January 19, 2025
Chapel Hill, NC- Duke graduate transfer Jaylen Blakes made a jumper with 1.5 seconds left to lift Stanford to a 72-71 win over North Carolina on Saturday at Smith Center. This game marks the first meeting as Atlantic Coast Conference rivals and the first Cardinal win over the Tar Heels in 15 meetings.
Blakes took the inbounds pass in the backcourt after Seth Trimble hit two free throws for North Carolina with 7.7 seconds to play. He bumped a defender on the left side of the line, stepped back and swished the shot.
This game featured 12 ties and 14 lead changes with the biggest lead being seven points. Each team had a five-point lead in the second half.
The Cardinal snapped North Carolina’s four-game winning streak. The win marked North Carolina’s first loss while leading at the half since Feb. 8, 2020.
The Cardinal were led by Maxime Raynaud’s 25 points, 13 rebounds and four blocks . Stanford is now 12-6 overall, 4-3 in conference play. Blakes had 20 points with seven assists while Oziyah Sellers had 11. Donavin Young finished with nine points and three blocks, including a perfect 3-for-3 mark from deep.
The Tar Heels, who fell to 12-7, 5-2 in conference play, were led by 19 points from RJ Davis. Ven-Allen Lubin had 13 points and Elliot Cadeau added 12.
Sellers knocked down a jumper to give Stanford a 57-52 lead in the middle of the second half. But North Carolina would not go quietly storming back with a 14-4 run, to take a 66-61 lead on two Davis free throws with 4:23 to play.
Stanford slowly chipped away with Raynaud nailing a 3 and Blakes made four free throws, the last with 24.1 seconds to play, to help Stanford get the lead back at 70-69.
The Tar Heels led 36-35 at halftime. Both teams scored 24 or more points in the paint, UNC had 30 with Stanford at 24. Both teams took care of the ball as Stanford finished with 8 turnovers and Carolina only 5.
Coaching Comments from UNC’s Hubert Davis:
“I felt like (against Stanford), it wasn’t one thing. I felt like it was a number of little details, just 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 then on the offensive end, turnovers, shot selection, execution, being in the right spots,”
“I just felt like it was a culmination of little things. I always say little things lead to big things happening. I felt like those little things, those little mistakes, led to big things happening (against Stanford) in the result of a loss.”
North Carolina makes the short trip to play at Wake Forest on Tuesday. Stanford starts a three-game homestand when Miami crosses the country to play at the Farm on Wednesday.
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