We are a few days away from the NCAA Transfer Portal opening in basketball, and while all the attention has been on the men’s basketball team because of the vacancy in the head coaching position, the women’s basketball team will also have its own portal moves to deal with. Over the last couple of days, Courtney Banghart has found out she’s going to have a few more spots to fill as some players look to explore their options.
Lanie Grant and Taliyah Henderson have separately announced that they will
be heading out of Chapel Hill and into the portal, leaving a couple of big spots for a team that will welcome McDonald’s All-American and Naismith Player of the Year Kate Harping will join the squad next year.
Grant will have two years remaining as she just finished her sophomore year, but interestingly it’s her sophomore year because she reclassified to start her Carolina and college basketball career early. That early entry earned her two starts in her first year at Carolina, but even though she primarily came off the bench she averaged 21.7 minutes a game. She played that much because she averaged 34.6% shooting from three, and 7.3 points a game. It was a needed weapon for the Tar Heels, and she went into the offseason looking to earn a regular starting role and increase her production.
This past year she did just that for Carolina. She earned 29 starts, and saw her percentage shoot up from three to 41.9%, her points per game jumped up to 10.8, and her confidence in hoisting the long distance shot increased throughout the season. In her last game for Carolina, though, she struggled and only went 1-6. We’ll see where she ends up once the dust settles, but the sharp shooter will be missed.
Henderson finished up her first season in her career, playing in 33 games but not earning a start. She averaged 10.4 minutes a game, averaging 3.7 points/game but shot 56.8% overall when she was in the game. Despite getting the regular playing time and the apparent opening with Grant heading out, it’s clear that she didn’t feel her spot was that secure going into next season. Again, we’ll see where her career takes her.
There’s another possibility for why Henderson and Grant were heading out in that Nyla Brooks announced that in no uncertain terms, she’s coming back to Chapel Hill next season. Brooks was a stud for this team, earning All-Freshman team ACC honors, had a season high of 21 points, and averaged almost 20 minutes a game despite only starting once. Her 37.5 percentage from deep helped contribute to her 8.6 points a game, and it’s clear that she knows she’s going to get plenty of playing time next season. There’s little doubt that Harping will start off as the team’s lead point guard, so this could be a sign that Banghart wants to move away from being so guard-heavy and add a little more size down low to balance the team out.
Brooks and Harping will join a hopefully healthy Reniya Kelly in a strong back court for the Tar Heels, not to mention others like starter Finnish guard Elina Aanisalo. Assuming just those four return it becomes clear the Tar Heels need some more depth at the forward position instead of the guards.
