Nicole Urbanick is a very quiet person.
If she did not wear basketball warm-ups, most students would not know she is a basketball player.
Urbanick is a student in the pre-dental program – on top of being a starter on the women’s basketball team. To say she has a lot on her plate from week to week is not an exaggeration.
She has to balance the course load of the seven-year dental program with her responsibilities to her basketball team, which has only eight healthy players.
On the days she has labs, the practice schedule has to be adjusted so she has basketball early in the morning or late in the evening, making for a long day.
Urbanick credits her work over the offseason for her spike in scoring and resulting breakout year. Last season she averaged 7.1 points per game. This year she is second on the team with 15.6 points per game.
No longer is she considered just a three-point threat.
Coach Bernard Scott said that her ability to put the ball on the floor makes her a “real weapon” but make no mistake Scott says she’s “one of the best shooters in the conference.”
In high school and college Urbanick has been described as a three-point threat, but she says her three-pointer did not always fall.
“I was not always a three-point shooter,” she said. “In fact, when I was little I was one of the taller players.”
That’s no longer the case for the five-eight guard.
It wasn’t until late in her high school career that she started hitting threes with regularity.
“Around junior year, something just clicked,” she said.
Whatever clicked back in high school is clicking now as she has more than doubled her points-per-game.
The plan for the Titans is to drive and kick out to her for a catch and three-point shot. However, the dynamic part of her game is the ability to drive and create her own shot around the basket.
One of the best things about Urbanick is that the Titans have her for two more years.
Urbanick is excited to build on her success this year with the new staff and building chemistry with her teammates.
She said that the team gets along a lot better this season and that’s translating into better play on the court.
Urbanick said the Titans new coach has the right balance of being funny and being able to be serious.
The Titans play next Jan. 28 at Milwaukee and will be on a four-game road trip before returning home to play UIC Feb. 11 in the first game of a doubleheader.
