CHAPEL HILL –North Carolina showed a few times over the last month it can find ways to win close games, but Saturday in a Quad 3 game against Stanford at the Smith Center, the Tar Heels showed it still knows how to lose them, too.
UNC led 66-61 with 4:23 remaining, but the Cardinal closed the game outscoring the Heels 11-5 ending Carolina’s four-game win streak and shifting the narrative of the season into a negative direction.
RJ Davis’ layup and two made free throws capped a 10-2 Carolina run giving it the 5-point lead. But the Tar Heels missed multiple open shots, failed to get a few stops, and couldn’t get a stop when it was most needed.
After Seth Trimble calmly sank a pair of free throws with 7 seconds left giving UNC a 71-70 lead. But Stanford guard Jaylen Blakes, who transferred there last spring from Duke, drove the length of the floor with Trimble on him and drained a running jumper with 1.5 seconds left for the winning points.
Blakes finished with 20 points and 7-foot-1 Stanford center Maxime Raynaud totaled 25 points and 13 rebounds for the Cardinal. UNC was led by RJ Davis’ 19 points followed 13 from Ven-Allen Lubin and 122 from Elliot Cadeau.
*Another poor close haunted the Tar Heels, as they went from leading 66-61 with 4:23 left Stanford outscoring them 11-5 the rest of the way to get the win.
Ven-Allen Lubin said it was “more of the same” in explaining what happened down the stretch with respect to similar losses to Kansas, Florida, and Louisville, plus the overtime against Michigan State.
---Carolina actually outrebounded the Cardinal 5-4 over the final 4:23.
---UNC has just one turnover.
---Stanford missed 8 of its last 11 shots including missing 4 of its last 7 in the final 4:23.
The numbers weren’t decidedly in Stanford’s favor other than the scoring. Thus, it was the little things that did in the Heels.
"I felt like today wasn't one thing,” UNC Coach Hubert Davis said. “I felt like there were a number of little details or mistakes that we made throughout the entire game. On both ends of the floor, whether it was execution defensively, out of bounds, underneath, ball screen coverage, closeouts and the take two guys…
“I just felt like it was a culmination of little things. I always say little things lead to big things happening. I felt that those little things, little mistakes, led to big things happening today which resulted in a loss."
*Where was Drake Powell from 9:37 left to play until 42 seconds remaining? On the bench and not in foul trouble.
Meanwhile, 14 of Stanford’s last 17 points were scored by players that are 6-foot-6 or shorter, each of whom Powell could have guarded. That includes Jaylen Blakes, the Duke transfer who scored 8 points over the final 5:37 including the game-winner over Seth Trimble. Blakes finished with 20 points and had the hot hand at the time.
*With 9:37 left in the contest, Hubert Davis put a lineup on the court that was 6-feet, 6-1, 6-3, 6-4, and 6-8. They remained together on the floor until 42 seconds remained when Powell returned to action for defensive purposes.
---Yet, UNC outrebounded Stanford 8-4
---The Cardinal had just one second-chance basket
---UNC’s last five field goals were layups
---Only 1 of Stanford’s field goals was a layup
The Heels on the floor in that span: Davis; Cadeau; Trimble; Ian Jackson; and Lubin.
*Consider these stats yet UNC still lost:
---Stanford just 4 points in a span of 5:48 from 8:11 remaining to 2:23 left.
---Those 4 points were free throws, so Stanford did not score from the field during that stretch.
---The score of the game in that span went from 59-56 Stanford to 67-63 UNC.
---Stanford missed 8 of its last 11 shots
---ACC leading scorer Maxime Raynaud was just 1 for his last 8 over the final 15:04 of the game.
---Raynaud converted three free throws after being fouled on the perimeter by Jalen Washington.
---Carolina outrebounded the Cardinal 8-4 over the final 9:37.
"I believe it's all in the little details, that we all committed mistakes, that kind of led up to points and led up to bad positions on the offensive end,” Lubin said, noting why the Heels lost down the stretch. “It's those mistakes that really hurt us and cost us to get us into this position right here. But really, you know, we, I believe that we played hard, you know, maybe did everything that we could, and played through the mistakes and just gave it our all."
*Ian Jackson attempted two shots in the second half and for the day was 1-for-8, including 1-for-2 from the perimeter. He hit all four free throws and totaled 6 points. Carolina never got him going and it didn’t run a lot of stuff try and get its recent go-to guy into the zone that had carried him to a 22.7 average over the previous seven games.
*Okay, some plays the Tar Heels would want back:
---Botched transition play when Trimble passed to Washington in a questionable spot near the rim. Trimble pointed to Washington for the oop but the Heels ended up turning over the ball.
---Lubin rushed a possession by trying to score around Raynaud, got him on the hip and attempted a scoop shot, only that Raynaud swatted it away and 10 seconds later Stanford hit a 3 to take a 48-47 lead.
---Jackson missed a wide open 3 from the left corner with 3:52 remaining and the Heels leading 66-63. Stanford wouldn’t score again until 2:23 remained and UNC leading 67-63. A three made it 67-66. How huge would Jackson’s 3 have been?
---Davis nonchalantly attempted a pass near midcourt with 2:13 remaining but it was stolen by Donavin Young and the Cardinal scored on a put back for a 68-67 lead with 1:56 remaining.
*Juxtapose this: Stanford converted three jump shots off inbound plays from its own baseline near the basket. It ran the same play each time, using a curl to spring free three shooter. UNC plays man-to-man on inbounds when Hubert Davis’ mentors, Dean Smith and Roy Williams, played zone on those kinds of inbound plays.
Carolina, on the other hand, turned over a poorly executed inbound from its baseline in the second half that led to a Cardinal basket.
