By R.L. Bynum
Thanks to a coin flip, Jordan Carolina Zubich was born with a name that made her destined to be a Tar Heel.
Jordan’s parents, Dan and Becky Zubich, couldn’t agree on a name for the 5–11 sharpshooting incoming North Carolina freshman shooting guard.
“My dad, he grew up being a big Carolina fan,” Zubich said of the lifelong Minnesotan. “And, obviously, he thinks Michael Jordan is the GOAT. My parents flipped a coin when I was born because my mom wanted my name to be Peyton. And then my dad really wanted Jordan Carolina, so they flipped the coin.”
(Photo by UNC Athletics)
Years later, after 3,490 career points — the fourth-highest nationally in the Class of 2024 — and a state title, Zubich arrives in Chapel Hill in early June as a Minnesota 3-point shooting legend.
Her brother Tebow, a seventh grader, got his name because Dan Zubich, the football coach at Jordan’s Mountain Iron-Buhl High School, is also a fan of Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow. Who knows where that leads Tebow, who plays football and basketball?
The flip was prescient for Jordan Zubich, who received her first recruiting call in the summer before entering eighth grade and her first Division I college offer in the summer before her sophomore year.
Her style is more like Stephen Curry and Caitlin Clark than Michael Jordan, though. Jordan’s career ended well before she was born. But she grew up watching Curry, marveling at his shooting, and how he moves without the ball, and she has also enjoyed watching Clark’s career.
Zubich seriously considered several schools — including Ohio State, Creighton, Utah, Minnesota and Nebraska — and made a few visits. It wasn’t Zubich’s plan, but her last recruiting visit was to Chapel Hill in January 2023. She committed to UNC the next month.
“I was considering [other] schools until I took my official visit at Carolina, and then I just knew that I really wanted to commit after that,” said Zubich, whose sister Zoey, in sixth grade, plays basketball and volleyball. “Just the feeling that I had on campus and the people, the coaching staff. They’re all such great people, and the girls really made me feel welcomed.”
Many of the players she met during that visit won’t be her teammates, including Eva Hodgson, who Zubich said was helpful in her recruitment.
“I know a lot of the girls who I met on my visit are now either graduated or transferred,” Zubich said. “But Coach Banghart recruits such great people.”
Zubich will join fellow Minnesotan Alyssa Ustby, a graduate forward who played for the same AAU team as Zubich, the Minnesota Fury. Zubich helped the Fury twice make the AAU Final Four.
Years of watching Carolina play on television with her dad and having a lot of UNC gear helped cultivate her view of Carolina as her dream school.
“From a young age, I think it seemed like it was just a really fun atmosphere, and it would be a really fun place to be,” Zubich said.
She will wear No. 3 because redshirt freshman Laila Hull wears the No. 4 that Zubich wore in high school, and her best friend in high school wore No. 3.
Zubich first got to know the UNC staff when she attended Carolina Elite Camp in the summer of 2021, before her sophomore season. Coach Courtney Banghart didn’t waste any time, FaceTiming with Zubich on June 1, 2022, the first day coaches were allowed to contact Class of 2024 recruits.
It’s been obvious to Zubich during her visits that life in Chapel Hill will be quite the contrast to the small-town northern Minnesota atmosphere she’s used to. Her school was K through 12 with one hallway, and there were only 41 students in her graduating class.
“I was just on a Zoom call with our academic advisor, and I was telling her I was so nervous I was going to get lost,” Zubich said. “I think just having all these people and all these resources around me, I don’t think I’ll be as nervous.”
Zubich said she is in contact daily with the other two members of UNC’s star-studded freshman class — 6–5 five-star Charlotte Catholic center Blanca Thomas and four-star 5–10 Midlothian, Va., guard Lanie Grant.
“They’re some of my favorite people already,” Zubich said.
Zubich scored 30 3-pointers as a 5-foot seventh-grader — the first of six high school seasons — shot 45% from outside the arc as a senior, and sank more than 100 in each of her last three high school seasons — including a state-record 137 as a sophomore — to finish with 535, the second-highest career total in state history. Her 132 3-pointers last season led the state and were the second-most in state history.
While Zubich acknowledged that her strength is 3-point shooting, there’s much more to her game.
“I usually start the game shooting, and if I’m off, I just want to do whatever it takes for the team to win,” said Zubich, who shot 85.2% from the free-throw line her senior season. “So, if I can’t find my shot, then I’ll try to penetrate and get shots for my teammates or maybe get to the rim myself.”
She can also be a game-changer on the defensive end.
“I think sometimes my defense is aggressive — not like a fouling way — being aggressive and making sure that the person I’m guarding knows I’m there,” Zubich said. “I just will do whatever I need to do to win.”
Zubich’s progression to a four-star recruit began when she was five years old, when she says her dad “forced” her and older brother Asher, who is a rising sophomore quarterback at St. Olaf University, to go to the gym.
“I’m super thankful for that now,” Jordan Zubich said. “But, at the time, I hated basketball until fourth grade, when I realized how fun it could be. Around fourth grade, I started to realize that this is something that I could probably do for a while.”
That cultivated a work ethic that Mountain Iron-Buhl girls coach Jeff Buffetta says he saw throughout her high school career.
“Jordan’s put in a ton of time,” he told the Duluth News-Tribune. “She has been a gym rat for as long as I can remember. Probably nobody puts in more shooting time than she does or has over the years.”
She also credits her dad with teaching her how to spread her fingers out and make a certain shape on the ball when she shoots.
She showed her versatility as a senior after leading Mountain Iron-Buhl to a 30–3 record and a Class A state title in her junior season playing her natural two-guard position.
After the Rangers lost their point guard on that title team to graduation, Zubich took over that spot and averaged career-highs of 27.7 points and 6.6 assists as they went 29–4 and returned to the state championship game. She heard from her future Tar Heel teammates, who sent her encouraging messages during that run.
Last season, Zubich scored a career-high 912 points (third in the state) and averaged 27.6 points (ninth in the state), 6.6 assists, 4.3 rebounds and 3.0 steals.
Zubich, who once crocheted a book cover, knows that adjusting to the college game will be challenging. She doesn’t expect to start and is looking forward to learning from experienced players such as shooting guard Lexi Donarski, a fellow Midwesterner who will enter her fifth college season.
“Everybody’s going to be bigger and faster and stronger,” Zubich said. “So, I think that’ll be a really big adjustment, and then talking to the coaches, they’re saying my shot is pretty quick already. But when everybody’s so much taller, and everyone’s so much quicker, I’m just gonna have to try to get my shot off as quickly as possible, so definitely working on that will be important.”
It’s just the next challenge for Zubich, who has excelled at every previous one.
Jordan Zubich high school statistics
Scoring average — 20.1 points for career, 27.6 as a senior
Field-goal percentage — 52.3, 51.4%
3-point percentage — 43%, 45%
Free-throw shooting — 79.5%, 85.2%
Assists average — 3.6, 6.6
Rebounds average — 3.4, 4.3
Steals average — 2.4, 3.0
| Year | No. | Players | Pos. | Height | |
| Freshman | 5 | Liza Astakhova (LEE-zah uh-STAH-koh-vuh) | W | 6–2 | |
| Freshman | 7 | Nyla Brooks | W | 6–1 | |
| Brooks brings dazzling skills, confidence to UNC | |||||
| Freshman | 3 | Taliyah Henderson | W | 6–1 | |
| Long wait, journey for 5-star freshman Henderson after second knee surgery nearly over | |||||
| Freshman | 26 | Taissa Queiroz | G | 6–1 | |
| Queiroz came to USA from Brazil to chase her dreams | |||||
| Sophomore | 17 | Elina Aarnisalo (EH-lee-nah AHR-nee-sah-loh) | G | 5–10 | |
| Aarnisalo brings flash, IQ and pro experience to backcourt | |||||
| Sophomore | 0 | Lanie Grant | G | 5–9 | |
| Sophomore | 34 | Blanca Thomas | C | 6–5 | |
| Sophomore | 1 | Jordan Zubich | G | 5–11 | |
| RS sophomore | 21 | Ciera Toomey | F | 6–4 | |
| RS sophomore | 4 | Laila Hull | W | 6–1 | |
| Junior | 10 | Reniya Kelly | PG | 5–7 | |
| Junior | 15 | Sydney Barker | PG | 5–6 | |
| Senior | 2 | Nyla Harris | F | 6–2 | |
| It was hard for Harris to say ‘no’ to UNC again | |||||
| Senior | 24 | Indya Nivar | G | 5–10 |
Class of 2025
| Player | Rating | ESPN rank | Position | Height | Hometown |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nyla Brooks | Five star | No. 13 | Wing | 6–2 | Alexandria, Va. |
| Taliyah Henderson | Five star | No. 27 | Wing | 6–1 | Vail, Ariz. |
| Taissa Queiroz | Four star | No. 77 | Guard | 6–1 | Santa Rosa, Calif. |
| Liza Astakhova | — | — | Wing | 6–1 | Moscow, Russia |
| Date | Day/month | Time | Opponent/event (current ranks) | TV/ record |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| October | ||||
| 30 | Thursday | L, 91–82 | No. 3 South Carolina in Atlanta | Exhib. |
| November | ||||
| 3 | Monday | W, 90–42 | vs. N.C. Central | 1–0 |
| 6 | Thursday | W, 71–37 | vs. Elon | 2–0 |
| WBCA Challenge Las Vegas | ||||
| 13 | Thursday | L, 78–60 | vs. No. 2 UCLA | 2–1 |
| 15 | Saturday | W, 82–68 | vs. Fairfield | 3–1 |
| ——————————— | ||||
| 20 | Thursday | W, 85–50 | at N.C. A&T | 4–1 |
| 23 | Sunday | W, 94–48 | vs. UNCG | 5–1 |
| Cancun Challenge Cancun, Mexico | ||||
| 27 | Thursday | W, 83–48 | vs. South Dakota St. | 6–1 |
| 28 | Friday | W, 85–73 | vs. Kansas State | 7–1 |
| 29 | Saturday | W, 80–63 | vs. Columbia | 8–1 |
| December | ACC/SEC Women’s Challenge | |||
| 4 | Thursday | W, 79–64 | at No. 4 Texas | 8–2 |
| ——————————— | ||||
| 7 | Sunday | W, 82–40 | vs. Boston Univ. | 9–2 |
| 14 | Sunday | L, 76–66, OT | vs. No. 78 Louisville | 9–3, 0–1 ACC |
| 17 | Wednesday | W, 84–34 | vs. UNCW | 10–3 |
| 21 | Sunday | W, 93–74 | vs. Charleston Southern | 11–3 |
| 29 | Monday | W, 90–38 | at Boston College | 12–3, 1–1 ACC |
| January | ||||
| 1 | Thursday | W, 71–55 | vs. California | 13–3, 2–1 |
| 4 | Sunday | L, 77–71, OT | vs. Stanford | 13–4, 2–2 |
| 11 | Sunday | L, 73–50 | at Notre Dame | 13–5, 2–3 |
| 15 | Thursday | W, 73–62 | vs. Miami | 14–5, 3–3 |
| 18 | Sunday | W, 82–55 | at Florida State | 15–5, 4–3 |
| 22 | Thursday | W, 54–46 | at Georgia Tech | 16–5, 5–3 |
| 25 | Sunday | W, 77–71, OT | vs. Syracuse | 17–5, 6–3 |
| February | ||||
| 2 | Monday | 6 p.m. | at N.C. State | ESPN2 |
| 5 | Thursday | 7 p.m. | vs. Clemson | ACCN |
| 8 | Sunday | 2 p.m. | vs. Wake Forest | ACCN |
| 12 | Thursday | 6 p.m. | vs. SMU | ACCN |
| 15 | Sunday | 1 p.m. | at No. 20 Duke | ABC |
| 19 | Thursday | 6 p.m. | at Virginia Tech | ACCN |
| 22 | Sunday | Noon | vs. Pittsburgh | ACCN |
| 26 | Thursday | 7 p.m. | at Virginia | ACCN Extra |
| March | ||||
| 1 | Sunday | Noon | vs. No. 20 Duke | ESPN |
| ACC tournament | ||||
| 4–8 | Wed.-Sun | Gas South Arena, Duluth, Ga. | ||
| NCAA tournament | ||||
| 20–24 | Fri.-Mon. | First, second rounds | ||
| 27–30 | Fri.-Mon. | Regionals Fort Worth, Texas, and Sacramento, Calif. | ||
| April | ||||
| 3, 5 | Fri., Sun | Final Four Phoenix |
Photos courtesy of Jordan Zubich; top photo by Breakdown USA
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