During an individual summer workout in 2023, redshirt first-year Laila Hull was going through the motions of dribbling when she suddenly felt a pop in her right shoulder. She then went to visit the UNC team trainer, Jodi Schneider, who advised her to get a MRI.
While on a beach trip with the team, Hull received a crushing phone call.
The MRI had revealed a torn labrum in her right shoulder, which would require surgery and a recovery time of six to seven months.
Hull calculated her recovery timeline — landing her tentative return in the middle of ACC play and setting her back compared to her teammates. She was devastated when it dawned on her that she would not be able to play her first season at UNC.
“It was really hard to cope with, just cause you're a senior in high school, you're an incoming freshman, you have all these big hopes and dreams about what your freshman season is going to be like, and then you just ended up not having one," Hull said.
Hull, a versatile guard hailing from Zionsville, Indiana, looks to use her 6-foot-1 frame to bolster UNC's defensive rebounding numbers and post up smaller guards — as well as contribute efficiency from the beyond the arc. And after watching from the sidelines last year, Hull is eager to return to the court and have an immediate impact.
The 2023 Indiana Miss Basketball averaged 22.4 points and 8.3 rebounds in her senior season at Zionsville High School. However, these impressive numbers don’t show that Hull’s struggle with her shoulder started during her senior year.
“I never really thought it was that serious at first,” Hull said. “I thought it would be something I had to play through because I had been doing it for months.”
With the support of the UNC staff and her family, Hull determined that the best decision was for her to redshirt and focus on her health.
