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Russian wing Liza Astakhova at #UNC women's basketball media day
Oct 23, 2025
Russian wing Liza Astakhova at #UNC women's basketball media day
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0:03
Hey Lisa. So I was wondering if you
0:04
could talk about a little the process
0:06
coming from Russia and then making the
0:08
transition all the way to Chapel Hill
0:10
and college basketball in the US.
0:13
Yeah, it was tough. Like you say it was
0:15
hard because you know this flight
0:17
because I didn't have a flight from
0:20
Moscow to Chapel Hill. I had four
0:22
flights. had flight from Moscow to
0:24
Belgrade to from BR to install from
0:27
install to Chicago from Chicago to
0:29
travel on hill. Yeah, you know, it's
0:31
exciting to be here. So, I just enjoy
0:33
it.
0:35
And uh how how has it been adjusting to
0:38
Courtney Bangart's program here and
0:40
making that transition because I'm sure
0:41
there had to be a lot of differences
0:43
between playing basketball in Russia and
0:44
then getting used to her system here.
0:46
Yeah, that's true. Especially in
0:48
basketball, there are different types of
0:50
basketball. So European is more like
0:52
team play. But I like this play. I like
0:55
the style of basketball. So yeah, I'm so
0:58
thankful for the university who helped
1:00
me with tickets with transitioning.
1:03
Yeah, I'm glad I'm here.
1:05
And I'm just curious, have you been have
1:08
you been cleared by the NCAA to play at
1:10
this time or what?
1:12
Have you been cleared by the NCAA to
1:13
play at this time?
1:16
Yeah.
1:16
Okay. Um
1:21
And how has it been uh adjusting to like
1:23
the American culture in general as well?
1:25
Because I'm sure it had to be kind of a
1:27
culture shock coming here after that
1:29
whole process.
1:31
Yeah, you know, especially I had
1:33
problems with visa because it takes
1:35
time. So I think I took two months
1:37
getting visa but it's okay. Right now
1:39
I'm here. Um what else can I say? This
1:43
culture, I love this culture. It's new
1:45
for me, you know. I just left whole my
1:47
life in Moscow. So, here's a new board
1:50
for me. I'm like that I'm exploring
1:52
every day. So, yeah, I like it.
1:58
I guess what would you say is your
2:00
favorite thing about being a part of
2:01
like the Carolina family so far cuz I I
2:04
I've known from watching the team how
2:06
how much of a family the women's team
2:07
is. Absolutely. And they really welcome
2:09
everyone in as a new family member.
2:11
Yeah, I miss my family. Uh the main
2:14
thing that helped me to be happy here is
2:16
the people around me, my teammates, my
2:18
coaches, all this stuff. I'm very
2:20
thankful for them being so loudly to me.
2:24
Can I say it?
2:25
So yeah, that's all.
2:28
What are you looking forward to most
2:29
about being able to do with this team?
2:32
And because this is obviously a very
2:33
deep team with a lot of talent and like
2:36
how how far do you think this team can
2:38
go and how do you think you can
2:39
contribute well to this team? H I hope
2:43
we win championship because we had a
2:45
good team and we have to work hard but
2:48
you know how I said before we really
2:50
like a family we friend with each other
2:53
so yeah it's a good opportunity for us
2:55
to grow so yeah but we should work not
2:58
only just training and practice we have
3:01
to work to win to improve yourself so
3:03
that's what we do
3:06
thank you I appreciate it so Thank you.