Faced with their first late-game test of the young season on Wednesday night in Asheville as part of the Maui Invitational semifinals, the 14th-ranked Tar Heels held on for a 67-63 victory over the Stanford Cardinal.

A layup and free throw by Leaky Black in the final minute sealed the victory for UNC (3-0), which allowed Stanford (1-1) to mount an upset bid by turning the ball over a whopping 24 times in the game.

“We feel very lucky,” UNC head coach Roy Williams said afterwards. “We were not very good on the offensive end. Twenty-four turnovers and so many of them can be classified as either selfish or careless. You shouldn’t have turnovers in either one of those categories. But, we ended up scoring more points.”

Freshman point guard Caleb Love led the Tar Heels with 16 points, although he converted on just six of his 18 shot attempts and had a team-high five turnovers.

Love’s classmate in the backcourt, R.J. Davis, put forth a much more efficient 11 points on just eight shots.

The frontcourt tandem of Garrison Brooks and Armando Bacot each added 10 points apiece, with Brooks coming just one rebound shy of a double-double.

Black’s clutch shots also gave him 10 points for the game, meaning all five Tar Heel starters ended the night in double figures.

“Leaky was sensational once again on the defensive side of the floor,” Williams said. “Made a big drive that gave us a [three]-point lead there at the end. Also got a big tip-out on a free throw that R.J. ended up making a three. So, I thought Leaky was sensational.”

Defense once again proved to be a strength for this UNC team, as Stanford–which is coached by longtime Roy Williams assistant Jerod Haase–shot just 39 percent as a team and highly-touted freshman wing Ziare Williams finished with just 10 points.

Rebounding proved just as essential, as the Tar Heels racked up a dominant 43-23 advantage in that category.

“Our 24 turnovers gave them 22 points,” Williams said. “But we also outrebounded them by 20. You’ve got to try to take your strengths and make that an important factor in the game, and your weakness–which today was definitely turning the ball over–and try to make sure that’s not the most important factor.”

Up Next:

The Tar Heels will take on Texas in Wednesday’s Maui Invitational championship game, which is set to tip off at 4 p.m.

Game Notes:

  • Stanford took a 62-61 lead with 2:38 remaining, before a pair of free throws from R.J. Davis just under a minute later put UNC ahead for good.
  • UNC created 18 second-chance points off of 15 offensive rebounds.
  • Freshman forward Walker Kessler struggled mightily in the nine minutes he was on the floor, failing to record a single statistic other than four fouls and three missed free throws. The Tar Heels were also outscored by 16 points in that time frame.

 

FINAL BOX SCORE

 

 

Cover photo via Camping World Maui Invitational

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