By Miguel Mike Medina
Photo Credit: Maggie Hobson
For the second year in a row, the North Carolina Tar Heels lost to the Stanford Cardinals, 95-90, on Wednesday night.
The Tar Heels squandered another big lead. Defense was awful. Carolina’s perimeter defense didn’t make a statement. Cardinals are shooting lights out, especially in the second half. Ebuka Okorie dropped 36 points, setting a record for the most points by a Freshman in Stanford school history.
One of the problems the Tar Heels had was constantly switching. It was a significant problem, especially in the first half. Also, Carolina didn’t make their free throws. Had they made their free throws, we might have had a different conversation today. UNC shot just 63% from the free-throw line.
Carolina, we’re getting embarrassed by Emeka in the first half. Okorie entered the night averaging 22.1 points per game. Carolina knew what to expect entering the game, and they let him have it his way all night long.
UNC has giving up too many points in the last few games. A team that improved significantly on defense this season has not been playing like a great defensive team lately.
Caleb Wilson and Henri Veesar each had 26 points. Wilson is averaging 19.5 points and 11 rebounds per game. Guard Kyan Evans had a lousy performance. Evans had just three points on one of five from the field in 28 minutes. UNC committed four turnovers and had two field goals in the final five minutes of the game.
It’s a crushing loss for the Tar Heels. UNC drops its record to 14-3 overall and 2-2 in ACC play.
Carolina will play Cal on Saturday at 4 p.m.
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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