Stanford finished the game on an 11-3 run to overcome a late deficit and stun UNC 95-90 at Maples Pavilion Wednesday night.

UNC had led for almost the entire game thanks to strong efforts from Caleb Wilson and Henri Veesaar, who both finished the night with 26 points. But they were outgunned by sensational Stanford freshman Ebuka Okorie, who torched the Tar Heel defense to the tune of 36 points. It was not only a career high for Okorie, but a program record for any Stanford freshman.

When Okorie wasn’t scoring himself, he was setting up sharpshooters Ryan Agarwal and Jeremy Dent-Smith, each of whom scored 20 points and combined to shoot 11-16 on three-pointers. As a team, the Cardinal knocked down 16 of their 28 attempts from downtown. It marked the fourth straight game UNC has allowed an opponent to make at least 12 threes.

The Tar Heels had started the game on the front foot and led 27-15 midway through the first half, but Stanford fought back to tie the game thanks to Okorie and the shooting of Agarwal. UNC led 47-45 at the half.

Carolina extended that lead back to 12 points early in the second with strong play from Wilson, but once again Stanford refused to quit. With the score 83-77 in favor of UNC with 5:20 remaining, Okorie scored four straight points and Agarwal nailed another three to cut the deficit to 85-84. Dent-Smith gave the Cardinal the lead with 1:01 to go with his sixth three of the night, and Agarwal delivered the dagger after a Wilson turnover with his fifth three.

UNC shot 32-55 (58.2 percent) in the loss, but lagged far behind the Cardinal on threes: the Tar Heels made 6-16, compared to Stanford’s 16-28. Carolina also missed 12 of its 32 free throw attempts, including two critical misfires from Veesaar late in the game during Stanford’s final rally. Veesaar and Wilson were just 10-18 at the line.

The loss is UNC’s second straight against the Cardinal, who prior to their entry into the ACC had lost all 13 meetings with the Tar Heels. But Stanford has now won both games as conference foes, with both coming down to the final seconds.

Wednesday night’s loss drops UNC to 14-3 overall and 2-2 in ACC play. The Tar Heels will remain in California through the weekend and will return to action when they visit Cal in Berkeley Saturday at 4 p.m. Eastern time.

 

Featured image via Associated Press/Jeff Chiu

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