By Adam Lucas
1. Blistering hot Stanford used a late 7-0 run and 16-for-28 three-point shooting (57.1%) to beat Carolina, 95-90. That’s the most three-point shots made against UNC in the Hubert Davis era, and it felt like it. The Heels led the game for 37:56 but couldn’t finish. Ten of those 16 three-pointers came in the second half.
2. The second half turned into a battle of Stanford’s perimeter game against Carolina’s post game. The Cardinals pumped in seven three-pointers in the first 13 minutes of the half, hitting 7-for-10 from beyond the arc. Carolina’s struggles in ACC play against the three-point shot continue. League opponents are now a combined 56-for-130 from three (43.1%). Carolina has allowed 97 and 95 points in two conference road games.
3. The Heels countered by pounding the ball inside to Caleb Wilson and Henri Veesaar, who combined to go 12-for-12 from the field in the final 20 minutes. The duo again was Carolina’s best offensive option, as each finished with 26. As a team, Carolina went 16-for-17 from two-point range in the second half but made just one of nine three-pointers. There haven’t been many games in program history when the Heels went 16-for-17 from two in the second half and lost the game.
4. Even with Stanford’s red-hot offensive production, Carolina had a chance late (and had a six-point lead with 5:20 left and a three-point lead with 2:00 left) until three turnovers in the final 1:21 and four in the final 4:55. The Heels need someone to initiate the offense and control the ball in key sequences. In the final 4:55, they had four turnovers and two made field goals.
5. Wilson had struggled in the second half of ACC games, making just seven field goals in his 52 second half minutes in the first three league contests. He quickly changed that on Wednesday night, going on a personal 8-0 run to start the second half.
6. Stanford freshman Ebuka Okorie is as advertised. He scored a career high 36 points, becoming the first freshman to break 30 points against UNC since 2022. He added nine assists to his scoring, meaning he scored or assisted 21 of Stanford’s 32 field goals. The Heels could not find a way to stop him on Wednesday.
7. Led primarily by Okorie, the Cardinal carved up the Tar Heel defense over the final eight minutes of the first half. Stanford got points on 12 of the final 15 trips down the court, and missed two free throws on the 13th trip. That’s only two defensive stops in 15 trips down the court. The two other primary offensive culprits were Ryan Agarwal (a career high 20 points) and Jeremy Dent-Smith, who also scored 20. The late first half performance set the stage for the second half, when Carolina simply couldn’t stop Stanford. Film review may show differently, but on first viewing it felt like several of Agarwal and Dent-Smith’s looks were open.
8. Okorie unfortunately continued a rough trend for the Heels. The opposing leading scorer has exceeded his season scoring average in every game since the season opener (when there was no leading scorer entering the game). Okorie entered the night averaging 22.1 points per game and put up 36. That’s the third straight opposing point guard who has scored at least 27 points against UNC.
9. Stanford drew closer when Carolina struggled to get the ball inside. Carolina went nearly ten minutes without a point in the paint from midway through the first half until Wilson started getting buckets in the second half. Stanford was +9 during that stretch and it enabled them to stay close enough to make the decisive push in the second half.
10. Luka Bogavac provided a viable third scoring option, putting up 13 points after going scoreless in two of the last three games. Bogavac did struggle a little with shot selection in the second half, pulling the trigger a little more quickly than the UNC coaches would have liked on a couple of possessions.
11. Stanford made Carolina’s offense very one-on-one based. The Tar Heels, a team that has piled up assists this season, had just seven on 32 made field goals.
12. The trend continues that only Wake Forest has gone 2-0 on the California road swing in the last two seasons of ACC play. Carolina will try to salvage a win Saturday at Cal at 4 p.m.
