High Point women look past the glitz of top-seeded UConn as they prepare to take on the Huskies in the NCAA Tournament
Skyler Curran received a text from her dad shortly after the High Point women’s basketball team learned it would be playing UConn in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
“‘They lace their shoes up just like you do,’” the junior guard’s dad told her.
The Panthers and the Huskies could not be more different. UConn is the gold standard of women’s basketball, owners of 11 national titles and 20 Final Four appearances. High Point, winner of the Big South conference tournament, has never played in the NCAA Tournament.
The 16th-seeded Panthers (22-6, 17-3 Big South) will attempt to look past the glitz, glamour and panache associated with the top-seeded Huskies when the two play on Sunday in the first round of the tournament at 8 p.m. in the Alamodome in San Antonio.
The Huskies are college basketball players. The Panthers are college basketball players. The Huskies been playing basketball their whole lives. The Panthers have been playing basketball their whole lives. UConn made it here. High Point made it here.
And yes, the Panthers lace up their shoes the same way that the Huskies do.
“At the end of the day, it’s still a basketball game,” High Point coach Chelsea Banbury said Wednesday. “And we’ve played 27 of them so far this year. Yes, UConn has great players, don’t get me wrong. But it’s still basketball, and they’ve been playing basketball all year, and a lot of them have been playing basketball the majority of their lives.”
But, it is UConn.
“It’s kind of cool,” Banbury continued. “We get to play against some of the best players in the country. Let’s go out, let’s have some fun.”
Curran, a Clemons, North Carolina native who leads the Panthers with 17.9 points per game, said that outside of her own team, she’s watched the Huskies more than any other women’s basketball team in the country over the last few years. She remarked that UConn is simply “very good in general.” Banbury pointed out that the Huskies’ defense is excellent and caught her eye more than their offense does.
So High Point knows UConn. The Huskies, on the other hand ...
“I think they might be located in North Carolina?” UConn junior Olivia Nelson-Ododa said Monday. “I just found that out. In the coming days, we’ll start to scout and start preparing for them.”
Banbury, in her second year as High Point’s coach, played at Florida Gulf Coast University and was a member of the coaching staff for 11 years before taking the head position with the Panthers. During her time at FGCU, the Huskies won six national titles.
“Everybody has grown up and watched UConn over the years and the history of that program,” Banbury said. “It’s kind of a cool experience. We get to share the court with them and play our style, and we get to see what happens. I think that’s a pretty neat opportunity for me as a coach, and the players.”
The players look forward to the opportunity as well.
“They’re UConn,” Curran said. “They’re always good and we’re always here. We’re just excited to get a chance to see them on the floor.”
When the game begins, it’s all business.
“It’s different playing in the game,” Curran said. “In the heat of the moment, you don’t realize you’re on ESPN and all that. I’m sure we’ll have our moments when we walk out onto the floor and see them and all that stuff. ... But when the jump ball goes up, it’s just another basketball game we’re trying to win, and we want to give them our best shot.”
Shawn McFarland can be reached at smcfarland@courant.com.
