By Miguel Mike Medina
Photo: Bob Donnan-Imagn Images
Stanford Cardinals’ guard Jayden Blakes hits the game-winning shot with 1.5 seconds left to go to stun the North Carolina Tar Heels, 72-71, on Saturday afternoon at Dean Smith Center in Chapel Hill.
The Tar Heels loses to the Cardinals for the first time in 15 meetings. The loss also snaps their four-game winning streak.
Blakes, a Duke graduate transfer, finished with 20 points and seven assists. The Tar Heels had no answer for Blakes in the game’s last five minutes. It was another poor closeout game for the Tar Heels.
There were 12 ties and 14 lead changes. The Cardinals’ defense played well in the second half, limiting the Tar Heels to just 40 percent from the field and 25 percent from the perimeter.
RJ Davis led the Tar Heels with 19 points. After the game, he spoke with the media about the areas where the team struggled and knew how good the Cardinals were.
“We knew coming into the game that they’re a great team,” Davis said. “We don’t take anyone lightly. I think we weren’t attentive to our details. I don’t think we had a lot of slip-ups in the second half, and we just weren’t aggressive enough from a defense standpoint.”
Ven-Allen Lubin scored a season-high 13 points. Elliot Cadeau added 12 points and six rebounds. Ian Jackson struggled and had a quiet night. He went 0 for six from the field in the first half. He didn’t score a basket until midway through the second half.
“I felt like today it wasn’t just one thing; I felt like it was a number of little details that just mistakes that we made throughout the entire game,” Coach Hubert Davis said. “On both ends of the floor, whether it was execution defensively, out of bounds underneath, ball screen coverage, or closeouts,”
The loss drops the Tar Heels to 12-7 overall and 5-2 in ACC play. The Tar Heels rarely lose a home game after leading by halftime. The last time this happened was in 2020 when they were against their rival, Duke Blue Devils.
The Tar Heels play at Wake Forest on Tuesday—Jan 21, at 9pm.
Miguel Mike Medina is the publisher of The MMM Journal. He can be reached at medinamiguelmike@gmail.com and themmmjournal@gmail.com
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