{"id":692985,"date":"2026-04-02T01:16:17","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T01:16:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/692985\/"},"modified":"2026-04-02T01:16:17","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T01:16:17","slug":"unc-guard-lanie-grant-to-enter-the-transfer-portal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/692985\/","title":{"rendered":"UNC guard Lanie Grant to enter the transfer portal &#8211;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"font-size:23px\">By R.L. Bynum<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After two seasons at North Carolina and 4\u00bd years after she committed to the Tar Heels, Lanie Grant has decided to enter the transfer portal.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Grant committed to UNC on Thanksgiving Day 2021 at age 14 and sacrificed her senior season at James River High School in Midlothian, Va., to come to UNC and join Coach Courtney Banghart\u2019s program a year early after earning 2024 Gatorade Virginia Player of the Year honors.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cProud of everything we accomplished over the past two years with my teammates and coaches, and so thankful for the kindness and support from the Chapel Hill community,\u201d Grant said in a Wednesday afternoon tweet. \u201cBig new adventures ahead as I\u2019ve decided to enter the transfer portal.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to a source, she nearly entered the portal last offseason but changed her mind.<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Proud of everything we accomplished over the past two years with my teammates and coaches, and so thankful for the kindness and support from the Chapel Hill community \ud83e\udd0d.  <\/p>\n<p>Big new adventures ahead as I\u2019ve decided to enter the transfer portal.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Lanie Grant (@laniegrant2025) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/laniegrant2025\/status\/2039466342135321015?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">April 1, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The transfer portal opens Monday and closes on April 20.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After starting only two games during her freshman season, averaging 7.3 points, she started 29 of 34 games this past season, averaging 10.8 points, second on the team, and matched her career-high assist total of five three times last season.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Her team-high 41.9% 3-point shooting percentage was the second-highest in a single season in program history behind the 45.1% of Heather Claytor in 2006, second in the ACC and third in the country.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">She scored a career-high 21 points in Carolina\u2019s 85\u201368 victory over Virginia Tech on March 6 in the ACC tournament quarterfinals, and scored a career-high five 3-pointers on Jan. 25 in the 77\u201371 overtime victory over Syracuse. <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Grant led the team in scoring (or shared the lead) seven times last season, and led the team in assists twice and in steals once.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Grant showed the savvy to drive to the hoop and create opportunities for her or her teammates, and also was lethal from outside the arc. She had 18 career games with at least three 3-pointers and six with at least four 3-pointers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">She was at the top of opposing teams\u2019 scouting reports for the second half of the season, many times getting face-guarded, making it difficult for her to get off her shot.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">She mostly came off the bench last season until she was in the starting lineup for all but one game, starting with the Dec. 29 game at Boston College. Her role kept growing as junior guard Reniya Kelly missed numerous games.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Grant sat on the bench for all but seven seconds over the last 5\u00bd minutes of <a href=\"https:\/\/tarheeltribune.com\/2026\/02\/15\/heels-befuddled-in-loss-at-duke-after-dominant-inside-play-nets-no-ft-attempts\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">UNC\u2019s 72\u201368 loss at Duke on Feb. 15<\/a>, one game after scoring 15 points in a 94\u201342 victory over SMU.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If Kelly is healthy next season, there will be a lot of guards vying for playing time.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Five-star recruit Kate Harpring, the top-rated point guard in the Class of 2026, joins a roster that includes, assuming all return, Elina Aarnisalo, Jordan Zubich and Liza Astakhova. The latter two played sparingly.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Grant tied her season-low with three points on 1 of 8 shooting in the Tar Heels\u2019 63\u201342 season-ending loss to UConn on Friday in the Sweet 16 in Fort Worth, Texas.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThey were the ones I chose to rock with, and the energy, what Coach B is building, her philosophies,\u201d Grant said in her decision to come to Carolina <a href=\"https:\/\/tarheeltribune.com\/2024\/04\/21\/young-confident-grant-brings-dynamic-two-way-game-to-unc-year-early\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">in an April 2024 Tar Heel Tribune story<\/a>. \u201cI just think that it\u2019s a perfect fit for me, and it\u2019s a perfect fit for what I want to try to do in college.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Grant was a two-time Class 5 First Team All-State selection at James River, averaging 28.1 points, 6.2 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 1.7 steals in her final high school season.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Guard Trayanna Crisp was the only UNC player to transfer out last offseason, playing her senior season at Mississippi State.<\/p>\n<p>Subscribe to read Tar Heel Tribune ad-free<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Subscribe for a cleaner, smoother reading experience without the flashing banners, slow-loading elements, or those especially annoying pop\u2011up ads that interrupt the flow of the story. You\u2019ll also get the first version of each story emailed to you. The only ads you\u2019ll see are static, non-intrusive ads for UNC\u2011related books, and there are none currently on the site.<\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1140\" height=\"228\" data-attachment-id=\"78154\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/tarheeltribune.com\/?attachment_id=78154\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tarheeltribune.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/unc-roster-header-e1759169996823.png?fit=1536%2C307&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"1536,307\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"UNC roster header\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tarheeltribune.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/unc-roster-header-e1759169996823.png?fit=300%2C60&amp;ssl=1\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tarheeltribune.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/unc-roster-header-e1759169996823.png?fit=1024%2C205&amp;ssl=1\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/unc-roster-header-e1759169996823.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-78154\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Projected roster if all players with eligibility other than Lanie Grant return, with years listed for next season (2 under the 15-player limit)<\/p>\n<p>Entering transfer portal<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Guard Lanie Grant, a rising junior<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"font-size:23px\">Photo courtesy of UNC Athletics<\/p>\n<p>Like this:<\/p>\n<p>Like Loading&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"sd-link-color\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\n\tRelated\n<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t<script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By R.L. Bynum After two seasons at North Carolina and 4\u00bd years after she committed to the Tar&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":692986,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3724],"tags":[5485,7,315,83594,87394,231,1773,1072,333],"class_list":{"0":"post-692985","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-basketball","8":"tag-acc","9":"tag-basketball","10":"tag-carolina","11":"tag-carolina-basketball","12":"tag-carolina-womens-basketball","13":"tag-ncaa","14":"tag-north-carolina","15":"tag-tar-heels","16":"tag-unc"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/692985","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=692985"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/692985\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/692986"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=692985"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=692985"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=692985"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}