When the North Carolina women’s basketball team started sluggishly, haltingly, in its 79-70 win Tuesday night against N.C. State , forward Xylina McDaniel told her teammates to keep their heads up — push through the turnovers, the fruitless offensive possessions.
That’s what an upperclassman should say, McDaniel said.
Except she’s not an upperclassman, merely a sophomore. She laughed when reminded of her standing, but McDaniel said it was more than a Freudian slip.
“It just feels natural,” said McDaniel, who scored 15 points in UNC’s first conference win of the season and was the only non-freshman in the Tar Heels’ starting lineup.
“We’re full of sophomores and juniors. We call ourselves upperclassmen.”
McDaniel, a tour de force at Spring Valley High School in Columbia, S.C., strode right into UNC’s starting five last season and promptly snatched up ACC Rookie of the Year honors.
But associate coach Andrew Calder believes McDaniel has burst through her ceiling. She’s bolstered every facet of her game, Calder said.
More punishing drives to the basket. More reliable ball-handling. More stout defending.
Those all appeared Tuesday night, with McDaniel rifling off baseline drives and polishing off strong moves to the basket. She also kept N.C. State center Markeisha Gatling , 3 inches taller and considerably heavier than the 6-foot-2 McDaniel, to a hard-fought 18 points on 7-for-16 shooting from the field.