First-year Jordan Zubich makes transition from small-town basketball to Division I

Jordan Zubich is wearing something different entering her first season at UNC.

After sporting No. 4 for four years, the first-year guard decided she would wear No. 3 since redshirt first-year Laila Hull claimed Zubich's former number.

But her reasoning behind the decision goes beyond the number being leftover. Zubich decided to wear No. 3 to honor her childhood best friend, Hali Savela, who donned the number in high school. 

“That's so special,” Savela said, tearing up. “It was quite something.” 

Zubich is a four-star guard from Mountain Iron, Minn. She was ranked No. 69 in the class of 2024 and is the all-time leading scorer at Mountain Iron-Buhl High School with over 3,000 points. Zubich narrowed her college options down to six offers — Utah, Ohio State, Minnesota, Nebraska, UNC and Creighton — before committing to North Carolina in February 2023.

“I think the story really makes it special, like my middle name being Carolina,” Zubich said. “But obviously you're here for four years, so it has to be a lot more than what your name is. But I remember stepping on campus and just feeling like I was really at home. I think coach Banghart does an amazing job recruiting good humans and not just good basketball players, which makes a world of difference.”

The reason behind the number dates back to elementary school.

Zubich and Savela met in kindergarten and were placed on the same basketball team. They played together all throughout high school, creating a special bond both on and off the court in the process. Their high school head coach Jeffrey Buffetta, who has been the coach for 25 years, said the two were always tied together. 

Zubich said that No. 3 fits her. She likes to shoot a lot of threes, it reminds her of her home state and it represents Savela.

Mountain Iron-Buhl High School is not a school that is known for producing basketball talent. 

In a graduating class of just 41 people, Zubich made a name for herself and the school as one of the premier players in Minnesota. 

“We haven't had people be recruited [Division] I here as long as I've been here,” Buffetta said. “So it was fun to see coaches come around and watch open gyms and get some phone calls from them. Jordan was a very easy person to talk about when they called.”

Zubich gained national recognition by playing AAU at the Minnesota Fury, the same program graduate forward Alyssa Ustby played for. Zubich had to drive three hours to attend practice for the Fury, but her parents didn't mind. Her family knew it was a dream of hers to play collegiately, and they wanted to make it work. 

With that goal in mind, Zubich was always in the gym working on her game. She woke up early for practice. Then, she'd go to school, followed by another practice. And after the final practice wrapped up, she attended shoot around with the boy's team in the evenings. Savela said she grinds like nobody else. Any free moment Zubich had was spent bettering herself mentally or physically. 

“She's one of those kids that never missed an open gym,” Buffetta said. “Always shot on her own. Always put in the extra time that was needed to be successful.”

This led her to shoot over 50 percent from the 3-point line over her high school and club career — a statistic that head coach Courtney Banghart said was “money.”

Zubich was recruited for her shooting talent but has been working on playing outside of her comfort zone. Banghart stops practice if Zubich doesn't shoot the ball when she's open.

The first-year has adjusted to the learning curve of collegiate play with the help of her new teammates. They've made it easy to go from a small high school to a top-25 Division I program. 

Still, she'll always have that number on her jersey to remind her where she's from. 

“I feel like I've definitely grown a lot,” Zubich said. “I still have a lot more growing to do. But just having great teammates and great coaches, they've made the transition a lot easier than I thought it was going to be.” 

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