What music UNC women's basketball uses to get them ready for practice and games

Sydney Barker is often on aux duty. 

She’s the honorary DJ for the North Carolina women’s basketball team in the locker room, before practices and after games in celebration. 

So what does she play? 

Well, it's usually a mix of rap, pop, R&B and other genres. But, there are heavy doses of team-favorite artists like GloRilla and Sexyy Red. The style of music often makes the players unsure of how head coach Courtney Banghart would react if she really listened to it. 

“Coach Banghart doesn’t really hear the music that we play,” redshirt first-year Laila Hull said in the locker room before UNC’s Sweet 16 matchup in Birmingham. 

“As long as we’re ready for practice she doesn’t care,” first-year guard Jordan Zubich chimed in. 

Each women’s basketball player brings a unique music taste to the locker room, creating an atmosphere that both energizes the team before games and relaxes nerves. With the freedom to play what they want, the squad often choses music from rappers like Gunna and BossMan Dlow to amp up the locker room. Or for more chill vibes — likely on bus rides or hanging out — R&B artists dominate the playlist. 

UNC women's basketball season ended in March after a loss to No. 2 seeded Duke in the Sweet 16. The Tar Heels compiled a 29-8 overall record, going 13-5 in ACC play. 

But it’s GloRilla who wins the crown as the team’s favorite artist, as every player The Daily Tar Heel talked to mentioned her name. And in an alternative timeline where the Tar Heels ended their season in the NCAA Championship game, it's likely a GloRilla concert would have accompanied it since she performed in a free concert outside the Final Four in Tampa Bay.

Surely the team would have made time for that.

“We really want to see GloRilla,” Barker said. 

Aside from the rap, first-year center Blanca Thomas brings a bit of flavor to the playlists by tapping into her half-Ecuadorian heritage. She often requests songs from Hispanic artists like Bad Bunny and Enrique Iglesias, which enhances the locker room in a unique way.

“I try to embrace all the Latin music that I can,” Thomas said. 

As for Banghart herself, the players conferred that she just doesn’t seem to like music. Contrary to other sports like men’s basketball or football, who playing music throughout periods of practice time, the women’s basketball team doesn’t.

Without a desire to play anything in the locker room, the only song Thomas remembers Banghart singing is "I Wanna Dance with Somebody" by Whitney Houston.

But surely there have been other songs Banghart has enjoyed right? 

Nope. 

“That’s the only song,” Thomas said. 

Making it a tall task for Barker to get Banghart grooving.

@cadeshoemaker23

@dthsports | sports@dailytarheel.com