‘Got to be 2.0’: Courtney Banghart on Returning Sophomore

Courtney Banghart expects more from Lanie Grant in year two.

North Carolina head coach Courtney Banghart instructs her team against Louisville during their game at the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, Ky. on Feb. 23, 2025. | Sam Upshaw Jr./Courier Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The freshman out of Midlothian, Virginia, now a rising sophomore, Lanie Grant, showed flashes of what she could become if a few more seasons in Chapel Hill were to play out. And given her return to play another season underneath Courtney Banghart, that allows for the now-seventh-year head coach to mold Grant into a "2.0" version of herself.

Mar 7, 2025; Greensboro, NC, USA; North Carolina Tar Heels guard Lanie Grant (0) makes a free throw during the fourth quarter against Florida State Seminoles at First Horizon Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Cory Knowlton-Imagn Images | Cory Knowlton-Imagn Images

"Lanie's got to be 2.0. She's still the youngest on our the team. For her to miss her senior year in high school and from a physical standpoint, from a mental standpoint, and a overall, concepts and retaining scouts and the things that are thrown at you young, she had a really big step. She showed a lot of promise and potential.

She has to take another step. She has to shoot the ball better from a higher percentage, she has to finish better — she knows she can get to her spots. She needed the added strength and physicality. Our sports performance team, you'll see these bodies, they have done a really good job with them, and that has to show itself.

From an 18-year-old perspective, she's still the youngest, she has a lot of experience. She has to ensure that she uses that to her advantage. She knows the ebbs and flows, and rhythm, and things like that.

That's a kid the minute you relax on, she's not going to like it. You got to stay on her and you got to keep pushing her because she's kind of wired like that. And I have very serious approach with Lanie. It needs to be a 2.0, and it needs to noticeable to everybody that you are a whole year better than you were. She eats that stuff up and responds to quite pretty well."

Nov 25, 2024; Paradise Island, Bahamas, BHS; North Carolina Tar Heels guard Lanie Grant (0) reacts after scoring during the first half against the Indiana Hoosiers at the Atlantis Resort. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images | Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images

Grant averaged 7.3 points, 1.8 rebounds, and 1.1 assists while shooting 36.4% from the field goal range. From the three-point line, she converted 34.6% of her shots along with 80.8% at the charity stripe. Her best came on Sunday, February 23, earlier this year against the Louisville Cardinals, scoring 19 points and making over 50% of her shot attempts and going 3/4 from beyond the arc and a perfect 6/6 at the free throw line.

Perhaps that is the potential Coach Banghart was referring to, and it would be a huge boost to the team, considering three seniors who averaged double-figures have taken the next step in their playing careers.

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