Acceleration has not been a problem for No. 14 North Carolina, but maintaining its maximum speed for an entire contest has become a growing concern.
The Tar Heels (14-2, 2-1 ACC) will look to keep the pedal down throughout the game when they begin a West Coast swing with a meeting against Stanford on Wednesday.
Stanford (13-4, 2-2) recorded consecutive wins over then-No. 16 Louisville and Virginia Tech before losing 70-55 to then-No. 23 Virginia on Saturday.
“Good team,” Stanford coach Kyle Smith said of Virginia. “You’re going to have to play really well to beat them, especially beat them (at home). I felt good about the way we defended and rebounded, but you’ve got to put the ball in the basket.”
The Cardinal face another tough matchup against North Carolina, which rebounded from a loss at SMU to beat Wake Forest 87-84 at home on Saturday.
The Tar Heels won for the eighth time in their last nine games with a wire-to-wire victory over the Demon Deacons. North Carolina improved to 14-2 for the first time since 2015-16 with the win.
Henri Veesaar had 25 points and Caleb Wilson added 22 points and 12 rebounds for the Tar Heels, who led by 15 with 9:50 left before the Demon Deacons went on a 17-3 run.
“This is going to be our growth, for us as a team,” Tar Heels coach Hubert Davis said. “It’s not getting to that level, but it’s staying at that point. There were a number of times where we were up 12, 15 points, and in every one of those situations, we never took a step forward. We took our foot off the gas pedal on both ends of the floor.”
The game marked another example of North Carolina building a big lead before allowing opponents to rally late in games.
“Definitely some frustration,” Tar Heels guard Seth Trimble said. “I wouldn’t say concern. We know that it’s there, but we let teams make these runs and we have these lapses a little bit, and teams just take advantage of it. But I know that we can make that go away. I have no doubt in my mind. Some frustration, but no concern.”
The Tar Heels can avenge a 72-71 loss to Stanford in Chapel Hill last season. Stanford escaped with the victory after Jaylen Blakes scored with 1.5 seconds left.
The current Stanford squad is led by freshman guard Ebuka Okorie, who is averaging 22.1 points on 43.2% shooting.
Okorie had 31 points in Wednesday’s win over Virginia Tech before scoring 14 on 5-of-20 shooting against Virginia.
“(Okorie) is tough to guard,” Virginia coach Ryan Odom said. “… Certainly, he demands a double team at times.”
Senior guard Benny Gealer led Stanford with 15 points against Virginia and is third on the team in scoring at 10.8 points per game.
Stanford and North Carolina have both struggled from beyond the arc this season. The Cardinal are 14th in the league at 33.6% from 3-point range, while the Tar Heels are 13th at 33.7%.
–Field Level Media
