Reniya Kelly’s Thoughts On Tough Competition to Begin 2025-2026

The North Carolina Tar Heels women's basketball team has national championship aspirations, at least according to junior guard Reniya Kelly — sharing her thoughts about playing big-name schools within the college landscape during the non-conference slate.

UNC basketball | Matt Giles-North Carolina Tar Heels On SI

"Yeah, I mean, it's obviously good to have those games early," said Kelly at the 2025 ACC Tipoff. "You can see how tough we are, or, even how soft we are, right? You want to have those big games early so you can determine what we need to work on, what we need to fix, how we need to fix it, when we need to fix it. And so I'm just blessed to even play in those big games because you can see where you are."

Junior guard Reniya Kelly at the 2025 ACC Tipoff | Nell Redmond/theACC.com

"Some people play mid-majors first. But no, we're actually going into it head-on and playing a big team. So we can see where we are as a team. And so we're trying to make it to the national championship game. And so in order to do that, you have to play the national championship teams. And so, I'm just excited that we get to play those teams first.”

Head coach Courtney Banghart and UNC were four wins away from making it all the way to the final game of March Madness, but fell to the hands of the Duke Blue Devils in the Sweet 16 — losing inside Legacy Arena in Birmingham, Alabama.

Oct 6, 2025; Charlotte, NC, USA; North Carolina head coach Courtney Banghart answers questions from the media at The Hilton Charlotte Uptown. Mandatory Credit: William Howard-Imagn Images | William Howard-Imagn Images

In that contest, Kelly scored six points, grabbed three rebounds, and recorded one assist — shooting 2/13 from the field and 2-3 from behind the three-point line. The Tar Heels as a whole converted just 28.3 percent from the field, in comparison to Duke's 31 percent, resulting in the 47-38 final score.

Courtney Banghart Gets Learn a Lot About Her Players

Banghart and the staff will get to see what needs to be fixed, tweaked, and adjusted for the season after playing against South Carolina, UCLA, and Texas — as those teams can expose UNC's weaknesses, along with its strengths — what is UNC capable of doing? North Carolina will be going up against winning programs that are accustomed to being near the top of the AP Polls.

If UNC were to lose all three games, then it will be bad on its record, but also push toward improvement for any matchup during ACC play. North Carolina is not going to have it easy, but sometimes that is what lifts a team toward success.

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