Ivory Latta, a former Tar Heel, includes Deja Kelly on her list of the Top 5 ACC PGs

One of the top college basketball players to come out of Chapel Hill was Ivory Latta.

During Latta’s four seasons, the Tar Heels played in the NCAA tournament each year and twice reached the Final Four (in 2005–06 and 2006–07). In addition to leading UNC’s all-time scoring with 2,285, Latta is in the ACC record books for career 3-pointers, free throw percentage, and 3-point percentage, all of which are in the top 15.

The 11-year WNBA career of Latta, who laced up her trainers for the UNC women’s basketball team from 2003 to 2007 saw success with the Detroit and Tulsa Shock, Atlanta Dream and Washington Mystics. Latta played in the WNBA Finals in her first year before going on to earn All-Star honours in 2013 and 2014.

Deja Kelly, one of the greatest players currently in the ACC, is another outstanding point guard in Chapel Hill who is the talk of the UNC women’s team.

Kelly was listed as the third-best point guard in the ACC by Latta, who is currently an analyst for the ACC Network.

Kelly is looking to lead the Tar Heels to their fourth consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance. She is positioned behind Georgia Amoore of Virginia Tech and Olivia Miles of Notre Dame. She had previously been included to the watch list for the Nancy Lieberman Award, which is given each year to the top point guard in women’s college basketball.

How excellent exactly is Kelly? In 2020–2021, she was named to the ACC All-Freshman Team, and the next two years, she was named to the All–ACC Team. In each of the previous three seasons, she averaged 15 points a game, with 16.5 of those coming last year, a team-high.

This season is looking to be another successful one for the Tar Heels because Kelly and Alyssa Utsby will both be back in 2023–2024.