, a 6-2 freshman C (2.2); 6-0 senior G Alba Garcia (2.6); and Courtney Davis, a 5-4 GS PG (0.9 ppg). All of them except Couilbaly have picked up a start or two here and there.
There is also Mya Dotson, who has played in five games, but has started three of them. She is a 5-10 redshirt sophomore and had a similar employment pattern last year.
There is a nice international flavor to the roster. Barbitch and Couilbay are French; Garcia and the still-absent Ortega Spanish.
As is often the case with a 2-9 team, starting lineups can vary game-to-game as coaches search for a consistent effective lineup. With that in mind, the lineup for UNC based on the starters for the Furman game would be Nettles, Ellis, Sra, Bradley and Nevaeh Jones with Bailey and Barbitch quickly off the bench if they do not start.
Charleston Southern is picked as finishing fifth in the Big South. CSU may not be a P4 opponent but one thing they will do is shoot the 3-ball. They have 325 attempts so far – 30 a game – at 29.8%. More than half of their shot attempts – 325 of 634 are threes. Carolina also shoots the three, 324 attempts (25 per game at 36.1%) but account for only 38% of total shots. Ellis and Barbitch account for 54% of the threes taken and 64% of those scored (35.2%) so they are the two to watch.
Charleston Southern is coached by Clarisse White, in season #5. Her record there is 34-98. That may not seem impressive but her first two seasons produced 7 wins total so there is clear improvement, White has had multiple AC stints: Auburn, Wake Forest, Alabama, and Stetson. She is a Villanova grad (’07) where she played for Harry Perretta, the originator of the 5-out offense.
The Heels had a nice recovery Wednesday from the painful loss to Louisville and victimized UNCW with a 50-point shellacking. Not a pretty game overall but one that was needed. Another one can't hurt. December 29th things will get very serious with the continuation of ACC play
The game is 12:00 Noon Sunday and will be streamed by ACCNX. Go Heels through On Demand will have Matt Kraus’s call.
