In the NCAA Tournament, experience is the lifeblood of successful teams.
Often, teams focus on winning basketball games by relying upon the players with the most experience on the roster.
North Carolina’s women’s basketball team is no different. Saddled with a 10-seed and a long trip to Seattle, the Tar Heels will rely on those who have done it before.
If UNC is to avoid its fifth first-round exit in 22 appearances, juniors Cetera DeGraffenreid and Italee Lucas will need to play a huge part in carrying the Tar Heels to victory.
This could prove problematic, as neither has been able to play well at the same time all season.
“Since the beginning of the season, sometimes we were both off,” DeGraffenreid said. “Everybody has their struggles. Everybody goes through it. (Lucas) really cares about this team, and she really wants this team to succeed.”
With DeGraffenreid playing well, Lucas is now struggling with her consistency, manifested by her 13-54 shooting performance during the last five games. From 3-point land, she is 3-22 in the same stretch.
Lucas is clearly talented, evidenced by her play in practices, said coach Sylvia Hatchell. The enigma, however, is how to get Lucas to play that way during games.
“We’ve watched film with her, and we’ve talked about just letting the game come to her,” Hatchell said. “I think she’s trying to make things happen too much sometimes when she’s out there.”
Lucas is capable of making quite a bit happen. She was selected for the 2nd team All-ACC, largely for her ability to score in bunches.
She scored 28 points in the second half to carry UNC past N.C. State in Raleigh, and set a Tar Heel record for three-pointers in a game in an overtime loss to Virginia.
If that Lucas is able to make a reappearance, UNC has a great shot to advance past Gonzaga.
“I would like for her to just be Italee,” Hatchell said. “Just relax and play. She could really make a difference for us.”
Not coincidentally, during its last five games, UNC went 2-3, including a loss in the first round of the ACC Tournament.
That loss threw North Carolina back onto the NCAA bubble, and the team was given a reprieve when the selection committee squeezed them in as an at-large bid.
“Everybody was nervous about us getting in,” DeGraffenreid said. “I think everybody should just take it as an opportunity and look at it as a blessing that we did get in.”
The 10-seed is the lowest in UNC history, but it is a title that Hatchell seems to relish.
“(The players) know that they’re a better team than their record indicates,” Hatchell said. “I think they are anxious to prove that.”
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