University of North Carolina Athletics
Jaelynn Murray, Nia Daniel and Janelle Bailey get set to watch some of the Cancun Challenge men's games going on Tuesday evening.
Carolina Kicks Off Cancun Trip
November 26, 2019 | Women's Basketball
CANCUN, Mexico – The UNC women's basketball team embarked on its first road trip of the season on Tuesday and is likely to gain from what all early-season road trips bring: challenges that can help the Tar Heels get a better sense of where they are at this point in the year.
But where they are, literally, is part of the benefit as well. To reach the team's first games away from Carmichael Arena this season, the Tar Heels needed passports.
UNC is competing at the Cancun Challenge this week, facing Temple Thursday and Missouri Friday. (For a look at the 10-team women's field, click here.) After leaving campus early on Tuesday morning, the Tar Heels flew from RDU to Cancun, Mexico, and then bused about an hour south. After checking in, they met for practice on a court set up inside a ballroom at the Hard Rock Hotel Riviera Maya. With her team gathered in a circle at midcourt before the first drill, UNC coach Courtney Banghart talked to her players about the broadened perspective that travel offers.
"I want them to understand how lucky they are to get to experience these things, and be sure they don't take this for granted," said Banghart, such a fan of travel that she applied – and nearly was selected – to compete on "The Amazing Race." "Basketball has provided us all with some really special opportunities, and this week is one of those."
The Tar Heels are 4-0 this fall, with 30 points their slimmest margin of victory. This week's matchups with Temple and Missouri should help them get a sense of where they are in the figurative sense. UNC faces the Owls Thanksgiving night at 9, then meets Missouri on Friday at 6:30 p.m.
Until then, they'll do the usual practice-meeting-film part of their routine – this IS a business trip, after all – but they'll also have some new experiences, among them what it's like to be on the road with this year's group and its first-year staff.
"It's a really good chance for us, so early in the year, to travel together," said Banghart, in her first year as the Tar Heel coach. "It's fun to be in a beautiful setting like this and share the memorable experiences a resort like this offers. But just now on the practice floor they were locked in and all business. They're excited for what's ahead and the staff is, too."
For more on the trip, follow on @UNCWBB on Twitter and Instagram.
But where they are, literally, is part of the benefit as well. To reach the team's first games away from Carmichael Arena this season, the Tar Heels needed passports.
UNC is competing at the Cancun Challenge this week, facing Temple Thursday and Missouri Friday. (For a look at the 10-team women's field, click here.) After leaving campus early on Tuesday morning, the Tar Heels flew from RDU to Cancun, Mexico, and then bused about an hour south. After checking in, they met for practice on a court set up inside a ballroom at the Hard Rock Hotel Riviera Maya. With her team gathered in a circle at midcourt before the first drill, UNC coach Courtney Banghart talked to her players about the broadened perspective that travel offers.
"I want them to understand how lucky they are to get to experience these things, and be sure they don't take this for granted," said Banghart, such a fan of travel that she applied – and nearly was selected – to compete on "The Amazing Race." "Basketball has provided us all with some really special opportunities, and this week is one of those."
📍Cancun, Mexico#InPursuit | #CancunChallenge pic.twitter.com/NDhU1mJYKE
— Carolina Women's Basketball (@uncwbb) November 26, 2019
The Tar Heels are 4-0 this fall, with 30 points their slimmest margin of victory. This week's matchups with Temple and Missouri should help them get a sense of where they are in the figurative sense. UNC faces the Owls Thanksgiving night at 9, then meets Missouri on Friday at 6:30 p.m.
Until then, they'll do the usual practice-meeting-film part of their routine – this IS a business trip, after all – but they'll also have some new experiences, among them what it's like to be on the road with this year's group and its first-year staff.
"It's a really good chance for us, so early in the year, to travel together," said Banghart, in her first year as the Tar Heel coach. "It's fun to be in a beautiful setting like this and share the memorable experiences a resort like this offers. But just now on the practice floor they were locked in and all business. They're excited for what's ahead and the staff is, too."
For more on the trip, follow on @UNCWBB on Twitter and Instagram.
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