Freshman Ebuka Okorie scored a career-high 36 points on 12-of-20 shooting and added nine assists as host Stanford closed on an 11-3 run to beat No. 14 North Carolina 95-90 on Wednesday.
Stanford (14-4, 3-2 Atlantic Coast Conference) trailed 87-84 with less than two minutes to play before Jeremy Dent-Smith and Ryan Agarwal hit back-to-back 3-pointers during a 7-0 run to put the Cardinal ahead 91-87 with 32 seconds left.
After North Carolina pulled within 93-90 on Seth Trimble’s tip-in with five seconds left, Benny Gealer made two free throws to help seal Stanford’s fourth consecutive home win over a ranked opponent.
Agarwal set career highs with five 3-pointers and 20 points for Stanford, which shot 57.1% from the field and from distance, hitting 16 of 28 from beyond the arc and 16 of 28 from inside the arc. Dent-Smith added a season-high 20 off the bench while shooting 6 of 7 from 3-point range.
Caleb Wilson scored 20 of his career-high 26 points in the second half and grabbed nine rebounds for North Carolina (14-3, 2-2), which has lost two of its last three games. Henri Veesaar matched his career high with 26 points while Luka Bogavac and Trimble added 13 apiece.
North Carolina led by as many as 12 midway through the first half before Stanford battled back and tied the game at 34-all with 3:46 left when Gealer’s 3-pointer capped a 10-0 run.
Okorie had 17 points on 6-of-8 shooting in the first half for Stanford, which trailed 47-45 at intermission after shooting 57% from the field. Veesaar had 16 points to lead the Tar Heels, who connected on 51.7% of their shots in the half.
North Carolina opened the second half on a 16-6 run and moved ahead 63-51 on Wilson’s jumper with 15:19 left.
The Tar Heels struggled to slow down Okorie, who began the game ranked eighth in the nation in scoring at 22.1 points per game. The star freshman scored with 4:35 remaining to cut Stanford’s deficit to 83-81.
Stanford played without second-leading scorer Chisom Okpara, who sat out with a lower-body injury.
–Field Level Media
